Ensemble Offspring | Klänge – Concert 1 of 6 – Synesthesia
January 10, 2024, Art Gallery of NSW
For the next few weeks in the heart of Sydney the Art Gallery of New South Wales is playing host to a series of free concerts celebrating the importance of music to the art and thought of Vasily Kandinsky. The first of the series curated by the dynamic Claire Edwardes, Artistic Director of Ensemble Offspring, was Synesthesia, a program inspired by the intersection of sound and colour.
As I grabbed my drink from the bar and settled onto my surprisingly comfy pop-up stool amid the growing crowd there was a vibrant energy, the atmosphere was positively charged with the promise of a sensorially rich experience and boy, did it deliver.
The concert started with a bang! The world premiere of Paris-based Australian composer Alice Chance’s Colourburst a minimalist work that resonated from the first down beat and built into a joyful, dance-like rhythm. The interplay of clarinet, violin, piano, marimba and vibraphone conjured images (for me at least) of gathering storm clouds in a vibrant sunset trailing wisps of mist as the colours merge and disperse in a synesthetic journey that perhaps reflected the composer’s own experience. Kudos to violinist Alexandra Osborne who doubled on percussion with her shell anklet.
Jason Noble then took centre stage with Olivier Messiaen’s Abyss of the Birds. The clarinet solo unfolded with deep, contemplative notes, transporting the listeners from a place of melancholy into a realm of joy, rainbows and jubilant birdsong. This was a peaceful piece, extremely hard to pull off in a veritably bustling public gallery, but Noble’s flawless execution captured the oftentimes transient audience’s attention and held it, despite the buzzing atmosphere.
Noble’s final notes transitioned expertly into Gyorgy Ligeti’s Continuum featuring Claire Edwardes on vibraphone and Niki Johnson on marimba who were captivating to watch and listen to as they navigated Ligeti’s ‘paradoxically continuous sounds’ which he famously described as ‘the sonic version of innumerable slices of salami’. I got it, I think… it was like the audio equivalent of layers upon layers of sound building to a pulsating, and absolutely earsplitting, crescendo. Impeccable playing, high fives all round were accompanied by whoops from the gathered audience.
Three movements from George Crumb’s Makrokosmos Book 1, performed by viruoso pianist Sonya Lifschitz, elevated the concert to an almost multidimensional realm. The piano became a canvas for virtually every imaginable pianistic tone colour including dramatically plucked string flourishes as she stood, delving into the guts of the instrument, and touched what seemed to me like every one of its 88 keys, turning the performance into a captivating blend of visual, dramatic, and musical art forms. Genius.
The concert’s climax arrived with emerging Australian composer William Gardiner’s Hebbian Theory which means simply, as Edwards explained, that “neurons that fire together, wire together”. I immediately thought of that synchronising metronomes YouTube video (worth a quick google). The trio of violin, clarinet, and piano demonstrated a unique synergy, with each instrument playing at its own tempo and tune before converging into a harmonious conversation. The final movement, as Noble switched to bass clarinet, brought a pulsating wave of communication, almost like a sonic representation of resonating frequencies intertwining – magical stuff and perfectly chosen to bring the concert to a close.
Throughout the hour long performance the audience were drawn in like moths to a light, including random gallery-goers whose attention was caught and held firm. The connection between the music and Kandinsky’s artwork became evident, creating a collaborative whole where each note, each colour, and each brushstroke contributes to a kind of symphony of senses.
Synesthesia seemed at times to blur the lines between auditory and visual art. Ensemble Offspring’s masterful interpretations, coupled with the unique venue of the Art Gallery, transformed the evening into a celebration of the profound connection between sound and colour — an artistic synergy if you will, that was applauded loud and long.
There are five more concerts in this series, I urge you, do not miss this… each Wednesday evening until Valentine’s Day there will be a different program at the gallery, and all look as exciting as this opening concert. I will definitely be back for more!
