matthew hindson: modern objects

Matthew Hindson: Modern Objects

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Naoko Miyamoto

Kenneth Young

Matthew Hindson: Modern ObjectsNew Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Naoko Miyamoto

Kenneth Young

A Symphony of Modern Objects (Symphony No 1) (2003)

1. Silicon Revolution 5:55

2. Spirit Song 8:25

3. Twisted ladders 12:48

4. Vietnam War Memorial 6:44

Violin Concerto No 1 (Australian Postcards) (2000)

5. Wind Turbine at Kooragang Island

10:53

6. Westaway 10:57

7. Grand Final Day 6:01

8. Headbanger (2001) 15:21

Total Duration 75.04

Publisher: Faber Music Ltd, London Copyright clearance via AMCOS

2008 Trust Records International Ltd 2008 Trust Records International Ltd

Fiona Hall, Ascerbic, 1996oil on canvas, 29x24cm, the collection of Gillian and Roderick Deane

COuRTeSy OF THe ARTIST AnD ROSLyn OxLey9 GALLeRy

Cover: Fiona HallDetail from Sovereign Risk, 1997gouache on Daphne paper56x80cm


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Fiona Hall, [detail] Corypha Umbraculifera, Thulapparai (Sri Lanka), 1997

aluminum and tin, 25x12x3cmCOuRTeSy OF THe ARTIST AnD ROSLyn OxLey9 GALLeRy


Commissioned by Ars Musica Australis to celebrate the fiftieth birthday of Father Arthur Bridge for first performance by the Australian Youth Orchestra

People often ask composers, “when are you going to write a symphony?”. The symphonic form has made something of a comeback in recent times, with composers such as Carl Vine writing six of them and Ross Edwards four. In my case I have not

necessarily thought of the Symphony in its traditional meaning, but rather as a a collective noun for an encompassing set

of movements for orchestra. In this way, the overall architecture of A Symphony of Modern Objects

is perhaps more closely related to the classical symphonies of Haydn and Mozart than the gigantically unified architectures envisaged by Bruckner or Mahler.

In almost all of my musical explorations to date, I have been interested in writing music about the

culture and society of today. Each movement of A Symphony of Modern Objects deals with one aspect,

or one set of aspects of contemporary culture.

Many of the most incredible changes in our lives over the past 10-20 years have been due to the advent of computers - a silicon revolution. They have transformed much of our work and leisure environments in fundamental ways. Personal

computers are in a majority of homes around the world. People communicate rapidly and easily

across the world using modems and the internet. In our leisure time, we may play handheld computer

games or listen to electronically-generated forms of music (sometimes onomatopoeically derided as “inch” music). Computers have

made everything, including our lives in general, seem so much faster, whizzing past before we’ve had a chance to really digest what’s going on. All

of these characteristics have been portrayed in the first movement of this work.

Perhaps as a result of this burgeoning speed, in recent years there has emerged a new form of spirituality, that of the New Age Movement. A new genre of music has correspondingly evolved, namely New Age music. New Age music is not a heterogeneous genre, but in broad terms, its characteristics are: “a contemporary music which is physically relaxing... Rhythmic or tonal movements animate the experience of flying, floating, cruising, gliding, or hovering within the auditory space... employing natural outdoor ambiences - sounds of water, birds, insects, thunder, etc... the major effect of this music is to take the listener out of their body or at least out of their normal sound environment... attempting to convey the listener inward and upward to higher planes of consciousness... Continuous drones or slowly changing, endlessly repeated rhythmic structures... a continuum of spatial imagery and emotion, rather than as thematic musical relationships, compositional ideas, or performance values.”

I am personally not attached to the New Age movement in any way - I cannot fathom how a piece of quartz or a drone with a recording of a running creek could affect my life - but there are certainly many people for whom this form of spirituality is genuine and important. Unfortunately, as is probably the case with most religious movements, there also seems to be a large number of charlatans whose involvement relates very closely to a desire to make money. It is this group of people to whom the title of this movement, Spirit Song, is directed, using some of the cliches of New Age music.

