Australian Chamber Orchestra, Epitome of ‘Embodiment’

O    ne of the foremost composers of the French Baroque operatic tradition, Rameau is often cited for his struggle to steer lyric tragedy away from its strict Lullian form, inspired by spoken tragedy, and toward a more expressive musical style… In his compositions, Rameau tried to highlight music’s potential for dramatic meanings. But his listeners, who understood lyric tragedy to be a ‘poetic’ rather than ‘musical’ genre, were generally frustrated by these attempts. In fact, some described Rameau’s music as ‘monstrous’—using an image of deformity to represent the failure of reason and communication.”
  —  Charles Dill, 1998, Professor of Musicology, Univ Wisconsin-Madison.

L  isten to that, will you?” the person next to me could not help but say to me during the intermission. “Have you ever heard an ensemble so in-tune? or so ‘tight’, rhythmically? Each section is playing like they were one person!”

Y  are right. I couldn’t disagree,” I said. “And to see them pivoting and rotating left and right, each by as much as 90 degrees, to see each other and physically gesture directly at each other! Their knee-flexing and expressive leaning and swaying... Their stretching of the dynamics, decibels quieter (with mutes on) and louder, beyond the usual interpretation of the as-written dynamics... How intriguing to see instrumentalists do this! It’s like they are opera singers, singing to each other.”

T  he Australian Chamber Orchestra performance in Kansas City tonight was exceptionally good. And the exchange above occurred after the Haydn and Mozart before they got to the Suite from the opera ‘Dardanus’.

E nglish pianist Paul Lewis (who trained with Alfred Brendel, among others) joined the Orchestra for the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 12, K. 414... “A lush yet ‘crystalline’ tone... rhythmically ultra-synchronized with the ACO members... Amazing!”

• Haydn: Symphony No. 44 ‘Trauer-Sinfonie’
  
• Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 12 in A Major, K. 414
  
• Rameau: Suite from ‘Dardanus’ (1739, 1744, 1760; RCT 35)
  
• Haas: String Quartet No. 2, Op. 7, Monkey Mountains Suite (‘Zopicich hor’)
  

T  he Rameau after the intermission was especially dramatic. Sans recorders and flutes but equipped with antiphonally-distributed horns, we were treated to six short movements with wonderfully rich acoustic colors and textures. Oboes cohabited with violas, the bassoon communed among felicitous cellos, and Lions laid down peaceably with Lambs. The textural and spatial novelty is not gimmicky—it’s innovative, aesthetically defensible in the context of Baroque sensibilities, and stimulates more drama and interest than the music might otherwise do. Very cool. And an excellent way to illuminate Rameau’s complex sense of the interplay between the narrative arc of the libretto and the associated arc of the instrumental music for the opera.

R  ichard Tognetti became Artistic Director and Lead Violin in 1990, and under his leadership the ACO has embarked on ever more flexible ensemble configurations: small chamber group; small symphony orchestra; electro-acoustic chamber group; and so on. In ‘live’ performances, only the cellists are seated. The energetic interactions that this deployment encourages are nice—the visual gestures amongst the artists tend to be more demonstrative than when ensemble members are all seated. The standing ensemble members and the antiphonal positioning of some of the instruments add substantially to the excitement of the experience for audience members—these directorial/production decisions were especially appropriate for the dramatic Rameau. Oboes, far far stage-left, their backs to the shell, behind the violins; horn, center-rear; bassoon, far stage-right. These parts speak to each other across the distance, while the strings play with tight precision, as though they were one! Not just stretched dynamics, but dramatically accentuated spatial depth. Uncanny!

T  hese decisions and variations also help tremendously realize and vividly accentuate Rameau’s physicality. These directorial/production decisions draw attention to the metaphorical ‘embodiment’ that Golan Gur and other Rameau scholars have written about. ‘Embodiment’ in the field of cognitive science refers to understanding the role of an agent's (character’s; performer’s) own body in its situated interactions with other agents in context—the role that the body has in the agent’s comprehending the situation and those interactions. For example, Dardanus “can’t stand to see” his future relationship with Iphise reduced to questions of pre-arranged nuptials and political alliances—his physical experience of standing, or failing to remain standing, or failing to endure the situation—is an example of cognitive ‘embodiment’, of physicality, which colors Dardanus’s cognition of the situation. His impulsive decision to go kill the monster could hardly arise from anything less than a powerful emotion, mediated by ‘embodied’ cognition.

A  CO’s production values are fabulous throughout, but this Rameau really captured my imagination… Richard Tognetti is the Dardanus character! We are so not accustomed to instrumental players physically ‘acting’! These are not a Baroque ensemble performing a Suite ‘from’ Rameau’s opera; they are playing and moving physically on-stage as though they are the opera singers.

