Carl Vine (1954 -)

Started by Mirror Image, August 03, 2010, 10:54:08 AM

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1954     Born in Perth, Western Australia, October 8
1959     Began learning the cornet
1960     Student at Hale Primary School, Perth
1964     Fractured 3 vertebrae falling out of a tree during gymnastics. Unable to play the trumpet, so started learning piano.
1967     Student at Guildford Grammar School (Secondary), Perth. Started learning the pipe organ under Choral Director Kathleen Wood. Pianist and Organist for School Church Services, Assemblies and assorted performances.
1970     First Prize in the Australian Society for Music Education Composers' Competition (under-18 section) for 'Unwritten Divertimento': his first complete electronic work.
1971     Completed his first commissioned score, '2 Short Circuits' (electronic tape work), for the West Australian Ballet Company, choreographed by Eleanor Martin. Graduated Dux of Guildford Grammar School with 2 Government University Exhibitions.
1972     Enrolled in Bachelor of Science degree course majoring in Physics at the University of Western Australia. Winner, Open Instrumental Solo division (Piano) of the Perth Music Festival. A.Mus.A. (Associate in Music, Australia) with distinction for Piano from the Australian Music Examinations Board. Harpist (on the piano) with the Queensland Youth Orchestra conducted by John Curro, for James Christiansen's production of 'Tosca' at the Innisfail Festival, North Queensland.
1973     Trainee Sound Recording Engineer at the Tape Transcription Unit, BBC, Shepherds Bush, London (2 months). Created the music soundtrack for experimental films 'IS' and 'Facade' directed by Barrie Oldfield (WA). Winner of the Australian Broadcasting Commission's Instrumental and Vocal Competition (Western Australian division - Piano).
1973-75     Pianist (casual, and occasionally solo) with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.
1974     Transferred to Bachelor of Music degree course (Composition Major) at the University of Western Australia. A member of the West Australian Debating Team competing at the National Championships in Adelaide.
1975     Participated in the inaugural 'Young Composers' Training Scheme' organised by the Australia Council. Moved to Sydney to commence his professional career.
1975-8     Accompanist and rehearsal pianist for the Sydney Dance Company (then the 'Dance Company of New South Wales'). Created the soundtrack for experimental film 'Envir' directed by Barrie Oldfield. Performed at a vast range of musical, electronic and 'alternative' events in and around Sydney. He was also Musical Director of 'Sounds Nice' vocal duo on the Sydney 'club' circuit with various TV appearances. Until 1980, freelance performer with such groups as the Australia Ensemble, A-Z Music, the Seymour Group, Mused Performance Ensemble, the Ashes of Sydney and others.
1976     Regular performer at the Sydney Opera House 'Environmental Music Series'. Assisted by the Australia Council to attend the Gulbenkian International Choreographic Summer School in Guildford, England.
1977     First fully professional commission for Dance : 'Tip' (for Sydney Dance Company). The score was called '961 Ways to Nirvana', for amplified string quartet, orchestra and electronics. (work subsequently withdrawn)
1978     Resident composer with the Sydney Dance Company. Composed the music for the first all-Australian full-length Ballet - 'Poppy'. Guest performer at 'Music Rostrum '78' (featuring Luciano Berio). Guest conductor for the Seymour Group.
1979     Conductor, pianist and resident composer at the London Contemporary Dance Theatre. Founded the contemporary music performance ensemble 'Flederman' with trombonist Simone de Haan in Sydney. Remained as pianist, composer, conductor and director of the ensemble until 1989.
1980     Participant in the first 'Australian Composers' Summer School' with the ABC Sinfonietta
1980-2     Lecturer in Electronic Music Composition at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. The Flederman ensemble averaged 30 concerts each year on the Australian eastern seaboard.
1983     Received the 'Adams' award for outstanding contribution to Music for Dance in Australia. Flederman made its first international tour to the USA. Moved to Toowoomba (South-East Queensland) for R & R.
1984     Musical Director of the Australia/New Zealand Choreographic School (Melbourne) directed by Glen Tetley.
1985     Resident Composer at the New South Wales State Conservatorium. From 1985 to 1987, occasional conducting appearances with the Australian Chamber Orchestra.
1987     Resident Composer with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Guest conductor with the Sydney Philharmonia Society. Flederman receives the Sydney Myer Performing Arts 'Group' Award.
1988     Flederman international tour to Holland, Finland and the UK, including a concert on the opening night of the BBC Proms. Carl's Symphony No. 2 is performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by Stuart Challender across the continental United States, while the West Australian Ballet Company premieres his 'Tempest' choreographed by Jacqui Carroll.
1989     Guest Artist at EVOS Music (Perth), W.A.University and W.A.Academy for the Performing Arts. Awarded the Sounds Australian National Music Critics' Award for the Best Instrumental or Ensemble Work of 1988 ('Miniature IV'). Flederman closes down after their Federal funding is withdrawn.
1990     Awarded the John Bishop Commission to compose Symphony No. 3, premiered by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under Stuart Challender at the 1990 Adelaide Festival of the Arts.
1992-5     Deputy Chairman of the Australia Council.
1993     Australian Guild of Screen Composers Award for 'Best Music for a Feature Film' (Bedevil). ABC Classics Records releases the premiere recording of Carl Vine's first Three Symphonies performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by the late Stuart Challender.
1994     Australian Guild of Screen Composers Awards for 'Best Original Song' (The Battlers - 'Love Me Sweet') and for 'Best Theme for a Television Series' (The Battlers). Carl's first and second Symphonies choreographed by Glen Tetley for the Canadian National Ballet Company.
2000     Since November 2000, Carl has been the Artistic Director of Musica Viva Australia, the largest entrepreneur of chamber music in the world.
2005     Carl was awarded the prestigious 2005 Don Banks Music Award, the highest accolade that can be given to an artist by the Music Board of the Australia Council for the Arts. The award publicly honours an artist of 'high distinction' who has made an outstanding and sustained contribution to Australian music over a period of many years.
2005     Carl's Cello Concerto was awarded Best Performance of an Australian Composition at the 2005 Classical Music Awards, presented by the Australian Performing Rights Association (APRA) and the Australian Music Centre. The work was premiered in 2004 by Steven Isserlis and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jiri Belohlavek.
2006     As part of his continuing duties as Artistic Director of Musica Viva Australia, Carl was appointed Artistic Director of the Huntington Estate Music Festival, Australia's most prestigious and successful annual chamber music festival.
present     Free-lance composer living in Sydney.