Fiona Hall, Corypha Umbraculifera, Thulapparai (Sri Lanka), 1997aluminum and tin, 25x12x3cm


The emerging field of biotechnology is one that holds great potential for the future. The year, 2003 marked fifty years since the discovery

of DNA, the basic building blocks of all Earth-based life. Not a week goes past without a new discovery or manipulation in this field. Perhaps this is the new frontier of discovery and exploration, an optimistic and generous vision of the future. Scientists are the new frontier-riders, racing to be the first to decipher gene sequences and their effect upon our daily lives. While there is the potential for wrong-doing, Twisted Ladders paints an optimistic or perhaps naive vision of the present and future.

In contrast to fresh-faced innocence, Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War can be viewed in hindsight as an altogether destructive experience. For me, the most disturbing aspect of this war was the way in which the returned soldiers were treated upon their return. I find it difficult to imagine the scenario of a 19 year old, conscripted to fight in an extraordinarily physically and psychologically damaging environment, coming home only to be ignored at best, or reviled and abused at worst. It is only in recent times that the Australian government has publically and honestly recognized the sacrifices made by these men and women in what was, at the time, the service of their country.

The Vietnam War was, of course, traumatic not only to the Australian serving personnel, but also to their families, and to the entire people of Vietnam in general. One need only imagine the grief-stricken wailing of a mother whose daughter has been sprayed with napalm, or of a mother whose son has returned psychologically damaged beyond repair, or of the absolute terror

of a soldier or village when ambushed and attacked by opposing forces, to realize that we need to recognize the great and on-

going sacrifices that all participants made to this traumatic period of recent history.


Commissioned by Ars Musica Australis through its founder, Fr. Arthur Bridge.

One of the ideas that Fr. Arthur Bridge outlined when commissioning this piece was that it reflect in some way “the Spirit in Australia”. Amongst the seventeen violin concertos lodged at the Australian Music Centre are Ross edwards Maninyas and Peter Sculthorpe’s Irkanda IV, both of which have similar intent.

The consequent approach that I implemented was that of “Australian Postcards” - i.e. a set of movements that in some way reflected some Australian place or outlook. I decided that each of the “postcards” would portray contemporary rather than historical Australian culture, as that is what seems more relevant to me.

There are three separate movements in this work. The first of these is based upon a physical object, the wind turbine at Kooragang Island, near newcastle. This is a enormous windmill-generator that has been constructed by energy Australia as a showcase of the possibilities of wind-generated electricity. There are three huge prongs on this turbine that move at tremendous speed. When standing nearby, it seems hard to believe

that the whole thing won’t come apart and decapitate everyone, such is its power and speed.

The turbine has been portrayed programmatically as well as metaphorically in this movement. The sense of momentum is fast and seemingly never-ending. The solo violin must perform some death-defying leaps and string crossings. On the metaphorical level, different musical elements have been composed according to relationships of the number three, as there are three prongs to the turbine. (This however is not essential to he appreciation of the movement).

In 1998, whilst on a visit to Tasmania, my fiancee Christine and I had the opportunity to tour some of the smaller towns in Tasmania. One of these, Westaway, is a village near Mt. Field national Park. Living in a country town may seem somewhat idyllic - no traffic or parking hassles, a clean environment with a strong sense of community amongst its residents. However unemployment and boredom appear to be a more accurate description of everyday reality.

In Westaway it seemed that every house was for sale. Since the closure or scaling back of logging operations, there were no jobs

and thus high unemployment. Services such as banks were removed, causing further dislocation and disillusionment amongst residents. This movement is then a portrait of such small towns and communities in rural and regional Australia. The mood is hardly one of doom and gloom, but largely a reflection upon “better times” and an optimistic outcome that can be achieved in the long run through creative thinking and innovative solutions.

