Syzygy’s Joy Ride, Top Class

Syzygy | Joy Ride

November 30, 2023,  Melbourne Recital Centre

Joy Ride, Syzygy’s final offering at the Melbourne Recital Centre for 2023, was everything you’d expect of one of Melbourne’s most established successful new music ensembles.

Syzygy are top class, and this was a great concert. Syzygy have a consistent record of championing new work over many different styles; clearly programming is at the core of everything Syzygy do, and the thoughtful deliberation that goes into this makes going to a Syzygy concert a bankable rewarding experience of new music, whether it’s a serious experimental exploration, or in this case, just a good time.

The opening work, Guillaume Connesson’s Techno – Parade set a cracking pace; this trio of flautist Laila Engle, clarinettist Robin Henry and pianist Leigh Harrold was joyous and thrilling, and this performance was fun and perfectly balanced, allowing all of the strident and colourful textures through.

This was followed by a world premiere, Chasing Shadows by young composer Su Min Lee. Written for Syzygy’s full quintet, it had a child-like instinct, an inner life of little threads that danced with an easy impulsiveness. Great composers don’t just appear, it takes time, opportunities and experience to grow into that, and Syzygy seamlessly incorporated this work into this program, a compliment to composer and ensemble.

Holly Harrison’s work Slipstream then received its viola-free quintet version premiere. Harrison’s work is typically very involved for everyone and this fun, bustling work was no exception. Integrating the viola part into the other parts only added to that, but it still had a deft sense for clarity in the ensemble writing. This was a strong performance, particularly from violinist Kyla Matsuura-Miller who, beyond a beautiful and compelling sound, has a rare sense for finding sounds to create space.

Throughout the concert a different member of the ensemble spoke about the next work, and I enjoyed their ease in talking about the pieces in a way that was brief, invited curiosity but without giving away the punchlines. Off Pist, a clarinet and cello duo by cellist Svante Henryson’s encapsulated that; Syzygy cellist Campbell Banks’ explanation of a work referencing the feeling of downhill skiing made for a joyous visual through which to imagine their wonderful performance, a piece that mixed off-kilter rhythmic relationships and fast high unison passages with a gently comic to-ing and fro-ing between performers.

Daniel Schnyder’s Impulses rounded out the program, and it was interesting to hear this work as it related to Harrison’s work earlier. This piece had a similar feel of a multiple movement continuous work, but by contrast was steeped in a Germanic quasi-Hindemith tradition, mixed with more contemporary American dance forms. It was incredibly well performed, and the explained context of a piano part that began life as an orchestral reduction encouraged the imagining of this larger-than-life work.

This programming made me reflect on Martin Schuttler’s idea, that new music isn’t a genre, that it’s a way of thinking with and about music. It’s a shame this was the only performance, because this program showed just how enriching new music is with the type of artistic leadership Syzygy brings to contextualise it, and it would be great if this type of programming was rewarded with more opportunity.