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2002-08-04 - 8:17 p.m. Sorry I didn't post anything yesterday... what a busy day! We all woke up bright and early to appear on ABC Radio National's The Music Show live from the Powerhouse. At the end of the show, I did a little demo on one of the Pioneer CDJ 1000s for all of Australia. I was terrified, but everyone says it sounded ok. Listen to the archive to see for yourself! There was just enough time to squeeze in a late breakfast, some administrative stuff, a public forum on minimalist composers held by Andrew Ford, and a soundcheck before the evening's great marathon of concerts began. Cathedral Band was first, and this time we played for only an hour with all of our guests from the week. Sulagna Basu was on fire this time, much more vocal than she'd been in the previous concert and she had lots of good interplay with Tenzin, who is superman in my eyes. (ears?) My favorite moment I think was when they sang one short melody each and I inserted Jarrad Powell's voice (from a bit of a piece by my friend Stephen Fandrich). It was a perfect balance. I want more moments like that. Simone de Haan also did some nice things and made some surprisingly cool noises with his trombone, while William Barton and Stuart Dempster were running 'tings at the low end for a fullness we hadn't previously reached. I can't wait to hear the recordings. Backstage there was a pleasant surprise - Toshi had fixed the most delicious spread of foor for us all in the Green Room. Among asian delicacies, tiny sandwiches, olives, and fruit, I tried my first caper berries; I'd never had them before and I loved them. I snuck in a quick call home and heard some kitten purrs. Topology then had the first half of their concert, which included world and Australian premieres of some great and difficult music. Highlights were William Duckworth's Mysterious Numbers, which I heard the premiere of at Cornish in 1996; a piece by Stuart Dempster and one by Warren Burt; a fast and stereo duet between bass and bassoon which I loved; and some very pretty stuff that I'd like to name, but I didn't get a program so I'm not sure of the order things were in. Anyway Topology as an ensemble (and as small ensembles and duets) are so tight, so utterly comfortable playing with each other, I was very impressed. And what a lucky baby, in the belly of the first violinist! Her mommy is very good. In the middle Kyle Gann performed his haunting "Custer and Sitting Bull" in between, which I find hard to listen to for good reasons. It's a little in your face, and very very male. It's also based in just intonation dissonance, as opposed to equal tempered like we're used to in the traditional western "piano" scale. The turbine hall, with it's huge resonant space, was the perfect place for it. I'm sure all us Americans went back into the theatre with more than a little guilty feeling, especially in light of current events. And so, at the end of the night, I closed out the festival with a loud and late set of drum and bass, which finally drew a decent crowd. Various performers and guest musicians from the week got plowed and danced around or smoked cigars on the back stairs, and the hardworking Powerhouse staff, I dare say, finally took a well-deserved break. We all went a good hour later than planned, and everyone had a good time. Today I slept in all morning (I've had a tummyache), and then this evening we all went to Morgan's birthday party at the Myrtha(?) Bowls Club down the street.
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