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ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 48| December 2000
Musical interludes at the Library
Larry Sitskycomposer, pianist and researcher
The Library holds a veritable treasure-trove of materials that preserve and bring to life the world of music and music-making in Australia and beyond. In October the National Library highlighted these music collections through a featured month of public music events. The events featured different aspects of the Librarys role in collecting and preserving Australian and overseas music, and were presented in association with the Canberra School of Music, Australian National University.
The Curator of Music, Robyn Holmes, established the theme for the month, in her Spotlight Talk Why Collect Music? She argued that music has significance both for the intrinsic value of music to people and for the way music documents Australias social and creative history. She demonstrated this with numerous historical examples from the 19th century to the present, with sound, scores and images drawn from the printed music, folklore, manuscript, pictorial and ephemera collections.
The extraordinary research collections of early editions of music held by the Library were brought to life with consummate wit and elegance in a twilight lecture recital Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven at the Fortepiano by one of Australias leading scholar-performers Geoffrey Lancaster, with associate artist Colleen Rae-Gerrard. The acoustic and aesthetic ideals of the late 18th century were recreated in the marble foyer, as Geoffrey and Colleen delighted an overflowing audience with four hand sonatas performed in an historically informed manner.
Larry Sitsky, one of Australias most distinguished composers, pianists and researchers, explored the importance of the published and unpublished Australian piano music scores held in the Music Collection and of composers autograph scores held in the Manuscript Section. His research for his ARC-funded project (with Ruth Lee Martin) on the history of Australian piano music, so well documented by the National Librarys holdings, revealed the significance of the work of Australias older as well as contemporary composers. In addition, his witty playing of piano sheet music that was popularised in the homes of many Australians for generations revived aurally the era of an earlier Australia, as he accompanied images from silent films and newsreels, newly edited by film-maker Gary Kildea.
The first of many planned musical dialogues at the National
Library was initiated at a Sunday afternoon event. This dialogue
took place between Peter Sculthorpe, arguably Australias most
internationally recognised composer, and John Metcalf, a visiting Welsh
composer who, as the artistic director of the Vale of Glamorgan Festival
in Wales, is devoting the 2001 Festival to the work of living Australian
composers. Both composers discussed and compared notes about their search
for musical inspiration in the places, mythology and history of their
respective nations. Their ideas were given musical expression through the
performance of two works by each composer by the cellist David Pereira and
pianist Susanne Powell, both of whom have given many first performances of
new Australian works. The audience willingly participated in the open
forum that followed, raising interesting questions and ideas about the
extent to which music is able to express the spirit, identity or culture
of a nation.
Robyn Holmes
Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: dthomas@nla.gov.au