Ensemble Offspring | Lumen Machine
12 April, 2025, ACO Neilsen Theatre, Sydney, 12 April 2025
PROGRAM
Brigitta Muntendorf: Weight and Load #2*
Zubin Kanga: From the Machine*
Amanda Cole: Dream Garden*
Anna Meredith: Bumps Per Minute (arr. Jessica Wells)
Tristan Coelho: Hot Take*
ARTISTS
Claire Edwardes: Artistic Director, percussion
Zubin Kanga: piano, keyboard, electronics
Lamorna Nightingale: flutes
Jason Noble: clarinets
Véronique Serret: violin
Blair Harris: cello
Benjamin Carey: sound and live electronics
Veronique Bennett: set and lighting design
Ensemble Offspring is celebrating its thirtieth year with this concert. It is arguably Sydney’s premier group for the performance of new music and here they present five works all recently written, four of which* are world premiers.
In Brigitta Muntendorf’s Weight and Load #2 we have the usual lineup of Offspring instruments (piano, flutes, clarinet, violin, cello and percussion) supplemented with infrared sensors and lasers. The piece is inspired by Stockhousen’s Piano Piece IX, constantly throbbing and pulsing and punctuated with many short melodic fragments. What immediately catches the eye is that Kanga is pumping his hands onto laser sensors which are controlling the electronic generation of percussive piano textures. Although the pulsing is constant, cross-rhythms from the percussion add to a feeling of instability, further enhanced by the smoke and red lighting. My inability to make much sense of the composer’s notes about the piece in the program did not stop me from enjoying and being impressed by the performance.
Zubin Kanga’s piece From the Machine is a piece for solo keyboards and live electronics inspired by the work of American composer Julius Eastman. Kanga wore an electronic sensor ring which modified the sounds of the keyboards in pitch, tone colour and volume by the three dimensional movement of his hand, adding a depth to his already impressive keyboard playing. Again a throbbing texture gave this work a momentum with a mesmerising feeling added by the electronics and lighting.
Amanda Cole is a composer and lecturer in composition at the Sydney Conservatorium. Her work Dream Garden is scored for the full ensemble with the addition of a specialised keyboard instrument called a “solo Lumatone keyboard” which is capable of playing quarter tones, dividing the octave into 48 rather than 12 intervals. This makes for an interesting interplay with the other instruments. The violin and cello with their fretless fingerboards have infinite scope for microtones; the flutes and clarinets have a slight ability to bend the pitch by overblowing. The tuned percussion is however firmly fixed to 12 semitones per octave. One might expect horrendous dissonance (akin to being out of tune) with these discrepancies, but Cole creates a gentle, emotionally nudging journey without any overt dissonance. This is a beautiful work, and it was sensitively performed.
Anna Meredith in Bumps Per Minute uses dodgem cars as her inspiration. There are four movements, Joy Subdivision, Deep Thought Panda, Norcanoe and Tom Cruise Runs. The work is reasonably traditional in that it is scored for vibraphone, keyboard and a pre-prepared backing track. As in much of this concert, rhythmic throbbing is a constant. The pitched sounds, with the furious paced pulsing, concentrated more on traditional harmonic sequences than melody. The word “Bumps” in the title is really just a play on words (bpm) alluding to a theme park vibe rather than actual dodgem collisions. Green strobe lighting added to the excitement. Kanga and Edwardes genuinely captured the fun mood in this music and obviously revelled in playing it too.
The final work, Tristan Coelho’s Hot Take was scored for the whole ensemble on solo piano, keyboard, Genki Wave ring, flute, bass clarinet, violin, cello, percussion and live electronics. Again the ring on Kanga’s finger modified the blanket electronic sounds with interjections from the amplified acoustic instruments. Syncopated swingy rhythms sometimes gave a jazzy feel and at other times there were strong strident interjections and frantic movement. There was a lyrical violin feature, beautifully played by Serret before the final wild conflagration.
Ensemble Offspring deserves its reputation of leading the performance of new music in Sydney. They are ever willing to try new works, and to commission them. They perform with joy, enthusiasm and great skill. Their performances here were certainly challenging for the performers, but they maintained constant interest and enjoyment. As far as the listeners are concerned, it would be entertaining just to let the music wash over you, but attentive listening offered a depth that led to a more profound intellectual satisfaction, as well as enjoyment.
It is a privilege to be able to attend Ensemble Offspring’s concerts. This one was an impressive achievement.
Photo credit: Oliver Miller