Carl Vine is certainly one of the more interesting composers I've heard come out of Australia. He described his work as "radically tonal." The music is tonal, but it has so many interesting harmonies, rhythms, and textures. I think Vine is evidence that Australia has born some fine composers. He's definitely a contemporary composer I enjoy and will continue to support.

Vine may not be as well known outside of Australia as Sculthrope, but I find his music much more interesting, although there are a few Sculthrope works that I do enjoy. Vine's music seems to be of a consistent high quality. I wish more recordings of his music were available.

Have any of you heard of him? What do you think about his music?

(poco) Sforzando

I've heard the name but don't know the work. Could you recommend a few pieces you especially like?
"I don't know what sforzando means, though it clearly means something."

karlhenning

That's got to be an old photo.

Cato

"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

Mirror Image

#4
Quote from: Sforzando on August 03, 2010, 11:03:53 AM
I've heard the name but don't know the work. Could you recommend a few pieces you especially like?

I have especially enjoyed all of his symphonies, which most of them are in one movement. I also like his Piano Concerto, Oboe Concerto, and his ballet The Tempest. All are especially fine works.

Unfortunately, there is a price to pay in order to hear Vine. His recordings on ABC Classics are quite expensive, but I suggest getting the 2-CD set of his symphonies, which is actually incomplete now, because he not long composed his Symphony No. 7. But still, it's a fine set that's around $30.

I can tell, though, he's going to be a composer that I'm going to have to listen to pretty heavily. His music on its surface is very attractive, but I can tell there's definitely some depth to the music, which is where the repeated listenings will pay off. His influences are all over-the-map so to speak, but I believe in his fourth symphony I hear an almost Bartokian/Martinu type of rhythm in the syncopations. This rhythmic quality appears in much of his music, which I especially like.

