In preparation for the announcement of the winner of the SOUNZ Contemporary Award we spoke to finalist Karlo Margetic about his piece In All Directions and being a composer in Aotearoa today.
Kia ora Karlo, how did In All Directions come about? Tell us a bit about the inspiration behind it and the journey to completing it.
I had been collecting ideas for these pieces that focus on extreme limitation of materials for years, and it was during the August 2021 Covid lockdown that I found myself at a loose end, so I started writing them. Around the same time I saw that the Mauricio Kagel Composition Competition was running, which focuses on contemporary piano music playable by students. I sent in a slightly unfinished version of the piece, and it was commended. Part of this involved a recording (many thanks to pianist Benedikt Holter and the team at Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien), but they thankfully let me revise the last two movements for the recording!
I later made the orchestral version for the NZ Composer Sessions in 2023. It was a very interesting experience because I had total control of the source material. Usually when orchestrating someone else’s music I’m constantly worrying if I’m doing it right and doing it justice, but because I had written it I had no compunction about changing stuff, adding things, and making all sorts of ‘disrespectful’ adjustments and decisions.
Did you encounter any challenges while composing this piece? If so, what were they, and how did you navigate them?
Usually I’m tearing my hair out with every piece, but this one flowed pretty easily. I think it must have been the lack of distraction at the time, and that the limitations I had put in place focused the creative process by eliminating the horror of excessive possibility. I tend to compose like a heavily laden tortoise, so it was nice to be quick for a change.
How do you view the evolution of In All Directions from simple piano pieces to a bold and substantial orchestral work?
It was a process of translation, and, I guess, making it ‘more like itself’, given the possibilities afforded by a large ensemble, as opposed to a single instrument. It was clear that some expansion was needed, whether that turned out to be adding extra material or filling out the harmony. The first, third and fourth movements stay quite close to the piano version. I had to make sure the sonorities worked, fill in some harmonic material and manage the effect of the sustain pedal. The second and fifth movements presented much more possibility and necessity for expansion. The second movement is a skeletal open space in the piano version, a high 12-tone row alternating with its much slower inversion in the lowest register. I added offstage violins and various texture effects in the strings and percussion to emphasise the spaciousness. This needed much more room to breathe, so it wound up about 30% longer in the orchestral version. The fifth movement was trickier because the original is so pianistic - loud high clusters resonating a lower held chord, with aleatoric choice of event order on each page. I had to create a ‘fixed version’ of the events, and translate the various pianistic effects to an orchestral context.
In All Directions was premiered by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra as part of the 2023 NZ Composer Sessions. What was your experience working with the orchestra to create a polished recording and what role did you play in finessing the piece in rehearsal?
It’s always a pleasure and a privilege to work with NZSO and RNZ. They are excellent, and, aside from a little adjustment and rehearsal, the piece kind of played itself. With orchestral pieces there is always the issue of balance, and no matter how much care you take, it can be a nail-biter in the first rehearsal. Any orchestration blunders immediately jump out at you. I did have to make a couple of minor adjustments: I ditched the hi-hat in the fourth movement and added a chord to the brass. I also realised that the speed of the fifth movement was way too high to hear all the detail. We ended up taking the metronome marking down from 100 to 66 bpm! My thanks to NZSO, RNZ and conductor Hamish McKeich for the performance, recording and the enthusiastic and relaxed atmosphere. I also have to give a special thank you to composer/pianist Liam Furey for their fantastic proof reading!
Do you have a favourite moment in the piece, why is it your favourite?
I have several, here’s one from each movement:
1. The big chord at the very end (a full-range stack of fifths + anvil), It doesn’t appear in the piano version because of lack of limbs, and it’s just so comically abrupt.
2. Any time the offstage violins do anything. And also the first time the violins and violas come in to decorate the piccolo line because it sounds like a malfunctioning CD for a brief moment.
3. The combination of secco timpani in octaves with pizzicato violas/cellos.
4. When the cluster overwhelms everything at the climactic point.
5. A moment in the middle when the harp and percussion melt a cycle of fifths.
How does being from Aotearoa New Zealand influence the music that you compose?
This is a tricky question for a first generation New Zealander to answer. I think that the diversity of the population and remoteness of where we are guards against a kind of hampering dogmaticism and aesthetic conformity that I observe in some other places. It’s very freeing. Of course, that’s becoming increasingly true everywhere in the age of the internet, but I think the isolation and lack of homogeneity in the music scene here normalises doing really diverse and eccentric things. The limiting factor is economic, not aesthetic.
In 2013 you were the winner of the 2013 SOUNZ Contemporary Award for your piano trio Lightbox. What does it mean to you to be in the running this year for the award with In All Directions?
The SCA is a wonderful national showcase for local composers; it’s a really fantastic feeling, and an immense confidence boost, to have one’s efforts recognised and deemed worthy of being a finalist once again.
What is the best piece of composition advice you have ever received?
Imagine an excitable Italian man shouting “NO, no, NOOO! Why did you do this!? I kick your ass! Think of the possibilities!” That’s what Paolo Cavallone told everyone in earshot when he was a guest lecturer at NZSM back in 2010. Essentially, I took it to mean that one should always explore as many options as possible, keep an open mind, not be afraid to throw stuff out, and never settle for mediocrity. Of course, I routinely and inevitably fail at all of this, but it’s something to strive for.