Interrupted Cadence
for two pianos
Composed for Reuben Johnson
Performed as part of ANAM 2024 Recitals
This ANAM Set commission was generously supported by the Australian Government through Creative Australia and the Anthony and Sharon Lee Foundation
Program note:
This piece offers comment on change in the regional and community music experience of Australians since the advent of electric instruments and TV here in the 1950s. Pianos in community spaces that were once well-utilised began to be cast aside in the second half of the twentieth century, especially in the decades of the 1950s until the 1970s. They soon fell into disrepair, and sat in forgotten corners of our church halls, surf clubs, town halls, schools and community venues, little used and piling up dust. I experienced the tail end of this shift in my region. This piece pays homage to those former days of music-making in such older venues, and to expressions that were interrupted.
The piece opens with the birth date of Queen Elizabeth II (because her picture hung in most halls) - a motive which doesn't return, there is a clock-like motive representative of the passing of time and traditions, and conglomerate-type chords made of two or more chords - suggesting that there was always a wrong chord being played by someone in such regional or community settings, (which I hated then, yet now sorely miss, and in fact, make use of in some of my pieces). As well, near the end are quotes from three short pieces from Schumann's Kinderszenen - pieces that were heard in our communities. To suggest our practice habits the first quote is rendered in parallel motion, the second in contrary motion, and the third is harmonized in functional harmony and finishes with an interrupted cadence.
About the Composer:
Christopher Sainsbury composes in various genres, and his recent works include an opera The Visitors commissioned by Richard Mills for the Victorian Opera Company's 2023 season (with libretto by Jane Harrison), a string orchestra work String Talk commissioned by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for July 2024, A Lithium Fascination commissioned by the UBC Future Minerals Working Group and Axiom Brass Chicago as part of The Heavy Metal Suite (a collaboration between 8 leading international composers), Singing Stone - a 2024 ABC Classic album featuring his music performed by Australian guitar great Ken Murray with Melbourne musicians including members of the Conservatorium Faculty of the University of Melbourne, and Ocean Song – an album of ambient surf music with the Random Earth Band which features legendary Australian guitarist Guy Strazz and Chris on guitars. Some early commissions include works for the Australian Chamber Orchestra (1987), for Australian flute elder Gordon Yemm (1987), as well as for the Central Coast Philharmonia (1988) – a group from his long-term home region. He highlights that it is meaningful for him to work with community groups of his home region, not just professional groups. See Bio for a more comprehensive list of composing engagements and credits.
Sainsbury is Associate Professor in Composition at the Australian National University (ANU) Canberra. He won the APRA National Luminary Award in 2020 for effecting change within the classical and new music industry through the Ngarra-burria First Peoples Composers program (see Ngarra-burria page), and a Classical:NEXT Innovation Award was awarded to the program in 2022 for innovation in practice. He was also winner of the (Boston) New England Philharmonic Orchestra's Open Call for Scores in 2010-11. Since the mid-1980s he has made a sustained contribution to Australian music through composing, performing and teaching. In more recent years he has strongly advocated for the commissioning and programming of First Nations composers, and also advocated for more programming of all Australian composers. “It’s so clear that your work and guidance have been invaluable to help the ABC forge a deeper engagement with Australian composers.” (Matthew Dewey – former Music Director, ABC Classic).