The World Premiere of our new commission, Tetra, has now been and gone (28 May, 2015) but we still have many performances of it scheduled over the remainder of the year. It has been a fascinating piece to learn and rehearse, as each movement is so varied. We have also now had the privilege of working on it with each of the composers which has added a new dynamic to the music and really enhanced our understanding of how best to perform it.
Our next interview in the composer series is with one of Tetra's four composers: Alissa Firsova. Alissa is multi-talented, excelling as a pianist and conductor in addition to her abilities as a composer. Described as a 'rising star' by The Observer and a 'formidable talent' by The Times, her music has been heard everywhere from the Proms to the Verbier Festival.
As the
daughter of two eminent composers, you must have grown up thinking it
totally natural to write music. However, which came to you first:
performing or writing?
I
started composing as soon as I began to take piano lessons at the age
of 6 in Dartington. Before I knew how to notate, I would sing and
sometimes play at the same time and my father would write the music down
for me. After a while I began to notate my own piano pieces and wrote
my first slightly larger piano piece at the age of 8, called “Singing of
the Birds”. Interestingly, I just incorporated it into my orchestral
piece for this summer’s Proms in my piece, Bergen’s Bonfire. I remember
playing this piano piece to my parents’ composition teacher, Edison
Denisov, And he said to me jokingly, “Do you want to become a composer?
You can’t be better than your father but you can be better than your
mother easily.” He was teasing my parents of course and luckily there
never has been any rivalry between them. But I actually wanted to do
something alternative to my parents, so my main aim was to become a
pianist. It wasn’t until I entered the Purcell School that I was offered
2nd study composition lessons and soon after, at the age of 14, won the
BBC/Guardian/Proms competition with my piano piece, Les Pavots. As a
result, I immediately received several commissions and from then on
decided to become a composer as well.
You are a pianist and conductor as well as a composer. Do you have a
favourite discipline? Also, do you find that they always complement each
other, or are there times where you have to restrain one part of your
training in order to let another part flourish?
I
find the variety of composing, playing and conducting so fulfilling and
all three definitely compliment each other. For me it was always very
important to be able to create the source of a feeling through my own
music as well as embody and express the music of my beloved composers. I
could not do one without the other and conducting is something which
arose out of this performing/creating duality - marrying it together.
Some of my favourite concert experiences were when I would direct a
concerto from the piano, conduct and write a piece for the concert as
well. Studying conducting helped my piano playing a lot, not only in
structural, physical and breathing ways, but also it helped me to think
of sound from a much more orchestral perspective and to be more
independent and decisive in my interpretations of works. Ideally, when
writing music, I would like to concentrate purely on that and take time
out, a bit like Mahler used to do, going to his composing huts in the
summertime. But often I have to balance my time between playing and
composing simultaneously, which can be quite difficult. At the moment,
most of my time is taken up with composition and piano concerts, but
this summer I will get to conduct my double cello concerto with the
Concertgebouw Camerata - of course I have to write the piece first!
Your movement of Tetra is
inspired by Frida Kahlo. What was it that drew you to this particular
historical figure and how did you incorporate her into the music?
In
the past, I have found it fascinating to write music inspired by art
and literature. When I saw Frida Kahlo’s name on the list, I immediately
was drawn to it and looked up her paintings. The Tree of Hope struck me
greatly - the painting is divided into two, there are two Frida’s: one
is lying on a hospital bed in deep pain on the Sun side of the painting -
as a symbol of the Aztec blood sacrifice to feed the Sun. The other is
in a beautiful, traditional red dress sitting on the edge of the bed on
the Moon side - a symbol of strength. This painting is a perfect
representation of Frida’s life - a constant struggle and agony, yet
always belief and hope for the future. The title was also appealing to
me, as most of my music has a positive nature and I was very taken by
the polar Sun and Moon depiction as I had just written my orchestral
piece, Bergen’s Bonfire, inspired by an apocalyptic dream I had, where I
could see the Moon and Sun in one landscape, before the Sun exploded.
Tetra uses the opening theme from Henriette Renié’s solo harp work, Légende as a motif to link all the four movements together. How did you incorporate this into your composition?
I
decided not to take a direct approach in terms of quoting the theme,
but rather a reflective one. In the second half of my piece, which
depicts the hopeful side, there is a “Tree of Hope” theme, which is like
a response to the Legende motif only in a major key. The Legende theme
already has some Spanish influences in its feel, so I developed this in
the Tree of Hope theme, which is passed around the 4 harps to create a
“branch-like” effect.