Mirror Image

#5
I've been listening to Vine's symphonies all day and I am just so enthralled with them. I think they are some of the finest composed in the last quarter of the 20th Century. His orchestration is top-notch. All instruments are crystal clear and distinguishable. I believe I finally have a post-WWII composer I can finally get behind.

He has composed his seventh symphony not too long ago and I"m really anxious to hear it as well some of the Cello Concerto. This guy is the real deal.

Mirror Image

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on August 03, 2010, 11:05:12 AM
That's got to be an old photo.

Oh yeah it's an old picture most definitely. I think this picture was taken around 1994 or so.

springrite

I first heard Vine in the late 80's at the first Ivo Pogorelich Piano Competition at the old Abmassador Auditorium, won by a Chinese American pianist (was it Gloria Cheng?). The Carl Vine Piano Sonata was a piece that she played. I heard it on the radio first and later bought a CD featuring it. I remember loving the piece more than anything. The winner was the one who played the piece the best. Funny how a couple of other pianists at the competition had absolutely no clue about the work. From then on, I truly value competitions that requires playing a new piece (such as the Cliburn), instead of the Chopin competition where the Lang Lang's and Li Yundi's can practice the same pieces to death for ten years and win.
Do what I must do, and let what must happen happen.

Mirror Image

Quote from: springrite on August 03, 2010, 05:01:01 PM
I first heard Vine in the late 80's at the first Ivo Pogorelich Piano Competition at the old Abmassador Auditorium, won by a Chinese American pianist (was it Gloria Cheng?). The Carl Vine Piano Sonata was a piece that she played. I heard it on the radio first and later bought a CD featuring it. I remember loving the piece more than anything. The winner was the one who played the piece the best. Funny how a couple of other pianists at the competition had absolutely no clue about the work. From then on, I truly value competitions that requires playing a new piece (such as the Cliburn), instead of the Chopin competition where the Lang Lang's and Li Yundi's can practice the same pieces to death for ten years and win.

Vine's Piano Sonata is talked about a good bit. Have you heard any of his other works?

Mirror Image

Vine's Piano Concerto is a beautiful work. There's only one recording of it and it's with Edo de Waart/Sydney Symphony Orchestra. It's coupled with the Choral Symphony and Symphony No. 4.2, but I bought this recording just for the concerto as I already had bought the symphony set. It was definitely worth it as it's one of the best piano concertos I've heard from a composer of recent times.

Sid

If you like Carl Vine, Brett Dean is the next step. He's actually composing music in a new way, the sounds in his music are just out of this world. He's written a number of symphonic & chamber works. There are a number of interviews with him on youtube, but I can't find any of his music. He's well represented on ABC Classics. He won the prestigious Grawemeyer Award in 2009 for his Violin Concerto. I haven't heard that, but have heard a number of his works in concert & on cd, and all I can say is that he is also one of the most interesting Australian composers working today (He's about 6 years Vine's junior)...

Mirror Image

Quote from: Sid on August 03, 2010, 08:04:48 PM
If you like Carl Vine, Brett Dean is the next step. He's actually composing music in a new way, the sounds in his music are just out of this world. He's written a number of symphonic & chamber works. There are a number of interviews with him on youtube, but I can't find any of his music. He's well represented on ABC Classics. He won the prestigious Grawemeyer Award in 2009 for his Violin Concerto. I haven't heard that, but have heard a number of his works in concert & on cd, and all I can say is that he is also one of the most interesting Australian composers working today (He's about 6 years Vine's junior)...

Yes, I would like to explore Brett Dean. What do you know about Brenton Broadstock or Kats-Chernin? Have you heard their music? I know Kats-Chernin's Wild Swans is pretty popular in Australia or at least from what I've read anyway.

