for orchestra (3333 4331 Timp 2Perc Pno Strings)
duration: 8 minutes
also available in a longer version entitled Rave-Elation (Schindowski Mix), of 14 minutes duration.
Audio Excerpt
Programme Notes
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Rave-Elation was written for performance by the combined forces of Camerata Australia and Camerata Scotland. It uses aspects of popular music as a starting point, in particular that of the ‘techno’ music genre.
The piece is almost exclusively hedonistic in content, and this is deliberate. The main inspiration for the work comes from dance and ‘rave’ parties, especially the party-goers’ single-minded indulgence in physical enjoyment.
‘Rave’ parties are large dance events, popular in the 1990s where the music is loud, produced through loud amplifiers. A steady drum beat, simulated and at times reproduced in *Rave-Elation* by a MIDI drum kit, controls the tempo and the excitement of the dancing crowd. The tempo and beat of Rave-Elation reflect the popular fast mood of this ‘dance’ music.
Commissioned by Youth Music Australia, Rave-Elation was written with the financial support of the Australia Council, the Australian government’s arts funding and advisory body.
(prog.note by Matthew Hindson)
Reviews
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“Matthew Hindson’s Rave-Elation, a homage to the ‘rave’ dance scene, was full of funky beats and catchy riffs pounded out with fairly relentless energy. One couldn’t call it subtle, but it was a hugely enjoyable celebration of the essentially hedonistic physicality of contemporary youth culture. It was greeted with a degree of enthusiasm from the audience which is relatively rare, alas, for contemporary music” – Stephen Whittington , The Adelaide Advertiser, 22 July 1997.
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“Hindson’s Rave-Elation continues his interest in popular styles, exploring techniques of techno styles and the spirit of physical enjoyment characteristic of rave parties. I find Hindson’s work in this area immensely interesting. He confronts the eternal problem of harnessing the energy of popular styles – how to handle their essential banality – in a variety of imaginative ways, and here the stop-start rhetoric went some way to doing this… I enjoyed hearing both these young composers hugely [David Horne's Flicker was the other piece]. Youth-orchestra programmes can sometimes get a little predictable and how better to liven them up than with some young people’s music ” – Peter McCallum, The Sydney Morning Herald, 18 July, 1997.
CD Recording Available?
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Not yet. However, a live recording of the piece is available through the Australian Music Centre library.
Other Information
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This work featured in Veitstanz: Shake Rattle and Roll, a ballet choreographed by Berndt Schindowski, performed by Ballet Schindowski in Gelsenkirchen, Germany (January – March 2004).