The Surround Sound event is putting a new twist on some old classics.
The Australian National Academy of Music is presenting a sonic spectacular with Surround Sound, a performance showcasing 20th-century classical compositions through percussion and piano.
Featuring Timothy Young, Peter Neville, Speak Percussion and ANAM Musicians, Surround Sound will journey through the works of Bartók, Stravinsky, Reich and Xenakis. Highlighting the contemporary visions of the compositions, which date back to the 1910s, this sonic exploration is set to mesmerise.
Most notably, the concert will be putting a twist on some well-known classical compositions. While one of the works originally composed by Stravinsky involved four hands playing one piano, ANAM’s decided to raise the stakes a little.
“He [Stravinsky] did write it originally for four hands, one piano,” explains ANAM’s head of piano and chamber music Timothy Young. “But I’ve made this arrangement for four pianos and seven pianists.
“Effectively what happens is in his piano reduction – which is extraordinary in itself – there’s quite a number of orchestral lines that go missing because it’s impossible for 20 fingers to play that many notes. So performing such a well-known and ambitious work, as the pianists are performing from the orchestral version with the percussionists, it’ll be great to have an additional depth of sound.”