I  n Greek mythology, Dardanus was a son of Zeus and Electra. The name ‘Dardanus’ in Greek (Δάρδανος) is forboding: it means ‘burnt to a shrivet’, from the verb δαρδάπτω (dardapto)—to grind down utterly, to burn up completely, to vaporize. In the Rameau opera, Dardanus is feuding with King Teucer. Teucer has promised to marry his daughter Iphise to King Anténor, done deal, so much for women’s rights. King Anténor is sucking in his attempts to defeat the monster that’s terrorizing Teucer’s kingdom. Dardanus and Iphise meet, through the probably-superfluous intervention of the magician Isménor, and fall hopelessly in love. An ‘army of one’ and now properly/amorously motivated, Dardanus then single-handedly defeats the terror-monster, saving Anténor’s life. Teucer and Dardanus make peace, and Dardanus finagles Teucer’s release of Iphise from her betrothal to Anténor. Anténor’s happy enough just to be alive, so Dardanus and Iphise marry and live happily ever after, so far as we or Rameau know. So, embodiment, yes; burnt shrivets, no—at least not in this opera or this Suite for chamber ensemble.

• Ouverture (Lent)
  
• Premier air (Grave)
  
• Ritournelle
  
• Premier menuet; Deuxième menuet en rondeau
  
• Air de triomphe
  
• Bruit de guerre pour Entr’acte

T  he piece by Pavel Haas—Tognetti’s arrangement of String Quartet No. 2 for the larger ACO ensemble—pushed the dramatics up a notch. A dark, dissonant work, filled with punctate staccatos and percussive effects; very ‘cinematic’. Once again, the rhythmic crispness of the ensemble lent extra energy and excitement to the endeavor. The synchronicity of each section was astonishing—every player’s vibrato starting simultaneously, executing with identical width and periodicity, and ending simultaneously; every sautille, identical. To paraphrase Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, who are those guys!??! ACO’s unprecedented dramatics and beautiful physicality brought the audience to its feet.

I  f you haven’t previously encountered it, you may like to look at Charles Dill’s book on Rameau from about 10 years ago. Also, as relates to the inter-relationships between text and music, have a look at Peter Kivy’s new book. Several sources regarding ‘embodiment’ and theory of aesthetics and cognition are also included in the links below, for your interest.


The Australian Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1975 in Sydney. Their performances have been very popular at home (more than 10,000 Australian subscribers to their concert series) and heavily attended abroad, too. The ACO’s repertoire ranges from baroque and classical pieces to 20^th-Century and new music. ACO has in recent years commissioned quite a few compositions. The financial sponsorship of the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australian Music Office have contributed significantly to ensuring ACO’s success and sustainability. Would that ACA and AMO examples were emulated by other countries, particularly during the current economic down-turn! (As Tognetti said to the audience, maybe in a more affluent time ACO will not have to conserve on expenses so much and once again tour with their percussionist. That way, Julian Thompson will not need to treat the body of his cello so severely/pugilistically, to create the knocks, bangs, paper-in-the-strings buzzes, and other percussive effects called-for in works like the Haas.)



[ACO, Surfing Chamber Music ‘Musica Surfica’]

• ACO website
  
• Rameau J-P. ‘Dardanus’ RCT 35, 1744 score, old m.s. [2MB pdf at UNT]
  
• Rameau J-P. ‘Dardanus’ RC 25, 1739 score, ed. d’Indy 1905 [2MB pdf at IMSLP]
  
• Charles Dill page at Univ Wisconsin
  
• Damasio A. The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness. Harcourt Brace, 2000.
  
• Dill C. Monstrous Opera. Princeton Univ, 1998.
  
• Gallagher S, Varela F. Redrawing the map and resetting the time: Phenomenology and the cognitive sciences. Canad J Philosophy 2003; 29(Suppl):93-132.
  
• Gibbs R. Embodiment and Cognitive Science. Cambridge Univ, 2005.
  
• Gur G. Body, forces, and paths: Metaphor and embodiment in Jean-Philippe Rameau’s conceptualization of tonal space. MTO, 2008:14(1)
  
• Kivy P. Antithetical Arts: On the Ancient Quarrel Between Literature and Music. Oxford Univ, 2009.
  
• Turner M. 'Design for a Theory of Meaning', in The Nature and Ontogenesis of Meaning. Overton W, Palermo D, eds. Erlbaum, 1994. Pp. 91-108.
  
• Varela F, Thompson E, Rosch E. The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience. MIT, 1992.
  
• Paul Lewis page at Wikipedia
  
• Australia Council for the Arts website
  
• Australian Music Office