The Call of the Four Winds: an Australian Diary
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THE CALL OF THE FOUR WINDS: AN AUSTRALIAN DIARY FIRST READ ABOUT THE “Call of the Four I Winds,” Australia’s Fifth National Re- corder Festival, in an article by Nick Horn, “Recorders in Borderland: The Recorder and World Music in Australia,” posted on Nicholas Lander’s Recorder Home Page, <www.iinet.net.au/~nickl/fusion.html> (subsequently published in Recorder and Early Music, No. 22, 1998). I was pleasantly surprised to find that the author had quoted from the liner notes of my Landscapes CD: The recorder has a close relationship to certain folk and ethnic instruments whose music stems from an oral tradition: indeed, much of Early Music either re-elaborates aspects of popular culture or becomes synonymous with it. The article suggested that the recorder is establishing a territory within the realm of “world music” and described the work of several Australian recorder players, in- cluding Greg Dikmans, Rodney Water- man, Zana Clarke, and Racheal Cogan, who (with others) exemplify “a growing trend to expand the musical world of the January 16-18 and January 20-22, and an Why so many traveled so far recorder through collaboration and syn- international competition held its finals during the last three days. The teaching to share so much thesis with other instruments and tradi- and to have so much fun tions.” was organized so that each tutor had two It then described plans for the Festival, “streams” (home groups), one for each quoting from the stated objectives pub- three-day period, and two electives. by David Bellugi lished by its producer, Orpheus 2000, Inc.: Streams included not only recorder, but al- so bansuri, panpipes, pipe and tabor, que- [The festival] aims to explore the recorder with na, shakuhachi, Irish whistle, composi- a variety of activities to enhance its profile and tion, harpsichord, introduction to impro- performance possibilities. The festival will also include other woodwinds such as the Japanese visation, choir, “rhythm in the bones,” flute (Shakuhachi), the South American flutes Renaissance court dance, and recorder (Quena and Panpipes), the Indian flute making. (Bansuri) and the Whistle, giving participants Electives included captivating subjects an opportunity to specialize or integrate the and titles such as Medieval music, Renais- many similar techniques employed by those in- sance music, Baroque performance prac- struments. tice, contemporary music, ensemble play- Later, as an invited participant, I ing, “recorder and all that jazz,” Eastern learned that the Festival was the brainchild European music, Venezuelan music, re- of Zana Clarke and Caroline Downer, co- corder technique, teaching the recorder, directors of Orpheus 2000, Inc. It took beginner’s whistle, Australian folk band, place from January 15 to 22 and was at- history and philosophy of shakuhachi, be- tended by well over 400 participants and ginner shakuhachi, panpipe making, be- 40 tutors. During the Festival, there were ginner quena, West Asian music, West seven concerts, one every evening except African ensemble drumming, global trends for Wednesday, a rest day. The teaching in the music of North India, frame drum, was organized in two three-day periods, beginner recorder, singing for pleasure, March 2000 7 tani, and Rodney Waterman, all of whom I CALL OF THE FOUR WINDS FESTIVAL already knew. We went into town for lunch, where I was introduced to Bernard holistic music (including overtone Friday, January 14 Wells, a New Zealand recorder player and singing), acoustics, Renaissance Court As I was about to get on the plane from guitarist, and to Linsey Pollack and dancing, music arrangement, music edit- Sydney to Armidale, N.S.W., where the Matthew Armstrong, both of whom make ing, recorder orchestra, masterclasses, Festival was taking place, someone tapped and invent instruments as well as perform. small chamber groups, dance band, Latin me on the shoulder. It was Aldo Abreu! We In the evening, New Zealand recorder American music, massed whistle, apparently stayed over in the same hotel builder Alec Loretto made a cheerful en- shakuhachi small groups, secrets of without knowing it. On the plane, we trance. After a briefing for the tutors, I met polyrhythm, unconventional orchestra catch up on each other’s lives. Aldo, the Natasha Anderson (student of Walter van (including inventing instruments!), per- proud father, shows me photos of his beau- Hauwe), Ulrike Volkhardt (student of Fer- forming with tape/CD/DAT/multi-channel tiful daughter Marisol. We discuss the joys dinand Conrad, one of my heroes when I systems, collective improvisation from of having children and being a parent. We was a student), Greg Dikmans (whose CD graphic notation, microtonality and pitch then get to talking about music, in particu- Breath of Creation [with Anne Norman] is a bending, historical sound