Resonate Magazine | Australian Music Centre

Image: Hong Kong Skyline  

The large proportion of works from Asian countries was, for me, an interesting feature of this year’s ISCM festival, particularly because it’s clear that this was not merely a result of the host country being Hong Kong. The shift away from Europe has been a long time coming, as ISCM President Dr Richard Tsang explains:

A demonstration of the creative energy coming out of Asia was evident in the very first concert of the festival. Performed by the long-established Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra (made up entirely of Chinese instruments), the concert consisted of new and recent avant-garde works. I found the instrumental sonorities startlingly fresh, and the performances superbly authoritative.

The first Chinese orchestras were created by the communist regime in the '60s as a propaganda tool, to create a Chinese equivalent of the Western orchestra. Gradually the Chinese orchestra achieved an artistic life outside politics. In the 1988 ISCM World Music Days (held in Hong Kong for the first time), the festival embarked on a major project to encourage new compositions; the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra has since commissioned over 1,700 works. Almost all of the other soloists and ensembles in this year’s Festival were also experienced Asian-based performers.

The selection process for inclusion in the program is also an interesting aspect of the festival. The issue of quality versus democracy seems to currently be the major issue facing the organisation. The number of ISCM member countries is increasing fast, and it’s feared that quality is being threatened by the need to include pieces from all members in every festival. In an effort to address the issue, the ISCM has changed the process for choosing works. Previously, works were submitted by individual countries then judged by an international panel. More responsibility for selection will now be given to the individual countries, with the international panel merely ‘curating’ the works. The idea is to increase quality and make the festival more representative of the aesthetics and activities of each member country. I wonder, though, if this is the real problem? While the World Music Days might have once premiered iconic works from ‘history book composers’, there is not that same feeling today. But I wonder whether those pieces exist anywhere in the world right now?

Time, of course, will tell. For myself, I admit the quality of pieces was not as high as I had expected, but I did learn a great deal: the types of works people are composing, then more detailed aspects of elements such as structure and pacing. And I made some wonderful friendships. There was a fatigue factor too: after 156 pieces (and about as many dinner and drink engagements) and 23 concerts in 10 venues over 11 days, even works by Carl Stalling would have sounded stale.

There were some striking highlights though – works that, as most people I spoke to agreed, stood out from the pack. My favourite work was Eight Metal Strings (2007) for solo mandolin and mixed ensemble by Martijn Padding, a Dutch composer who studied with Louis Andriessen. The style of the piece was a cross between works by Donatoni and Copland’s Hoedown. Angular gestures were teased out with modernist rigour, yet the harmonies were bright and tonally generous. The percussion section featured a bicycle pump – an element the composer used with humour and interest without it seeming gratuitous. Other highlights included James Wood’s De telarum mechanicae (2007) – a forensic examination of self-similar textures for mixed ensemble, and Matsushita Isao’s A Time for Prayer (2005) – a reflective, beautifully economical work for two violins and orchestra.

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