Out of the

Michelle Pritchard

The late Nineteenth Century saw the emergence of the viola from the ‘engine room’ of the orchestra to a solo instrument in its own right, due to champions such as English violist Lionel Tertis. The viola’s rising status paved the way for collaborations between violists and composers, resulting in an expansion of a relatively limited repertoire and placing higher demands on the performer. Through theoretical and practical based research, I identify the roles and responsibilities of the classical violist when collaborating with living composers. At the centre of my practical investigations were collaborations with four composers in the realisation of new works and exploration of pre-existing works by three composers, as part of a cross-departmental/cross-cultural collaboration. These collaborations highlight the importance of a high level of musicianship and an ability to communicate with and without the instrument. Artistic and intellectual exchange through open communication results in mutually beneficial outcomes and a deeper connection with the music. Additionally, these collaborations reveal that the viola is still emerging as a solo instrument, needing further experimentation and exploration. The final aspect of my research is the curation of a lecture-recital series showcasing these new compositions, anchored with works from the standard and lesser-known repertoire. The future aim is to perform and record these new works in order to reach a wider audience. Successful collaborations contribute to the generation, promotion, and contribution to the classical viola repertoire and the status of the instrument itself now and into the future. Bio Michelle Pritchard is an Australian violist, violinist and pedagogue, studying her Master in Classical Music (Viola) with Ásdís Valdímarsdottír at The Royal Conservatoire, The Hague. In Australia, Michelle studied with Alex Todicescu, Sydney Conservatorium. Later with Jeremy Williams, obtaining an Associate of Music Diploma with Distinction, and a Graduate Diploma of Professional Music Performance Practice through the University of Tasmania. Specialising in chamber music, Michelle established a concert series in Sydney. She has toured Europe as recitalist and as a member of the Hourglass Ensemble. Additionally, she founded ‘Eisteddfod on the Mountain’ in the regional area north of Sydney

INTRODUCTION

Since the late 19^th Century there have been many champions of the viola in classical music. These champions have helped the instrument emerge from the engine rooms of the orchestra as a solo instrument in its own right.

My research was inspired by the work of British violist Lionel Tertis (1876-1975). Especially by his collaborations with living composers of his time which expanded the solo repertoire for the instrument. Not only did the viola not have a prominent role as a solo instrument before this time, its repertoire was relatively limited in comparison to that of the violin, and the cello.

Lionel Tertis calls upon violists to:

“strive to enlarge the library of solo viola music, by fair means or foul. Cajole your composer friends to write for it, raid the repertory of the violin, cello or any other instrument, and arrange and transcribe works from the literature suitable for your Viola.¹”

I too have joined this mission! My interest has come from a rather extensive decade of collaboration with living composers as part of my own concert series; working and touring with contemporary ensembles and participating in the annual International Women’s Day concerts in Australia.

It is important here for me to mention a pivotal moment in my performance career. In an Australian contemporary ensemble I regularly performed with, I found myself playing a new, relatively short but fiendishly rhythmic, complex work. We were to take this on tour through Europe. We only had three days of rehearsals after landing in Europe as we were collaborating with other international artists. It was a very tense time. The work as an ensemble needed far more rehearsal time to do it justice. We did not have this time. I argued with the ensemble expressing strongly that it would be a good idea to pull the work from the programme. This was met with criticism. I felt at the time that I was being looked upon as one of 'those viola players'. My argument was that it would potentially impact the reputation of the group, not do justice to the work itself, and that the rehearsal time would be better spent on the other works that we were to perform.

Unfortunately, my case was lost. The composer was a good friend of one of the members of the group. We went on to perform it for the very polite composer and it was also recorded. I have never seen the recording, nor do I wish to hear it. We had an audience of five at that particular concert, two of which were friends of mine.

I later discovered that another professional ensemble had been approached to perform the work, but they had turned it down due to its complexity.

Thankfully, this experience is behind me. Perhaps I should have been more outspoken with the composer? Would they have understood what I was seeing from my side of the equation? Perhaps they could have been involved at an early stage in the rehearsal process? Could this have resolved any of the issues? From other experiences I have had, composer/performer workshops have been an essential and mostly positive part of the creation of new works.

Throughout this Master Research project, I set out to explore and identify the roles and responsibilities of the violist when collaborating with living composers.

I feel strongly that it is our responsibility to collaborate with composers to expand our Viola repertoire. For the purposes of my research I define the term ‘collaborate’ to mean ‘working with’.

In light of the above I have formulated the following research question: what are the roles and responsibilities of the violist when collaborating with living composers?

Sub questions include:

When collaborating with living composers, am I given a further insight into whether the viola has truly emerged as a solo instrument in its own right, or is there still work to be done?
How can I generate, promote and contribute to the repertoire of the viola and the status of the instrument now and into the future?