Sid

Haven't heard much Broadstock, but he's a big name here. As is Kats-Chernin, who is a type of minimalist but very eclectic (throwing in things like Chopin, cabaret, musical clocks into her Piano Concerto No. 2). She is comparable to the UK's Michael Nyman, and similar in her ubiquity in this country - she's done heaps of work in radio, tv, ballet, even co-authoring a cookbook & album "Slow Food." I've only got one cd of her's which includes the above concerto as well as the Wild Swans suite (which is more minimalistic & repetitive than the concerto, which I enjoy better) and a tone poem Mythic. It's on ABC Classics and part of the same TSO series of the Vine cd above. That's a good series, I picked up a couple when they were on special, but at their usual price, they're pretty steep, so I haven't ventured further.

As for Vine, I'll listen to my tape recording of his string quartet from a live broadcast done here in May with the Goldner Quartet (who I'm going to see this weekend, so it ties in pretty nicely). I'll get back to you here about what I think of that work in day or so.

Mirror Image

Quote from: Sid on August 03, 2010, 08:24:24 PM
Haven't heard much Broadstock, but he's a big name here. As is Kats-Chernin, who is a type of minimalist but very eclectic (throwing in things like Chopin, cabaret, musical clocks into her Piano Concerto No. 2). She is comparable to the UK's Michael Nyman, and similar in her ubiquity in this country - she's done heaps of work in radio, tv, ballet, even co-authoring a cookbook & album "Slow Food." I've only got one cd of her's which includes the above concerto as well as the Wild Swans suite (which is more minimalistic & repetitive than the concerto, which I enjoy better) and a tone poem Mythic. It's on ABC Classics and part of the same TSO series of the Vine cd above. That's a good series, I picked up a couple when they were on special, but at their usual price, they're pretty steep, so I haven't ventured further.

As for Vine, I'll listen to my tape recording of his string quartet from a live broadcast done here in May with the Goldner Quartet (who I'm going to see this weekend, so it ties in pretty nicely). I'll get back to you here about what I think of that work in day or so.

Well I don't think Kats-Chernin would be my cup of tea as I'm not too keen on minimalism. I do enjoy Arvo Part and some of Steve Reich's works, but generally it's something I can take or leave.

I own several of the ABC Classics recordings now. I'm about to pick-up a recording of Sculthrope's Piano Concerto. If I were you, I would try and venture into some of Vine's orchestral music, which for me, is very strong and of high quality.

Archaic Torso of Apollo

Thanks for starting this. Years ago, I heard the above-mentioned Piano Sonata on a car stereo when I was driving somewhere. I was really impressed by it. Since then I haven't heard a note of Vine's music. But that sonata was so good that I still remember it.
formerly VELIMIR (before that, Spitvalve)

"Who knows not strict counterpoint, lives and dies an ignoramus" - CPE Bach

Mirror Image

Quote from: Velimir on August 03, 2010, 09:46:29 PM
Thanks for starting this. Years ago, I heard the above-mentioned Piano Sonata on a car stereo when I was driving somewhere. I was really impressed by it. Since then I haven't heard a note of Vine's music. But that sonata was so good that I still remember it.

You should try and explore his symphonies, Velimir. I think you would enjoy them.

springrite

Quote from: Mirror Image on August 03, 2010, 05:17:00 PM

Vine's Piano Sonata is talked about a good bit. Have you heard any of his other works?

I have the first three symphonies. Would like to add to that, of course.
Do what I must do, and let what must happen happen.

Lethevich

I assume this disc with the piano concerto duplicates the recordings included in the ABC symphonies box (the timings look the same)? If so, is there any other disc featuring the work?

Peanut butter, flour and sugar do not make cookies. They make FIRE.

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#18
Quote from: Lethe on August 04, 2010, 04:21:20 AM
If so, is there any other disc featuring the work?




I already stated above that this was the ONLY recording of Vine's Piano Concerto and this was actually the original release of Symphonies Nos. 6 & 4.

Mirror Image

#19
Quote from: springrite on August 04, 2010, 03:56:15 AM
I have the first three symphonies. Would like to add to that, of course.

Have you listened to them in depth? They are all great works. I particularly love the Vine builds these works and the way his music transitions from let's say a very fast musical passage to a more lyrical slow passage is remarkable.