Sport is an integral part of Australian life for most people, and one of the greatest celebrations in the yearly calendar is Grand Final Day. A grand final in whatever sport is hyped up to be the greatest game of the year, a day of high emotions and high drama, of acrobatic feats and legendary skills. Parades are held before and after the great match. The thrill of your team winning the greatest prize of the year is unsurpassed. The final siren sounds, the club song is sung, all-night parties ensue and life is really worth celebrating!

Headbanger (2001)

Headbanger, commissioned by Symphony Australia, is a six-minute orchestral fanfare. The term “headbanger” usually describes an adherent of heavy metal music, and seems to come from the motion of severe head-shaking employed by audience members at heavy metal concerts.

It is unlikely that many of the audience members will be induced to bang their heads upon hearing this piece. However, they may be able to hear some musical gestures that could be associated with heavy metal or rock music - such as an often-’heavy’ bassline based around a repeated drone note, many bass-drum figures, generally loud dynamic levels, and quite aggressive rhythmic motives. Headbanger is not at all entirely a piece of heavy metal popular music. It also displays a number of quieter sections, including a passage for three clarinets utilizing slow glissandos.

Headbanger is the latest instalment in a series of short orchestral works specifically written around particular objects of our time (the late twentieth/early twenty-first century). Other works include RPM and Boom-Box.

Matthew Hindson

Matthew Hindson (b.1968) studied composition at the university of Sydney and at the university of Melbourne with composers including Peter Sculthorpe, eric Gross, Brenton Broadstock and Ross edwards.

Matthew Hindson’s works have been performed by ensembles and orchestras throughout his native Australia, including most of its professional symphony orchestras and chamber groups. Overseas, his compositions have been presented in new Zealand, Germany, France, Austria, the uK, Holland, Portugal, the uSA, Japan, Malaysia, Canada and Thailand, and have been featured at such key events as the 1994 and 2000 Gaudeamus Music Weeks in Amsterdam, the 1997 ISCM Festival in Copenhagen and the 1998 Paris Composers Rostrum.

His music often displays influences of popular music styles within a classical music context, and, as a result, musical elements such as driving repeated rhythms and loud dynamic levels are typically found in his works. Indeed, directness and immediacy are common features in the much of his music.

In 1999 Matthew Hindson was the attached composer to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Works written during this attachment include Boom-Box and In Memoriam: Amplified Cello Concerto (the latter was subsequently nominated for an APRA-AMC award for Best Orchestral Work of 2001). He was also the attached composer with the Sydney youth Orchestra in the same year, for whom he was commissioned to write a violin concerto. In 2002 he was the featured composer with Musica Viva Australia for whom he has written a number of new commissions for Kristjan Järvi’s Absolute ensemble, baroque violinist Andrew Manze, the Australian Virtuosi, Diana Doherty and the Belcea String Quartet, and Duo Sol.

In May 2002, the Sydney Dance Company toured Australia to much acclaim with a new 90-minute production, ellipse, choreographed by their Artistic Director, Graeme Murphy, and danced entirely to Matthew Hindson’s music. Playing to packed houses it broke box-office records for the SDC. They toured it to the uSA in 2004.

In September 2003, Matthew Hindson was a featured composer at the Vale of Glamorgan Festival in Wales, during which fourteen of his works were performed by a variety of ensembles. He was the attached composer to The Queensland Orchestra in 2003/2004, one result of which was his Percussion Concerto, written for evelyn Glennie and premiered in Brisbane in 2006. In addition, his music was set to a full-evening dance presentation by Ballett Schindowski in Germany, in January 2004.

As well as working as a composer, Matthew Hindson lectures in the Arts Music unit of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He has recently co-authored a book entitled Music Composition Toolbox, published by Science Press. Matthew is the artistic director of the Aurora Festival, a new festival of contemporary music based in Westen Sydney which premiered in April 2006.

