Carl Vine website
www.carlvine.com
This is a compelling
set presenting six Australian symphonies
from the last two decades. It's very
much a case of the story so far. We
can surely expect more from Vine -
a composer now 52.
The ten minute Microsymphony,
might from its title, be expected
to be a lightweight job. It isn't.
It is instead a strong-willed symphonic
movement. There are the anticipated
resonances with other works and composers:
Vaughan Williams' Fourth, the violence
of Malcolm Arnold's Symphonies 4 and
6 and perhaps a dash of the propulsive
American symphonism of the 1940s and
1950s. Everything is resolutely tonal,
chiming and sometimes lithe in the
manner of Copland (8:03). At others
these pages surge with New Age energy
recalling Nyman and Glass but with
so much more going on. The ending
is in repose not in energy. The symphony
is played by the same forces who gave
the premiere.
The Second and Third
Symphonies are also single movement
constructs.
The Second Symphony
was premiered by the Melbourne Symphony
Orchestra conducted by Hiroyuki Iwaki
in April 1988. Much of the first part
is suggestive of the music of Prospero's
Island: Ravelian, a gentle web-like
benison. Things change at 4:20 where
an aggressive hammered beat disrupts
the idyll. Soon we return to the luminous
dream but this too gradually bows
out in face of a wave of triumphant
energy (6:46 and 10:20). This smacks
of the grandiloquence of Schuman and
Harris (17:50). Like the Microsymphony
this work happily migrates between
chamber micro-world and the epic-scale
ebullience and violence of a diorama.
The Third Symphony,
like the first, was premiered by the
late Stuart Challender and the Sydney
Symphony. It is the longest single
continuous structure in the set. The
initial brooding and intimations of
darkness with prophetic voices from
the brass recall the gloomier moments
in Bax's Fifth Symphony. Here that
voice is blended with the Bartók
of the Concerto for Orchestra.
A heavy marching tread, infinitely
weighty, can be heard at 6:15 but
this is soon atomised and disappears
into a pensive flute-led song at 7:03.
That tread enjoys a climactic epiphany
of sunny confidence at 10:12 only
to dissipate again - turning away
into reflection. Once again pastoral
woodwind solos are crucial, here joined
by solo violin at 18:01. A gale of
folklike electricity rushes through
the pages at 21:07 but again there
is a deflection into an idyll of bubbling
springs and the tintinnabulation of
birdsong (23:46 onwards). This builds
to a Beethovenian triumph of the skies
and a magnificently discordant brass
fanfare. Very impressive!
As remission from
the symphonies comes Celebrare
Celeberrime - a short piece
written for Isaiah Jackson who had
conducted the Vine Third Symphony
on his tour of Australia in 1991.
It's a flighty fast explosion of energy,
spurred by tom-toms, brass expostulation
and a stomped out conflagration worthy
of one of Panufnik's aggressive symphonic
movements. It was premiered by the
Ohio Dayton Philharmonic conducted
by Jackson.
On CD2 we get Symphony
4.2. The reference to 4.2 does
not make a link with Don Gillis's
Symphony No 5½. It reflects - as it
might with a new software release
- that the Symphony was revised and
that this is version 4.2 i.e. the
first revision. The original version
must be 4.1. The impression left by
the work is episodic proceeding by
way of parataxis. The episodes vary
from the dark subways of William Schuman's
string anthems to generously lyrical
songs as if from marine depths. The
lyrical aspect returns at the end
with a sweetly singing solo violin
wresting beauty from foreboding. This
smiling pastoralism has learnt a thing
or two from Finzi's Introit.
The Fifth Symphony
is for orchestra joined by a sizeable
percussion ensemble - hence the title.
After an angst-ridden introduction
a peaceful interlude enters with breathing
strings. This gives place to a Bernstein-like
scherzo ‘blast’ from 2:12 onwards.
This is syncopated, exciting stuff
with the percussionists acting as
goaders and hortators pour fuel on
a conflagration of propulsion. Strangely
enough the writing sounds Iberian
from time to time (3:40). We then
(8:40) reach a peaceable kingdom where
the vibraphone and marimba chime in
plangent entreaty. At 14:02 this gives
way to nightmare interjections by
the brass. The second part of the
Symphony pitches in with rude and
good-humoured rhythmic life. While
the dashing pay-off seems to me a
less than convincing denouement it
certainly makes for a breathtaking
close.
The Choral Symphony
is in five sections: 1. Introduction;
2. Enuma Elish (When on high); 3.
Eis Gen Metera Panton (To the Earth,
Mother of All); 4. Eis Selenen (To
the Moon); 5. Eis Helion (To the Sun).
This is an even better work blending
processional (as, for example, in
the wonderful Paul Paray Mass
as recorded by both Mercury and Grotto
Productions) with some extremely impressive
apocalyptic storms. Dynamic bongo
‘rushes’ and Orffian choruses punctuate
the work. Emphatically punched-out
massed strings and a half-Gallic spirituality,
touching on Fauré and Rutter,
leave the enduring impression of a
paregoric for tragedy.
These recordings
have all been issued before but happy
the music-lover who buys this set.
Not only is the price attractive but
the coupling makes eminent sense and
the music has a real compulsion, a
fixity of purpose and a very personal
sense of fantasy.
Rob Barnett
Comment received:
I can't now recall
the liner notes with the CD, but you
might like to amend a couple of items.
Symphonies 1 and 4 were both commissioned
and premiered by the Sydney Youth
Orchestra, not the Sydney Symphony
Orchestra. Which is a bit confusing
since Stuart Challender was resident
conductor of the SYO for MicroSymphony,
but was resident with the SSO by the
time Symphony No 2 (and 3) came about.
Symphony
4.2 does indeed follow the numbering
protocol of software revisions, in
which "x.1" generally denotes
a "bug-fix", while "x.2"
is often the first full-scale reworking.
As is the case in 4.2! (Version 4.1
was simply called "4" after
the premiere, but contained all of
the
basic corrections usually effected
after performance by real musicians).
You might also care to re-phrase
the paragraph on the Fifth Symphony,
which isn't altogether clear on the
use of the subtitle of the work -
"Percussion". In fact, I
generally refer to the titular works
by title rather than number ("Percussion
Symphony [no 5]") but music program
style guides, and my publisher, seem
to disagree.
With many thanks,
Carl Vine
Sydney Philharmonia Motet Choir (6) 
for
details
