Melbourne: At the edge of night

Each of the seven preludes I have chosen from Opus 23 and 32 written by Rachmaninov appear to me as a meditation. They are like an introspective monologue or dialogue, and it is this particular retrospective quality that I wished to interpret.

There is an overwhelming feeling of melancholy in the music - unmistakably Russian, although not particularly nationalistic. It speaks of nostalgic yearning, of idyllic dreams, of pride and anguish and passion.

I saw each prelude as a separate entity. Each uniquely explores and develops its thematic material only to end, invariably, with an abrupt or withdrawn, almost laconic inconclusiveness. In this respect the Preludes seem to me like separate characters taken randomly from a story, or pictures glimpsed in an album.

The ballet too, depicts a collection of reminiscences. The poignancy of memories is often most acute at the time of day when darkness closes in. At nightfall loneliness seems to be felt more deeply, and faces and events from the past can invade the consciousness with random, sometimes-confusing or bizarre imagery.

Whilst this music represents perhaps the apogee of Romanticism, I wanted to depict this Romantic sensibility within a surreal setting. Recourse to dreams and the unconscious were fundamental to Surrealism, and Michael Pearce has created a beautiful evocation of this idea.
Stephen Baynes

Halcyon

Synopsis for Tim Harbour's new work available closer to opening night

Molto Vivace

Molto Vivace, a musical term meaning very lively, takes as its starting point the works of two French Rococco artists - Watteau and Fragonard. Both painters were able to reveal essential truths about human nature with differing sensibilities. Watteau's was often a kind of yearning melancholy whereas in many of Fragonard's works there is a barely concealed bawdy eroticism. Focusing in particular on a genre known as fêtes galantes (gallant festivals) in which people were depicted at leisure in idealised natural surroundings, Stephen Baynes explores a more light-hearted approach and as previously comes up with yet another personal triumph. Taking the music of Handel as his inspiration, Stephen Baynes, Richard Roberts and Anna French create their very own fêtes galantes.