In Chapter One, I have chosen two violist role-models to focus on. The historical figure Tertis and contemporary violist Brett Dean. The chapter opens with Lionel Tertis. I examine his roles and responsibilities as I understand them largely through reading his autobiography- ‘My Viola and I’² and his experience of collaborating with living composers of his time. I then travel forward to present day. For the second part of Chapter One, I summarise an interview I conducted with internationally renowned violist, composer and conductor Brett Dean. This was not a direct collaboration, but was rather intended to discover what his roles and responsibilities are as violist and composer today, especially as someone who has contributed to the viola repertoire and the status of the instrument.

In Chapter Two, my research sets out to discover how I can improve my own personal collaborative processes with composers through clarifying how others perceive these roles. I examine the discourse around the roles of the violist when collaborating with living composers. This has included various source materials including books, articles and dissertations as well as studies similar to my own conducted by pianists.

First, I place the role of the violist or performer in a historical context. Performers more generally and violists here become become interchangeable in the context of my research. I then summarise a study by pianist Zubin Kanga³ on collaborations between performers and composers and examine how he sees this collaborative relationship today, including information from literatures on the evolving historical composer/performer relationships by authors such as musicologist Nicholas Cook⁴ and philosopher Lydia Goehr^5 .

I then examine collaborative roles. Composer Sam Hayden and psychologist Luke Windsor reveal three categories of collaborations between composers and performers in “Collaboration and The Composer: Case Studies from the end of the 20^th Century".⁶

It is these categories of collaborative roles that I use to categorise my own case studies in this research project. It is important to recognise that there can be a blending of these roles.

In Chapter Three, I identify some central responsibilities of the violist when collaborating with living composers. I draw on the role-model examples of Tertis and Dean from Chapter One. From Chapter Two, I describe the recommended tools that Kanga brings into performer/composer collaborations.⁷I then outline these central responsibilities by way of introducing how I will use these as a guide in my own case studies during the collaborative process with living composers.

I have interviewed each composer involved in my case studies as well as Timur Yakubov, Principal violist with the Residentie Orkest and orchestral coach at the Royal Conservatoire, The Hague and Christian Blaha, composer, conductor and performer (piano and voice).

Chapter Four is divided into seven case studies. This is the core of my personal artistic research. Each case study is a collaborative project with myself, as violist with a living composer. It is here that I set out to discover what my roles and responsibilities are when collaborating with living composers.

For each of these case studies I define whether these are new works, pre-existing works that are unpublished or pre-existing works already published.

I have collaborated with four composers on the realisation of four new works. Three of these are as a result of a cross-departmental collaboration I instigated with the Composition Department at The Royal Conservatoire of The Hague with composers Maarten Bauer, Richard Hughes and Ynyr Pritchard.

I also worked with three composers from Australia on new and existing repertoires. These composers were selected because I had performed their works previously. These were all works that showcased the viola in a solo role, and works that resonated with me. Composers Christopher Bowen (OAM) and I collaborated on a new work; Elena Kats-Chernin (AO) and Ross Edwards (AM) agreed to collaborate on pre-existing works. Each of these composers have received honorary titles in Australia for their contribution to the Arts and are well established.

In addition I initiated an in-depth collaboration with Dutch composer Orkun Ağır to work on a pre-existing, unpublished work.

I conducted interviews with each of the composers on their music background, influences, inspirations and other works. For the new compositions, I was involved in instigating ideas for these works and to differing degrees participated in the creative process. I also participated in collaborative workshops where I contributed ideas of my own. My experience with each of these composers was unique. They represent a broad range of backgrounds from students through established professional. Some of these collaborative processes have been undertaken online through Zoom, others face to face as the pandemic and geographical possibilities dictated.

I documented these collaborations through notes, and communications with composers, videos of workshops, annotated scores, practice diaries as well as recordings of trial performances and public performances of these works. I explored sounds and techniques, and documented the journey from conceptualisation of the work through premier performance.

For the two pre-existing published works in this project, I was been curious to discuss edits or changes to the notated score that might occur.

To conclude each of my case studies I attempt to answer the sub-question:

When collaborating with living composers, can I gain further insight into whether the viola has truly emerged as a solo instrument in its own right, or is there still work to be done?

The final Chapter, Chapter 5 answers my second sub-question: how can I generate, promote and contribute to the repertoire of the viola and the status of the instrument now and into the future? From a research point of view, the generation of new repertoire for the viola is achieved by way of these new works. For the contribution to the status of the instrument, I outline a concert series I have curated, incorporating the compositions from my case studies with lesser-known and standard works.

In the final part of my Research I conclude with a summary of my findings from the case studies, identifying the roles and responsibilities of the violist collaborating with living composers and comparing and contrasting these findings with my role models (Tertis and Dean) as well as findings from literature and practice that I have based my research on. NEXT>>>

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