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Sitsky and Neeman weave some musical magic

Larry Sitsky… “I wanted to create a magic ritual in music. The work is in nine movements, a kind of process of initiation.”

AT 89, legendary Canberra composer and pianist, Larry Sitsky, is not slackening speed.

On Thursday, for instance, in the Larry Sitsky (where else?) Recital Room at the ANU School of Music, he will join former student and now eminent pianist, Edward “Teddy” Neeman, in a combined book launch and recital.

The launch will be of Sitsky’s three-volume set on the life and music of Italian composer and pianist Ferruccio Busoni, while the recital by Neeman will be of Sitsky’s new work, “The Apocryphon of Initiation”.

“The Compleat Busoni” will be the first release on ANU Press’s “Music Series” and Sitsky is pretty sure it will become a standard reference work, telling me when we catch up that volume one will be on sale on the night, while volumes two and three will be available a few weeks later.

Pianist Edward “Teddy” Neeman. Photo: Peter Hislop

“I can plug this unashamedly, as there is no financial gain for me in this publication,” he says.

Sitsky will say a few words about the book but the main focus of the evening will be a marathon two-hour performance of the new work, an excursion into the world of ritual.

An apocryphon, he explains, (plural apocrypha) is a “secret” piece of writing.

“I wanted to create a magic ritual in music,” he tells me. “The work is in nine movements, a kind of process of initiation.”

Each movement has a separate title, most hearkening back to Egyptian mythology – like “Avenue of Sphinxes”. Listeners will also recognise names such as Isis and Horus.

Sitsky says that it’s based on visits to Egypt and a long-held fascination with all things Egyptian, but it is true that his music has in the past been inspired by Sufi mysticism and he once wrote a work for Neeman to play while he was studying at the Juilliard School in New York based on a voodoo purification ritual, of which he says: “That really kind of attracted me”.

Apart from his Gnostic Mass, based on the ideas of Aleister Crowley, he has stayed clear of the Catholic Mass in his compositions, but says: “I realise that I respond to ritual in composing music, it gives me a structure, so in this piece I invent my own.

“Dumbo [himself] finally worked out the fact that I could invent a ritual for myself.”

It particularly pleases Sitsky that “The Apocryphon of Initiation” will be performed by Neeman, who first came to him when he was a shy schoolboy.

“I saw much of my job as building the extrovert side and getting him to relate to other music,” he says.

It pleases him to have seen Neeman grow up to become a respected pianist with a family.

According to Sitsky, this will be a premiere unlike most, because the score of his new work will be available for purchase, allowing those who read music to follow the performance. He and Neeman will be on hand to autograph the scores and the  CD of the work will also be on sale.

Sitsky and Neeman recital and launch,  Larry Sitsky Recital Room, ANU, September 21.

 

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Helen Musa

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