‘Visionary’ composer Harry Sdraulig ‘beyond excited’ by Australian String Quartet tour launching in Perth

Young composer Harry Sdraulig is “beyond excited” to have his work played by the Australian String Quartet on tour, bracketed with classics by Beethoven and Korngold. He’s also blown away by the compliment ASQ violinist Dale Barltrop paid him alongside both a Romantic master and a Hollywood legend. “Beethoven, Sdraulig and Korngold are visionaries in their own unique way and this concert celebrates the individuality and sense of exploration that make each work so compelling,” Barltrop said. Sdraulig said he couldn’t accept the comparison. “But I believe that to aspire to be ‘visionary’ is a creative necessity for any composer,” he said. “The term entails a certain future-oriented outlook, but we also can’t help but be defined by some kind of relationship to past music, whether that be to actively engage with it or to react against it. “I do a lot of the former, but also hone my influences into a modernistic, visionary kind of sound world that I feel is very much my own.” ASQ play Sdraulig’s String Quartet No.2 on a national tour opening at WA Museum Boola Bardip Hackett Hall on June 18, after its world premiere at the Dunkeld Festival of Music earlier this year. “This piece is my second go at what is a bit of an ‘acid test’ for composers: writing for the string quartet, which means going up against nearly every composer who has written for the form over the past 300 years,” Sdraulig said. “My first quartet, which the Goldner String Quartet have performed widely, is an introspective work whereas this second one is a fair bit more exuberant, intense, and energetic. “There is, however, an expressive slow section which is unashamedly melodic and romantic — a prompt from John Griffiths (who commissioned the work for his wife Beth) to incorporate some ‘swoon’ into the work.” ASQ has titled the program Vanguard for the cutting edge of its three composers, but there’s also a sense of the familiar in returning to Perth to launch the tour, violinist Francesca Hiew said. “We have a really lovely, warm audience in Perth and for the last few years we have been performing at the WA Museum,” Hiew said. “The combination of the people, the amazing room topped off (literally) with a skeleton of a blue whale hovering above, really gives a unique and great vibe to our concerts. Sometimes it sounds like the audience is having a party and we have to break it up to start a concert!” She said there would be plenty to celebrate in the program, starting with Beethoven’s String Quartet No.12 in E-flat major that shocked the music world in 1825, inspiring a young Felix Mendelssohn and flowing on to the Romantic movement of the 19th century. “Beethoven’s first ‘late’ string quartet would normally find itself on the end of a program rather than the beginning,” Hiew said. “We wanted to explore what happens after Beethoven had pushed quartet writing to completely unchartered territory. “Harry Sdraulig’s second quartet feels to me like an exploration of space. As it weaves between the beautifully expansive to the exciting, tight, rhythmically driven sections, it will push audiences to the edge of their seats, leading us all into something another world away. “Korngold’s second string quartet is an incredibly written, maximalist work that pushes melodic writing to something wider, bigger and all-encompassing. I’m willing to bet there will be familiar sounds within it for everyone in the audience, proving how influential Korngold has been to music of the 20th century.” ASQ will also play a Close Quarters concert at Perth CBD club Lawson Flats. “It’s an opportunity for us to play a bit more of a mixed bag of repertoire and interact more casually with our audience,” Hiew said. “It’s not so much to build audiences, but to make string quartet music more approachable and accessible to a wider audience.” She said tours often started in Perth because of the reception. “The warmth and generosity of the audience there seems to tee things off in such a positive way,” Hiew said. “As well as our national program, we hold a regular festival in the Margaret River region so we have a really interesting and diverse audience in WA.” ASQ next cross the Nullarbor in October with a program of Haydn, Olli Mustonen and Grieg in St George’s Cathedral. “We actually had this specific venue in mind when we were putting this program together so it will be great to finally hear all the elements come together,” Hiew said. https://asq.com.au/whats-on