Lisa Illean’s arcing, stilling, bending, gathering for piano, string ensemble of 12 players and pre-recorded sounds will receive its world premiere on 21 April at the Melbourne Recital Centre from pianist Aura Go and musicians from ANAM. Violinist Emma McGrath leads the ensemble, with the electronics realised by Tilman Robinson.
The 19-minute piece was commissioned by UKARIA, Finding Our Voice and Britten Sinfonia. Illean is an Associate Artist of the Australian Music Centre, who interviewed her about this latest piece here. arcing, stilling, bending, gathering opens sparsely and quietly. The ensemble is arranged into smaller groups – satellites—or layers—of sound heard only in part. Glacial chords and floating tapestries of sound mingle, with a constantly shifting sense of focus.
Illean’s ensemble of 12 strings is arranged into three string quartets. Two use standard instrumentation, but the third consists of double bass and violins/viola that are retuned to unique non-tempered tunings. Likewise, Illean calls on Aura Go to strum the open strings of a scordatura guitar, as well as play the piano.
Illean describes the piece as “a very personal contemplation of the moments of kinship and tenderness that balance the immensity of the world we inhabit.” The piece is partly inspired by Illean’s recollection of two films by Sergei Eisenstein, in which fleeting reflections appear on shop windows; Illean’s music elaborates these ideas of superimposed transparent layers that shift, blur and transform, also a feature of her 2018 piece Weather a Rare Blue.
The pre-recorded sound files for arcing, stilling, bending, gathering were created with David Lefeber and Explore Ensemble in June 2022. Their recording of the piece for piano, chamber ensemble of five players and pre-recorded sounds will be released on 26 May this year, alongside Cassandra Miller’s Perfect Offering, through Huddersfield Contemporary Records.