Naoko Miyamoto

naoko Miyamoto made her first appearance as soloist with orchestra at the age of eight, playing Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins with the Sydney youth Orchestra. Since then, she has performed in such venues as the Sydney Opera House, Sydney entertainment Centre, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, the Purcell Room, Palacio de Festivales (Spain) and esbjerg Musikhuset (Denmark).

She has played concertos by Wieniawski, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Vieuxtemps, Bruch, Vivaldi, Bach, Sibelius, Mozart and Matthew Hindson with various orchestras, including the Philharmonia, new Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Symphony, Croydon Symphony, Los Angeles State university and Kuring-gai Philharmonic Orchestras.

As an avid orchestral and ensemble player, Miyamoto was part of the Sydney youth Orchestra Association between 1990 and 1999, and was concertmaster of the Sydney youth Orchestra in her final year. She has also been concertmaster of the Royal Academy of Music Concert, Symphony and sinfonia Orchestras, under such conductors as Sir Colin Davis, Leif Segerstam, Christophe eberle and Mark elder. Miyamoto is a member of the Academy Soloists and also regularly plays with manning Camerata and the London Symphony Orchestra. In 2004, she was part of the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, performing in ten concerts with Sir elton John and his band on tour around england and new york, playing in Wembley Arena, Royal Albert Hall, neC Birmingham and Radio City Hall.

Miyamoto has participated in encuentro de Musica y Academia de Santander, Spain, the International Holland Music Session, LSO St Luke’s Academy and the Musical encounters course at the Menuhin Academy in Blonay, Switzerland, for masterclasses with Alberto Lysy and Liviu Prunaru. At the Royal Academy of Music, Miyamoto receives regular masterclasses with Maurizio Fuks, Alexander Pavlovic, Thomas Brandis and Sylvia Rosenberg, and has performed in a public masterclass with Maxim Vengerov.

Recent highlights included Dvorak Romance with the Philharmonia Orchestra for Sir Charles Mackerra’s 80th Birthday concert, Mozart Rondo with the Royal Academy Soloists at the Bury St edmund’s Festival and an appearance at the Lincoln International Chamber Music Festival which led to re-invitations for the 2007 festival.

The new Zealand Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1946, is new Zealand’s premier professional orchestra. It has an establishment of 90 players and performs over 100 concerts annually. Touring within new Zealand looms large in the orchestra’s activities, including major performances in Auckland and Wellington, and annual visits to some 30 new Zealand towns and cities. In 2005 the orchestra undertook a highly successful tour that included performances at the BBC Proms, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Snape Maltings in Suffolk, uK, and the World expo at Aichi in Japan.

Pietari Inkinen has recently been appointed as the nZSO’s Music Director from January 2008. He succeeds James Judd who held the position from 1999 to 2007 and is now Music Director emeritus. Other conductors who have worked with the nZSO during his tenure include Alexander Lazarev, Dimitri Sitkovetsky, David Atherton, yan Pascal Tortelier and edo de Waart. Soloists who have worked with the orchestra recently include Lynn Harrell, Lang Lang, Hilary Hahn, Vadim Repin, Steven Isserlis, Jonathan Lemalu and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.

The nZSO has an extensive catalogue of CD recordings. It makes one CD of new Zealand music annually, as part of a commitment to promote and encourage music by new Zealand composers. The orchestra has a recording repertoire as diverse as elgar (three discs), Ferdinand Ries, Beethoven, Bernstein, Copland, Lilburn, Sculthorpe, Frank Bridge, Akutagawa, Mendelssohn, Honegger, Liszt, and Vaughan Williams. Over half a million of these CDs have been sold internationally in the last decade and they have received critical acclaim. nZSO discs (Hummel, elgar and Bernstein) were chosen for the “editor’s Choice” section of Gramophone in 2004.

