for orchestra (2222 4221 Hp 2Pc Strings) Faber Music publishing details, including online score preview
also available in a version for amateur/schools orchestra (Faber Music publishing details, including online score preview)
also available in a version (2002) for wind band (Faber Music publishing details, including online score preview)
also available in a version (2003) for brass band (Faber Music publishing details, including online score preview)
duration: 4 minutes
Audio (orchestral version)
Programme Notes
- RPM stands for Revolutions per Minute. This piece seeks to capture the feeling of unrelenting speed, acceleration and momentum. The composer was influenced by heavy metal music and describes the overall effect as similar to that of driving in a car at a very high speed.
(prog.note from Symphony Under the Stars programme guide, 1998)
Reviews
“I was particularly interested to hear RPM by Matthew Hindson, Sydney’s self-appointed chronicler of recent popular musical styles in a symphonic setting… What I think Hindson does rather well is to adopt a tone of naive homage, without irony, slickness, or sarcasm. In a post-modern age of quotation, double-coding and sarcasm, that is rather refreshing and also rather original.” The Sydney Morning Herald, 16 January, 1998.
CD Recording Available?
Yes, contact the education officer of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. A limited number of CDs were produced with accompanying educational resources on the piece.
The brass band version of RPM is available on a disc entitled The Alchymist’s Journal, performed by the Leyland Band.
Other Information
Also available: the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Education Section has produced an educational resource kit on this piece.
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).