Graham Hair. 12 Transcendental Concert Studies. Etude-variations 'Under Alderbaran,' Roccoco Fantasies, Book 1 and Passacaglia on the Bach Chorale, 'Komm, Gott Schopter, Heiliger Geist. Martin Jones. Lyrita.
This superb record represents a mile-stone in both composition and performance, in creation and re-creation.
My first awareness of Graham Hair came when, as chairman of the 1998 Scottish International Piano Competition, I was sent the score of his Transcendental Study No 6, its intriguing title, 'Wild Cherries and Honeycomb' based, like the other Etudes in the set of twelve, on Australian poets. This had been commissioned by the competition as a contemporary offering to be played from memory by all the competitors reaching the semi-final round. Close examination of the score revealed a world of formidable intricacy as well as of a musical calibre far above, indeed transcending, the average competition commission. I was therefore hardly surprised when one of the competitors, the exceptionally gifted Graham Caskie, telephoned me, apologetic and in near despair, saying that while he had learnt the piece, committing it to memory was proving near impossible. I qualified my sympathy by saying that the marking for this section of the competition would be marked lower than elsewhere, so that even if his performance was less than successful it would not seriously affect his overall standing.
For my nine-member jury it was a different and exultant story. All of us were thrilled by such magically evocative writing and were saddened when the final performance took place. The special prize for the best performance went to Alexander Taylor, who's formidably proficient playing later appeared on CD. Later still Etude No 6 was performed on several occasions by my student, the late Alice Demske.
The gestation of the 12 Etudes was slow and painstaking but the result is of an original and deeply personal quality; the poetry of the various Australian poets a stepping-stone to musical inspiration. And it is in this sense that the opus is surely an exercise in nostalgia for Australian- born but Glasgow- based Graham Hair.
Existing within the Etude tradition (the very title evoking Liszt's 12 Transcendental Etudes) that advanced from humble beginnings to turn pragmatism into poetry they are at the same time wholly individual. The link to the great Romantic keyboard composers, notably to Liszt, is present in their literary affiliation and in their picturesque titles. Yet if there is a possible phantom presence it is surely Debussy's Twelve Etudes which took musical and technical possibilities into a new and revolutionary direction. By his own admission Graham Hair mentions Szymanowski as another foundation of interest and this is more evident than in the Etudes of, say, Alkan, Scriabin, Bartok, Stravinsky or Prokofiev. Personal and idiosyncratic in character, for the composer his work is a wry and determined cultivation of 'classical traditions in the Age of the War on Everything.'
---------------------------------------------------
Briefly, No 1, 'Snatches of Light,' inspired by a visit to Stonehenge during a howling gale, is a presto limbering up for all that follows. No 2, 'The Rainbow Serpent,' is a mythic figure of Aboriginal folk lore, while No 3, 'Epiphany of Light,' is based on a poem which poses the moral dilemma faced by the Vatican in the face of Nazi ascendency. Ending in a mysterious chain of trills it evokes a plea; 'the just man shall flourish as a palm tree.' No 4, Rainbow Lorikeets,' resolves its dance like measures in a sudden calm and benign conclusion. No 5, 'Red Autumn in Valvine' is a reverie on the graveside of the poet Stephane Mallarme while No 6 is the most ambitious and previously discussed 'Wild Cherries and Honeycomb.' No 7, 'Dances and Devilment and Sunlit Airs' has constantly echoing ideas, dashing quixotically from one to the other, No 8 is a 'recitative-like study evoking a flute player 'improvising, surrounded by the rustling and murmuring of a rural environment' and here the distant shadow of Debussy's 'The Little Shepherd' from his 'Children's Corner Suite' surfaces, while Nos 9 and 10, 'Unearthing the Earth' and 'Harmonice Mundi' lead to No 11, ‘Naming the Stars,’ a bewildering and complex mix of terrestrial and extra-terrestrial ideas inspired by a contemplation of the Southern Cross. Finally, No 12, for Hair 'an apotheosis of violent imagery; of fire, rock and water.'
In addition to this daunting and enchanted opus there is 'Etude-variations Under Alderbaran', a further concert study this time atonal, and 'Passacaglia on Bach's chorale, 'Komm, Gott Schopfer, Heiliger Geist'
--------------------------------------
All these works should join the repertoires of any enterprising pianist. And returning to the competition scene, all of them would make an ideal if ultra-demanding requirement for a contemporary offering.
………………………………………..
My final sense of wonder is at the performance by Martin Jones whose herculean task was undermined by the long delay in the completion of the Etude cycle. Working closely with the composer in the working out of essentially pianistic demands, Martin Jones confesses that even after the long available 'Wild Cherries and Honeycomb'(Etude 6) it took time to fully acclimatise to Hair's idiosyncratic harmonic language, to both extreme rhythmic complexity and a wild variety of figurations. The result is a resolution of every difficulty into playing of an astonishing ease, naturalness and musical intuition. Graham Hair's notes are a rich source of illumination, Nimbus's sound is ideal and even the record sleeve is in on the game with an illustration of a rainbow-coloured parrot, a tribute to Etude No 4, 'Rainbow Lorikeets.'
Bryce Morrison