Your movement of Tetra utilises a lot of different ‘effects’ including
the Bartok pizz and thunder effect. What was it that drew you to the
more contemporary harp techniques?
This
was my first time writing for harp other than as an orchestral
instrument. I wanted to really explore the instrument as much as
possible and it was amazing to discover how many effects the harp is
able to create and how much it has developed recently. I was
particularly drawn to the “Xylo” effect, so it will be interesting to
hear how this comes out. The “Thunder” effect was very appropriate for
the “car crash” opening depicting Frida’s unfortunate fate. Already with
one harp, the “thunder’ effect can be very thrilling, so I thought this
would be a perfect opportunity to see what happens with 4 Harps!
What other commissions have you got on the horizon? On a similar note,
which piece do you feel most proud of in your composing career?
Following
the premieres of my double cello concerto in festivals in France and
Italy and my orchestral piece at the Proms this summer, I will be on to
my next commissions: a string quartet for the Tippett Quartet for Kings
Place, a piano duet for the Francoise-Green piano duo for their St.
John’s Smith Square series and a voice and piano work for a concert in
Istanbul. It’s difficult to name a work that I feel most proud of, but I
really enjoyed writing and conducting my Serenade for Strings with the
English Chamber Orchestra and I was fortunate that my Stabat Mater for
The Sixteen reached the “Top 10 Contemporary Works by Women Composers”
recently, although I do have another unperformed Stabat Mater, which I
would love to hear. I also enjoying writing my cello and piano Fantasy
for Tim Hugh which we have performed several times already. It will also
be performed during my Composer Portrait at the Proms on 27th August
and Tim Hugh and I will play it again in the Roman River Festival on
17th Sept. I still really dream to write my first opera!
As a woman conductor, you are still quite a rare breed in what has
always traditionally been a man’s world. How do you approach this and do
you find the orchestra responds to you differently?
When
I first started studying on the Royal Academy of Music postgraduate
conducting course with Colin Metters in 2009, I was the only female
conductor out of 6 students. The following year the ratio was 2 women to
6 men and in my final year the unthinkable happened - there were more
women than men - 4:3! This was definitely a historical moment in the
RAM’s history. I think people will always have their preconceptions, but
times are really changing and it’s very encouraging to see more and
more women rocking the podium. I have seen many wonderful women
conductors and yes, orchestras always respond differently to everyone,
but I do not see why there should be a gender barrier.
What (if any) musical styles or composers have shaped your own
compositions? Do you find listening to a new piece of music can spark
new ideas for your own compositions?
The
biggest musical love for me has been Mahler - I find everything in his
music: passion, pain, beauty, loss, hope, stuggle, triumph and this most
beautiful bittersweet quality. I also really love Strauss and think
these 2 composers have been the biggest influences on me lately, as well
as Szymanowski. I go to concerts and the opera all the time and this
inspires me a great deal, although recently I went to Dobbiaco, to see
where Mahler wrote his last symphonies and to see the beauty of the
nature where composers wrote their works can be an even stronger
impression. Listening to Mahler’s music while looking at the landscape
that inspired it was a life-changing experience.
Your brother is an artist. Have the two of you ever collaborated on a
piece of art, and if so, do the traditional sibling rivalries ever
surface?!
We
have been involved in many projects as a family, which really brings us
closer together. The first project arose at the Cheltenham Festival,
when my parents and I were each commissioned a piece of music, and my
brother painted paintings to go with each piece. For the Dartington
Festival, my parents and I wrote a Family Concerto for piano and
ensemble to celebrate Shostakovich: we each wrote a movement and I also
performed it, while my brother painted several paintings to go with it.
Another collective project was based on the Kubla Khan poem, where my
brother painted a triptych to go with different movements of our piece
for voice, violin, cello and accordion. We also wrote the Divine Comedy
for the Dante Quartet, my father wrote, Hell, my mother wrote Purgatory
and I wrote Paradise. My brother is now working on some large
illustrations which will be displayed during a performance of the
Divine Comedy Quartet in Torino in November by the Xenia Ensemble. We
love these family projects and would be interested to do more in the
future!
What three things would you take with you to a desert island?
A recording of the complete Mahler symphonies, a piano and a pool table.
