GRAND DUET:
Windows into contrasting worlds
PERFORMERS:
Brieley Cutting, piano
Christopher Pidcock, cello
PROGRAM:
Rita STROHL - Great Dramatic Sonata ‘Titus et Berenice’ (1898)
Nadia BOULANGER - Three Pieces (1914)
Galina USTVOLSKAYA - Grand Duet (1959)
The irregularity of the performance of the Strohl and Ustvolskaya works in Australia was confirmed to the performers as they worked to secure the musical scores. Both had to be sourced from Europe - one from a privately run website promoting French Romantic music, and the other from a mainstream publishing company who had to order the score especially.
However, the reasons for the infrequency of performance and unavailability of the musical scores is baffling considering that these two major works are extremely alluring windows into hugely contrasting worlds and creative spaces of commanding female composers: Rita Strohl from France, living 1865-1941, and Galina Ustvolskaya, having her life and career in Soviet Russia from 1919 to her relatively recent passing in 2006.
Strohl’s 'Great Dramatic Sonata' is based on a story of love, power and glory during the Roman empire, her music reflecting this as lush, Romantic, and passionate. Equally expressive, the powerful Ustvolskaya gives us her 'Grand Duet', a work that is brutally uncompromising, innovative and thrilling.
Programmed between these works is a 'palate cleanser' from another French composer, the famous and influential Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979). Her 'Three Pieces' are miniatures of intense character and unique precision.
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS:
Both prolific and lauded Australian performers with extensive and diverse experience, Brieley Cutting (piano) and Christopher Pidcock (cello) began exploring repertoire together following Brieley's move to Sydney in 2020.
Brieley’s playing has been celebrated for its “myriad of different colours” and as being “technically assured”, and Christopher enjoys a diverse career as soloist and chamber musician whilst also being an orchestral musician with Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Brieley has been a competition winner, including being National Keyboard Winner of the Symphony Australia ABC Young Performers Awards and received Second Placing in the Kerikeri National Piano Competition in New Zealand. Also a competition winner, Christopher was the First Prize recipient of the Gisborne International Music Competition in New Zealand.
Brieley and Christopher are both graduates of the Australian National Academy of Music and Fellows of the Winston Churchill Trust, and they have also both individually poured their efforts into creating and running innovative and supportive music platforms - Brieley having DeClassified Music events in Brisbane and now Sydney, and Christopher with his productions for Opus Now, also in Sydney.
Further experiences include Brieley being a graduate of the Royal College of Music, earning a Doctoral degree from Griffith University, and currently lecturing in Classical Piano at the Australian Institute of Music. Christopher remains a stalwart contributor to the evolution of contemporary classical music and is a current doctoral candidate at the University of Sydney.
