Hear 175 East explore the fringes of experimental music and sound art

175 EAST ANNOUNCES AUGUST 2006 CONCERTS
A brand new work by up-and-coming New Zealand composer Samuel Holloway features in two concerts by Auckland's leading contemporary music ensemble 175 East in August.

175 East performs at the Hunter Council Chamber, Victoria University, Wellington on Saturday 19 August and at Hopetoun Alpha, Auckland on Sunday 20 August.

Director James Gardner says "Samuel Holloway is one of the most interesting composers in this country and I'm absolutely delighted that he's written such a substantial piece specially for the six core players of the group. It'll certainly stretch them, particularly our bass trombonist Tim Sutton who has a very demanding solo."

Here we are for a moment is Holloway's response to the work of the painter Francis Bacon. The composer says he seeks to capture Bacon's "underlying vitality, the malleability of his forms, and the continuing insistence of his vision."

Another painter, Gerhard Richter, provides the inspiration for Ausschnitte, ("details") a short, enigmatic trio by the young American composer Evan Johnson, whose work has been described as "intellectually, technically, and emotionally rich and assured."

"I'm thrilled that we will be joined for these concerts by two brilliant overseas guest performers", says Gardner, referring to the Australian pianist Mark Knoop, who now lives in London, and ex-pat Kiwi violinist Mark Menzies, a resident of Los Angeles.
Both feature in Trawl, a rich, multilayered work by leading British composer Richard Barrett. Gardner says "I've wanted 175 East to perform Trawl for some years, and both Marks are ideally suited to this music. Mark Knoop knows the piece well and he's the pianist in Richard's preferred recording of it."

"Knoop and Menzies both understand that Barrett's work, as Carl Rosman says, acquires much of its power from its interaction between sensuality and intellect."
Trawl is effectively a piano trio with additional flute and bass clarinet, and while it's certainly a product of our time, the composer concedes that "the listener might momentarily perceive a faint glint from Schubert's spectacles."

Australian composer Damien Ricketson will attend the Wellington rehearsals and performance of his Trace Elements, scored for any combination of two wind and two string instruments.

"It's a beautiful and fascinating piece", says Gardner. "Damien uses tablature to communicate the players' finger movements, rather than specifying the pitches in the conventional way. It's always good to be able to work with the composers on the pieces we perform, particularly ones like this where the result depends so much on the choice of instruments, as well as the disciplined approach the players need to adopt towards the freedoms allowed in the score."

Larry Goves is one of the rising young stars in the British new music scene and his swerving with the weave was also written specifically for 175 East. "Larry imaginatively splits the six players into two physically separated trios and then lets them coalesce and fragment in different ways," says Gardner.

"It's a marvellously subtle and well-crafted piece and in under five minutes he draws ingeniously on the wide palette of sounds that this ensemble offers the composer for the benefit of the listener.

Bill Hopkins is the only non-living composer represented in 175 East's programme. This British composer died in 1981 at the tragically early age of 37.
The 175 East director looks forward to hearing Mark Menzies' interpretation of Hopkins' intense, distilled solo piece Pendant, a piece Paul Griffiths described in The Times as "wondrously beautiful: ...a masterpiece".

"Pendant is a deeply intriguing and intimate work", explains Gardner "It's an inward-looking study in instability that nevertheless manages to draw on external references: the song of a Cornish blackbird in the first section is answered by a Manx one in the last."

"Ultimately though, the programme notes and explanations of all of the music we play can only take you so far. All we ask is that the audience listens with open ears and an open mind.

175 East currently comprises six players under the baton of conductor Hamish McKeich. For these concerts the core sextet of Ingrid Culliford (flutes), Gretchen Dunsmore (clarinets), Andrew Uren (bass clarinet), Tim Sutton (bass trombone), Katherine Hebley (cello), and Daniel Stabler (double bass) is joined by virtuoso guests Mark Knoop (piano) and Mark Menzies (violin).

Programme (not in running order)
Richard Barrett (UK) 1959- Trawl (1995-97)
lost (2004)
Larry Goves (UK) 1980- swerving with the weave (2006)
Samuel Holloway (NZ) 1981- Here we are for a moment (2006)
Bill Hopkins (UK) 1943-1981 Pendant (1968-9 rev. 1973)
Evan Johnson (USA) 1980- clutch (2005)
Ausschnitte (2003)
Damien Ricketson (Aus) 1973- Trace Elements (2003/6)

More details at http://www.175east.co.nz