OzAsia Festival. Space Theatre. 18 Sep 2013
“You will either love us or hate us” quips cellist Leslie Tan.
And the audience loved them, but this is no ordinary quartet. Yes, they play the usual instruments – two violins, a viola and a cello – but they also throw in the occasional use of a (symphonic) gong, triangle, tam tam drum and pre-recorded drone-like sounds (I couldn’t quite place the instrument). Mix this with eastern and western compositions and the result is... well… not at all ordinary. It is far from that. The resulting music is contemplative as well as provoking.
It’s not your usual string quartet concert.
It is Kronos Quartet goes East.
It is Oz Asia.
T’ang has been around since 1992 and they have been innovating and pushing the boundaries of the quartet genre for all that time. They are accomplished musicians but, not unlike Kronos, they choose to focus mainly on new music and all that, that means.
Their programme for Oz Asia comprised six pieces of varying lengths inspired by rituals from eastern and western traditions. The earlier pieces were almost austere: sparing in their colour and texture, with a mix of non-western modes and more ‘typically western sounding’ musical keys.
The T’ang experience is not only aural – it is visual as well. The concert began with only the cellist on stage playing an austere figure, to which was added the other instruments that remained off-stage. They eventually emerged from the gloom into the pool of dappled light at centre stage, as if they were being called to prayer by an Imam.
As the concert progressed the texture of the works broadened moving closer to western styles and sounds. There were hints of English folk songs and even of Philip Glass in the almost hypnotic and repetitive rhythms in parts of “Feet Unbound”, which spoke to us about the plight of many of the Chinese Red Army’s female soldiers of the Long March who had been subjected to the cruel tradition of feet-binding.
The concert concluded with three compositions by Elena Kats-Chernin, including the ever popular and catchy Eliza’s Aria from the ballet score Wild Swans.
Great music has been written for string quartets for centuries, and still is. Long may ensembles like T’ang continue to seek the leading edge!
Kym Clayton
When: Closed
Where: The Space Theatre
Bookings: Closed
