Leading Edge Guitar Ensemble | Acoustic Counterpoint
28 May 2025, Hanson Dyer Hall, Ian Potter Southbank Centre, Melbourne, VIC
Concerts presented by wholly student ensembles can, at times, be a hit-and miss affair. However, the concert titled Acoustic Counterpoint, staged by the Leading Edge Guitar Ensemble at Melbourne’s Hanson Dyer auditorium was very much ‘hit’ and very little ‘miss’. Directed by Ken Murray who is a highly-regarded guitarist, composer and academic, the Leading Edge Guitar Ensemble consists of eighteen students, in this instance playing seventeen classical guitars and one electric bass guitar. The concert also featured performances from a guitar trio of post graduate students, a soft-rock band KUDØS, and a band consisting of electric guitar, bass, and drums. All students are or were studying at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.
It is worth mentioning the relatively new 400 seat Hanson Dyer Hall. Designed by John Wardle Architects, it opened in 2019 and is part of the Ian Potter Southbank Centre in Melbourne’s arts precinct. Its near-perfect acoustic qualities, and its accessible and comfortable raked seating are matched by the stark but agreeable modernist finish using what appears to be Victorian Ash panelling on walls and ceilings.
Leading Edge Guitar Ensemble opened the program with a short original work Emu, before their performance of Steve Reich’s minimalist work Acoustic Counterpoint, arranged for acoustic guitars. Two more original works Lyrebird and Fantail were used as punctuation for the more substantive compositions by Ken Murray and Alan Holley. Steve Reich’s Acoustic Counterpoint is a significant work composed in 1987. Although I find it difficult to listen to recordings of minimalist music, being at a live presentation opens one’s ears. This piece features multiple independent melodic lines interacting with each other, and this ensemble’s precision playing resulted in an enjoyable and mesmeric experience. The visual impact of eighteen guitarists, arranged on stage in a semi-circle, added to the sonic pleasures when listing to the repetitions and subtle changes of phase which are characteristic features of Reich’s works.
Ken Murray’s Santiago (2017) is a work whose musical character is reflected in its name. The ensemble used their guitars to project a sense of joy and delight from a work that draws on the folk music traditions of Latin America. The rhythm is based on a standard rumba rhythm and the percussive effects on guitars reflect influences from Brazilian music. This pleasing piece was a hit with the audience – as observed by swaying bodies in seats and the tapping of feet.
The guitar trio Pobblebonk (2001) by Sydney composer Alan Holley was for me one of the two highlights in this concert. It is always entertaining and informative to have composers discuss their works, and Alan Holley was at the concert to do just that. The piece was expertly performed by Ken Wei, Natalie Poloni and Roy Girvan who are, I believe, all post-graduate or graduate guitar students and performers. Their practiced and refined rendition reversed the roles of masters and apprentices, as this was a masterful interpretation of a work that travels through various phases and stages. Opening motifs in Pobblebonk do draw on frog calls, but the work is much more than that. The three guitars weave their way through intricate patterns, with ascending note arrangements that combine with rising and climaxing passages, then at times turning quickly into softer, reflective sections. Frog motifs can be heard again towards the end of this work, a work that evokes a sonic journey through amphibian habitats. Another highlight of this concert was Lyrebird, a very short piece using guitars to imitate some fascinating sounds made by that remarkable animal.
The concert ended with two plugged-in groups, KUDØS performing an original song Always Be You and a guitar, bass and drum interpretation of King Crimson’s Fractured (1974). This concert was indeed a most enjoyable and varied event showcasing the versatility of the guitar, and the talents of tertiary guitar students in Melbourne.
