Reviewed Sunday 22nd September 2013
Heart to Heart was a concert of two very different cycles of love songs by Adelaide composer, David Kotlowy. The first was for guitar and tenor, whilst the other was for a small Javanese gamelan group, tenor, and soprano.
The first song cycle,
Koibitotachi (The Lovers) was performed by tenor, Robert Macfarlane, and guitarist, Alexandr Tsiboulski, who have performed together in the past as Duo Trystero, so the artistic rapport that they have built up over the years was in evidence in their noticeable agreement on how each of the seventeen songs should be presented.
Kotlowy took poems by several Japanese writers, one by
e. e. cummings, and added some verses of his own, then arranged them as a series of letters between two lovers, a Japanese woman and a Frenchman, written in their native languages.
There is a delicate sparseness, even a fragility to these songs, which are built on a number of different scales and involve occasional unconventional tunings on the guitar, with playing techniques sometimes imitating the sounds of traditional Japanese instruments, the koto (a type of zither) and the biwa (a type of lute). Tsiboulski has a beautifully light touch that suits these sections perfectly, and his great technical skill and strong involvement with these pieces is a delight to hear.
Macfarlane, too, engages with the sections in a variety of ways, obviously treating the Japanese and French sections differently, but finding a wealth of emotional variation that his expressive interpretations illuminate with great clarity. The timbre of his voice varies subtly between songs, some of which are declaimed, rather than sung, and the balance achieved with Tsiboulski's playing is impeccable.
Kotlowy has created a superbly coherent and captivating set of songs that capture the imagination and draw the audience into the lives of the two correspondents. His minimalist compositional style suits the content and fits hand in glove with the poetry and, with luck, this concert might get repeated in the near future for those unable to attend this time.
Lagu Cinta (Love Songs) the second song cycle, following a short interval, brought together Gamelan in Situ, in which Kotlowy played the larger tuned bronze gongs, known as saron and slenthem, with Robert Macfarlane, and his wife, soprano, Kate Macfarlane. With a song cycle about love, sung in Javanese, these two singers were the ideal choice, their occasional glances and smiles telling even those who might not have already known, that they have not been married very long. The songs draw on the love poems of Sitok Srengenge, and the gamelan accompaniment is a blend of traditional and modern writing.
The other gamelan performers were Emily Rustanto, gendèr, Guy Tunstil, kenong, kempul and gong, Hannah Tunstill, bonang barung, Julian Tunstill, saron and gendèr, and Margret Eusope, bonang panerus. In more familiar western terms, apart from the larger gongs, there are keyboard percussion instruments, with resonators below the bars, some with wooden bars and some with metal bars, as well as banks of smaller, tuned gongs.
Kotlowy is no newcomer to composing for gamelan, have written some wonderful music for
In Lieu, a dance work by Ade Suharto that was presented in the OzAsia Festival two years ago. Kotlowy also wore another of his hats for that performance, as a fine player of the shakuhachi, the Japanese end blown flute. Gamelan in Situ was also formed especially for that performance.
The songs are settings of poems describing the feelings for, and relationships between the lovers in terms of nature. Again, Kotlowy has captured the essence of the poetry and created a moving cycle, that Kate and Robert Macfarlane invest with a great deal of feeling, both for the songs, and for each other, adding to the authenticity of this superb performance.
The set is dressed simply but effectively, with furnishings from Made in Japan, a Japanese paper screen dominating, along with artwork by Jumaadi. Sue Grey-Gardner has come up with another of her excellent lighting designs adding warmth and colour to complement the words and music.
Kotlowy has written two emotionally charged and enlightening song cycles, and the performers have done him proud. It was no wonder that he was looking so happy during the heavy applause at the end of this heart-warming concert.
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