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Kenneth young is one of new Zealand’s leading conductors. He has established himself as a passionate and skilled interpreter of the Romantic and 20th Century repertoire, and twenty five years of practical orchestral playing enables him to establish a specialised rapport with his colleagues. Himself a composer, he has a particular interest in post-Romantic repertoire, and has received recognition for his recordings of new Zealand and Australian orchestral music.

young has worked regularly with all the regional orchestras throughout new Zealand, and his engagements with the nZSO and the new Zealand Chamber Orchestra have included highly acclaimed CD recordings of the orchestral works of Douglas Lilburn, edwin Carr, David Farquhar, Lyell Cresswell, Anthony Ritchie, Gareth Farr and many others, along with opera excerpts recorded with the new Zealand tenor Keith Lewis. He also regularly conducts seasons with the Royal new Zealand Ballet.

Outside new Zealand, young has worked with the Queensland Orchestra, the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, the City of Osaka Sinfonia, and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Kenneth Young

Fiona Hall, Sovereign Risk, 1997, gouache on Daphne paper, 56x80cmCOuRTeSy OF THe ARTIST AnD ROSLyn OxLey9 GALLeRy

Fiona Hall is one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists. She works across a broad range of media including painting, photography, sculpture and installation, often employing the forms of museological display. Her work has a strong material basis. Recurrent themes in her work include globalisation, the relationships between ecology and economy, systems of classification as well as systems of domestic order.

In 1997, Hall was the recipient of the prestigious Contempora 5 art award and in 1999, the Clemenger Art Award. Her work is held in every major public collection in Australia. She was included in an important survey of contemporary Australian art at the Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin in October 2003.

A major retrospective of Fiona Hall’s work was held by Queensland Art Gallery of South Australia in 2005, and a 192 page catalogue, written by Julie ewington, was produced to accompany the exhibition.

In 2006 Fiona Hall exhibited new work in Contemmporary Commonwealth at the Ian Potter Centre: national Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Hall’s major work, understorey, was shown in Prism (2006), a group exhibition of contemporary Australian art at the Bridgestone Museum, Tokyo.

Fiona Hall is represented by Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney, Australia.

Fiona Hall

Fiona Hall, Sovereign Risk, 1997, gouache on Daphne paper, 56x80cmCOuRTeSy OF THe ARTIST AnD ROSLyn OxLey9 GALLeRy

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2008 Trust Records International Ltd 2008 Trust Records International Ltd

Recorded in the Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington 30 March to 1 April 2005.

Producer Murray Khouri

Engineer Keith Warren

Digital Editing and Mastering Wayne Laird

Executive Producer Ross Hendy

Design Cato Partners nZ Ltd

Programme Notes Matthew Hindson

Publisher Faber Music Ltd, London

Copyright clearance via AMCOS

Trust Records International gratefully acknowledges the support of the following people and organizations in the making of this recording: Australia Arts Council, Chris Latham, Tim Brooke at Faber Music Limited, Fiona Hall, Greg O’Brien, Paula Savage, Wellington City Art Gallery, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery

ALL RIGHTS OF THe PRODuCeR AnD OF THe OWneR OF THe WORK RePRODuCeD ARe ReSeRVeD. unAuTHORISeD COPyInG, HIRInG, LenDInG, PuBLIC PeRFORMAnCe AnD BROADCASTInG OF THIS ReCORDInG IS PROHIBITeD.

Trust Records InternationalPO Box 1395Wellingtonnew [email protected]

More information about other releases by Trust Records International Ltd and the HRL Morrison Music Trust can be found at the internet site: www.trustcds.com

Matthew Hindson: Modern ObjectsNew Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Naoko Miyamoto

Kenneth Young


1. Silicon Revolution 5:55

2. Spirit Song 8:25

3. Twisted ladders 12:48

4. Vietnam War Memorial 6:44


5. Wind Turbine at Kooragang Island

10:53

6. Westaway 10:57

7. Grand Final Day 6:01

8. Headbanger (2001) 15:21

Total Duration 75.04

Publisher: Faber Music Ltd, London Copyright clearance via AMCOS

2008 Trust Records International Ltd 2008 Trust Records International LtdTRI3004

matthew hindson: modern objects

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