back, Sydney

LL,,,-,,,-,nJl..Lo The person working in this ~pacity

String Quartet! At least, I would hal'e been at the performance,
hope it's welcome back. heard Ross Edwards' Marimba Dances,
made arrangements to have it taped, and
There seems to be a certain amou~t of presented the results to a program like the
doubt as to whether tbis city wants a ABC's Breakfast Time on Radio 2. _
string quartet keenly enougb to The first section especiaHy would be
support it. - ideal for this program's mixture of news,
views and music. It would gil'e a wider
Certainly, on the strength of last public hearing to an Australian composi-
Tuesday night's perfonnance at the NSW tion, bump up the corporation's percent-
Conservatorium its rebirth desenes the age of Australian content, earn some
enthusiastic encouragement of all music money for it$ composer, and spare us
10l'ers. those tedious repeats of long-dead
Violist Alexander Todicescu is the only European composers whose output can be
remaining member of the original Sydney neatly excerpted to fit the format.
String Quartet, which lost half its This mythical Musical Catalyst would,
numbers last year when l'ioUnist John of course, also place the complete works
Harding and ceIHst Nathan Waks decided in other suitable outlets. And the same
to join the Hong Kong Academ)' of The goes for a couple more pieces from this
Perfonning Arts. program, notably Nigel Westlake's Ono-
.He has gathered around him three nultopoeia.
equally outstanding musicians. One is the The featured duo was an unusual one of
Australian l'iolinist Geoffrey Michaels, percussion and bass clarinet, with the
who has been lost to us for more than 20 addition of a piano in the final item. The
years as he pursued his career in the US high calibre of the musicians, the lil'ely
and Europe. He is a polished perfonner inl'ention of the compositions, and the well
who would add distinction to the balanced l'ariety of the program made it a
Australian music scene if we could tempt concert that the local representatil'es of
him back permanently. the International Society for Contempo-
Danish-born cellist Georg Pedersen is rary Music can be proud of.
well known to Sydney concert goers for . Percussionist Michael Askin and clari-
his regular appearances in this city, netist Nigel Westlake, who contributed to
despite the fact that he is based in two of the -compositions, are skilled
Adelaide where he is a lecturer at the musicians who obl'iously share a concern
South Australian College for The Arts. about reaching an audience.
The quartet's second l'iolinist, Miwako The music they chose was sometimes
Abe, is also a lecturer. She IS on the staff characterised more by its potential than
of the Canberra School of Music. And its polish as a fully developed work - Ian
Todicescu himself lectures at the NSW Shanahan's Echoes/Fantasies was an
Conservatorium. example of this - yet each of the six
The program they chose for their items was memorable for its individuality
introductory Sydney appearance as an and vitality. Michael Smetanin el'en got
ensemble was made up of music by away with a joke or two in The Ladder oj
Hadyn, Beethol'en and Peter Seulthorpe, Escape.
whose spare writing in his sixth string It's encouraging to hear new Australian
quartet was gil'en a persuasil'ely atmo- music like this. I just hope that a way can
spheric reading. be found to get to the larger audience it
This was just an appetiser for what deserves, and not just the committed
these musicians might achieve as a regular group prepared to come in from the sun
ensemble, building on the special musical on a Sunday afternoon.
relationship required of chamber groups.
Like the old Sydney String Quartet, they * *
hope to be taken under the wing of th~ YOU'D be right in saying that an
*
NSW Conscrvatorium so that they hal'e exhibition of paintings by Claude Monet
not only a ba.~ from which to perform but doesn't have much to do With a column on
also the teaching environment in which music. But in this job, you get into the
they can share their skills. Let's hope they habit of spreading the word about
get their wish. something you think is worth seeing. So
that's my excuse for recommending a ~~sit
* * *
AS I applauded one item after another at to the Monet exhibition which opened at
a concert of contemporary music last the Art Gallery of NSW on Friday. It's
weekend, I couldn't help wishing there was small, but it's illuminating in all sorts of
such a job as Musical Catalyst. fascinating and enjoyable ways.