Category Archives: Orchestral Works

Rave-Elation (1998)

for orchestra (3333 4331 Timp 2Perc Pno Strings)

duration: 8 minutes

Faber Music publishing details, also available in a longer version entitled Rave-Elation (Schindowski Mix), of 14 minutes duration which can be found here.


Audio Excerpt


Programme Notes

Rave-Elation was written for performance by the combined forces of Camerata Australia and Camerata Scotland. It uses aspects of popular music as a starting point, in particular that of the ‘techno’ music genre.

The piece is almost exclusively hedonistic in content, and this is deliberate. The main inspiration for the work comes from dance and ‘rave’ parties, especially the party-goers’ single-minded indulgence in physical enjoyment.

‘Rave’ parties are large dance events, popular in the 1990s where the music is loud, produced through loud amplifiers. A steady drum beat, simulated and at times reproduced in Rave-Elation by a MIDI drum kit, controls the tempo and the excitement of the dancing crowd. The tempo and beat of Rave-Elation reflect the popular fast mood of this ‘dance’ music.

Commissioned by Youth Music Australia, Rave-Elation was written with the financial support of the Australia Council, the Australian government’s arts funding and advisory body.


(prog.note by Matthew Hindson)


Reviews

“Matthew Hindson’s Rave-Elation, a homage to the ‘rave’ dance scene, was full of funky beats and catchy riffs pounded out with fairly relentless energy. One couldn’t call it subtle, but it was a hugely enjoyable celebration of the essentially hedonistic physicality of contemporary youth culture. It was greeted with a degree of enthusiasm from the audience which is relatively rare, alas, for contemporary music” – Stephen Whittington , The Adelaide Advertiser, 22 July 1997.

“Hindson’s Rave-Elation continues his interest in popular styles, exploring techniques of techno styles and the spirit of physical enjoyment characteristic of rave parties. I find Hindson’s work in this area immensely interesting. He confronts the eternal problem of harnessing the energy of popular styles – how to handle their essential banality – in a variety of imaginative ways… I enjoyed hearing both these young composers hugely [David Horne’s Flicker was the other piece].” – Peter McCallum, The Sydney Morning Herald, 18 July, 1997.


CD Recording Available?

Not yet. However, a live recording of the piece is available through the Australian Music Centre library.


Other Information

This work featured in Veitstanz: Shake Rattle and Roll, a ballet choreographed by Berndt Schindowski, performed by Ballet Schindowski in Gelsenkirchen, Germany (January – March 2004).

Velvet Dreams

for massed SATB choir and orchestra (2222 – 4221 – timp – perc(4): tam-t/3 susp.cym/hi-hat/drum kit (BD/SD/cym/4 or 5 tom-t)/shaker/tamb/ c. bell/2 wdbl/whip/vib or mar – pno – strings)

also available in a version for SATB choir and piano.

duration: 6 minutes

Faber Music publishing details


Audio


Programme Notes

      During a period of correspondence with the reclusive Australian violist-turned-truck-driver Jock Reby, my attention was directed towards a notepad of graffiti that Reby had transcribed from the toilet walls of an English Language School in Bangkok. It seems that the students of the school had used the practice of writing on toilet walls as a means of experimenting with their English.

Consequently it contained some quite bizarre interpretations of the English Language. One piece of writing referred incessantly to “velvet dreams”, and their relationship to the writer’s missing (romantic) partner. Despite the often-unclear nature much of the text (what exactly is a “velvet dream”?), it was evident that the author felt very strongly about the subject.

This work for choir and orchestra has therefore utilised fragments of the so-called “Velvet Dreams” text, together with some extra texts written in a similar style by myself and the contemporary poet Sarah Hindson.


Programme note by Matthew Hindson


CD Recording Available?

      Not at this time. The

Australian Music Centre

    has a copy of one the live concert performances in their library.

Other Information

      Also available: also available: an educational kit based on this work has been created by Felicia Chadwick, comprising analysis and further general classroom-based activities – contact Matthew Hindson for more information on this. A copy of this kit can also be found in the

Australian Music Centre

    .