Matthew Hindson

The Australia Council recently released reports from Prof David Throsby and Prof Stuart Cunningham into artists’ incomes in Australia.

The following Youtube clip serves as a really good summary:

Artist income summary video

A summary and a copy of the findings of the two reports is available from the Artists Careers section of the Australia Council website.

This year, I have two works being performed at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival.

The first is “Energy”, the first movement from my recent ballet for the Birmingham Royal Ballet e=mc2, which will be performed by the Sydney Symphony conducted by Maesto Vladimir Ashkenazy. This concert is on 2 Sept.

The second piece is “Little Chrissietina’s Magic Fantasy”, performed by the amazing violin/piano duo, Duo Sol. This concert is on 3 Sept.

EDIT: A great review of this disc in The Australian, 27 March 2010: “Hindson’s [The] Metallic Violins is the fun, flamboyant showpiece of the collection. It borrows the technique of “shredding” from heavy metal, in which guitars solos are played at breakneck speed. Stagy sliding and scratchy effects on both violins emulate an electric guitar in full flight. But what makes this piece work so well is the sumptuous finesse Cuddeford and Yoshimoto bring to it: they give it all the refinement of a Bach Partita.”

That admirable bastion of the Australian recording industry, Tall Poppies, has recently released a disc entitled The Metallic Violins, which opens with my piece for two violins, The Metallic Violins.

This disc is amazingly good. The standard of performance by Natsuko Yoshimoto and James Cuddeford is off the charts. The recording quality is beautiful. The choice of works is exemplary, with a range of compositional styles very well represented. And every one of the works is outstanding in terms of its quality.

Here is a 3 minute excerpt from the opening of the work:

How lucky we are as composers to have performers and a recording company of this quality to represent our music. Thank you to founder of Tall Poppies, Belinda Webster.

EDIT: The last performance in the current season of this piece has now taken place. The reviews have been generally extremely positive: they are listed on the ACO website. Thank you to the incredible soloist, Maxime Bibeau, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra who truly are one of the world’s great ensembles.

A new work, Crime and Punishment has recently been completed. This 10 minute piece was commissioned by Barbara Blackman for the Australian Chamber Orchestra, with soloist, Maxime Bibeau. It will be performed in March across the country.

It has been an enormous pleasure to work with Maxime on what is a very virtuosic piece. It includes techniques from the electric bass world, including slap-pizz and dead-notes, combined with some extraordinary lyrical moments. Maxime is a wonderful player who has contributed enormously to the piece.

Below are the programme notes:

Much of contemporary media seems obsessed with crime and punishment. This particularly applies to dramatic action on TV, film and video games. In reality being a victim of such crime is never a pleasant experience, and society rightfully expects that the perpetrators of violent crimes are made to pay for their actions. We, the public, demand justice be delivered in one for or another.

In relating these concepts to this musical work. the solo double bass largely assumes the role of the criminal. This repeat offender demonstrates great virtuosity and skill within an often menacing environment. Yet it is capable of tenderness and beauty, even when surrounded by brutality. Even as a child it was loved by someone.

It is not my intention to glamorise criminal intent – in fact, quite the opposite. As will become quite apparent, perhaps the solo double bass part, with its extremely strenuous demands upon the soloist, is a form of punishment in itself. The string orchestra ‘chorus’ demands nothing less.

Nintendo Music, for clarinet in A and piano, has recently been recorded by Marcel Luxen (clarinet) and Shane Thio (piano).

For a sneak peak check out Marcel’s site at http://www.marcelluxen.com/live/ and click on the Listen tag at the bottom of the image on the new page.

Marcel Luxen's CD 'North Sound East West' containing Nintendo Music

It’s a wonderful recording and captures the joy of 8 bit gaming very well. I am told by other clarinettists that successfully performing some of this piece is as difficult as beating Battletoads, so this fabulous recording is a great achievement.

UPDATE 1: e=mc2 has won a prestigious 2010 South Bank Show Award for Dance.

UPDATE 2: e=mc2 has been nominated for a 2010 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production.

Great reviews are continuing to pour in for the recent ballet, e=mc2. A collation of reviews can be found at the following address:

http://www.fabermusic.com/serverside/news/Details.asp?id=502

Some of them are very nice indeed:

“…one of the best pieces of new dance music this side of Stravinsky.” – Sunday Express (Jeffery Taylor), 27 September 2009

Photo: Bill Cooper.

It was such a pleasure to work with choreographer David Bintley, conductor Paul Murphy and the rest of the Birmingham Royal Ballet (including the orchestra) on this piece. What an amazing experience to have a choreographer who so intimately responded to the music, and a conductor who was so committed to ensuring that the piece as a whole worked so very well.

There are forthcoming performances in Plymouth, Sunderland and London (Sadlers Wells). I may be biased but I reckon it’s well worth seeing.