Richard Tognetti: Central Park In the Dark
Thu 25 Jun 2026, 7PM

In the first of two concerts during his residency at ANAM, superstar violinist Richard Tognetti brings together the fascinating sound worlds of American composers Charles Ives and Ruth Crawford-Seeger, alongside a current new voice in Australian music, Alex Turley, and the sumptuous late-Romantic sounds of Arnold Schoenberg’s early masterpiece Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night).

Often paired together, Charles Ives’s The Unanswered Question for solo trumpet, winds and strings, and Central Park in the Dark for orchestra explore the notion of the individual contemplating the world—our existence and place within it in the first work, and, in the second, the sounds of the world before industrialisation, “before the combustion engine and radio monopolized the earth and air,” as Ives noted.

Originally written for the Sydney Symphony brass section, the ANAM Brass musicians unite for a performance of Alex Turley’s Mirage. This brand-new work explores the more subtle and mysterious textures of the loudest of orchestral instruments. Sounds bend and refract around the ensemble, which is spread throughout the performance space in an ever-shifting harmonic language designed to lose yourself in.

Equally labyrinthine in its harmonic twists and turns is Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) by Arnold Schoenberg. Pre-dating his revolutionary upheaval of classical music, this early work for strings showcases ingenious motivic development and a sumptuous romantic language, telling the story of two lovers and the transfiguration of their love for each other.

Alex TURLEY Mirage 
Charles IVES The Unanswered Question  
IVES Central Park in the Dark
Ruth CRAWFORD-SEEGER Music for Small Orchestra  
Arnold SCHOENBERG Verklärte Nacht, op. 4  

Richard Tognetti director / violin 
ANAM Orchestra

Duration: approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes (no interval)

Image source: ABC Listen