documents, the lar about the Bach partita that Aldo won remarkable blend of Western and Oriental improvisatory art of the giullari, the “In the Bruges competition with in 1984, music alternately played on recorder, Nomines” of Elizabethan England, pop/- which I have to perform for the first time in Baroque flute, and shakuhachi), Ruth crossover ensemble, shakuhachi making, Berlin in a few months. Wilkinson (recorder and viola da gamba bossa nova, drums of the Middle East, In- After a relatively short time we arrived teacher at the University of Melbourne—I donesian gamelan music, harmonic in Armidale and were driven to the New had met her husband John Stinson, an ex- singing, and “Finding Amadeus,” a brief England Girl’s School, where the work- pert on 14th-century Italian music, when introduction to the history of music. shop was to take place and where we were he was at the Villa I Tatti in Florence), Stu- What follows are excerpts from a diary housed. I finally met Zana and Caroline, art Ransom (shakuhachi), Charles Garth I kept while in Australia. the organizers of the Festival. Zana was (an early dance specialist who works often very pregnant! She told us that the baby with John Tyson), Ros Bandt (who de- was due on Wednesday, the day off! (The scribes herself as a composer who does baby was born one day later.) Caroline sound sculptures), and others. studied viola da gamba and recorder with Ruth Wilkinson at the University of Mel- Saturday, January 15 bourne and earned an M.F.A. degree study- Breakfast: We all had a laugh when Alec ing early music instrumental collections Loretto jokingly mentioned how the around the world. Robyn Mellor, artistic Moeck ceramic blocks would dissolve after director of the Canberra-based musical or- being played by “boozy” recorder players. ganization Gaudeamus, was already there, Aldo replied, “That’s what we call ‘playing as were John Tyson, his wife Miyuki Tsuru- under the influence’.” The discussion continued about breath At left, Caroline Downer (left) and pressure and shading tricks for dynamics. Zana Clarke with David Bellugi. Below, During conversation, the name of Frans Ben Thorn, center, welcomes Brüggen comes up. Alec recalled a recent John Tyson, left, and Aldo Abreu. visit to his house in Tuscany, the interest- ing topics they covered, and the commit- ment of Frans to the orchestras he regular- ly conducts. Morning tea: I bought John Martin’s The Acoustics of the Recorder and John Mansfield Thomson’s The Cambridge Com- panion to the Recorder. French recorder builder Philippe Bolton arrives. Afternoon: I bought the Zen-On edition of Fred Morgan’s drawing of Frans Brüggen’s recorders. The drawings them- selves are works of art! I attended the com- petition semifinals and managed to hear three people play: Kara Ciezki, Amy Power, and Alexandra Williams. I found all three players highly original, each one very dif- ferent and individual in terms of style and choice of ornamentation. I’m impressed when I find out that they are all three stu- dents of the same teacher, Ruth Wilkinson. Evening: The Festival began with a con- 8 American Recorder cert by Aldo accompanied by harpsi- chordist Rosalind Halton in a program of Genevieve Lacey Latin-American based music, plus Bach. Genevieve Lacey was born in New Guinea in 1972. In 1980 she Aldo, despite having just arrived two days moved to Australia. After studying with Ruth Wilkinson at earlier, showed impeccable technique and Melbourne University—where she graduated in January 1995 played some of his very interesting with majors in recorder, oboe, and English literature—she went to arrangements of Zipoli, Cabanilles, and Basel, where she studied with Michel Piguet. Starting in 1996, Correa de Arauxo. We all held our breath she studied with Dan Laurin in Denmark for two years. Shortly as Aldo played the Bach Partita...perfectly. after returning to Australia, she put together a 25-concert tour of Australia with a Our ears perk up when Aldo (purposeful- Danish percussionist. Halfway through her tour, she got a call from the director of ly) took an early repeat in the second half the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, who said that a soloist had taken ill and of the last movement by eliminating some asked if she would play three major concertos in three weeks’ time (Vivaldi’s C measures the first time through in order to major and C minor and the Sammartini). As a result of her success, the ABC create a coda out of the last few measures. Classics label offered her two recordings, one with Linda Kent (Baroque Piracy) and He also gave us a beautiful rendition of one with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. For this disc, rather than doing the Corelli’s “La Follia,” played with a unity of usual catalog of Vivaldi concertos, she constructed a Vivaldi opera he never wrote, thought, as if it were one, long, extended interspersed with recitatives, arias, and tempests.