Ringing The Bell Backwards
Premiére: Melbourne Festival 1993
Composer: Paul Grabowsky
Program
'Miracolo' (08:54)
'Spectre of a Rose' (14:08)
'Unregrettable' (10:14)
'Unter Dayne Vayse Stern' (09:15)
'Tsu Eyns, Tsvay Dray' (06:20)
'Immortal, Invisible' (12:02)
'Strange Meeting' (12:36)
Program Notes
Why should we celebrate
These dead men more than the dying?
It is not to ring the bell backward...
- T.S. Eliot, 'Little Gidding'
In 1990, Paul Grabowsky was commissioned by the Munich Orchestra Die Konferenz to arrange songs made popular by Edith Piaf. The success of these arrangements led to a further commission to include World War II political / cabaret sons. On his return to Australia, Paul continued to expand the suite, this time writing specifically for musicians who would later become the Australian Art Orchestra.
Ringing the Bell Backwards has had repeat performances on an Australian East Coast Tour in 1995 and at The Forum, Melbourne in 1998.
Introduction
The Australian Art Orchestra had its genesis in a series of concerts staged at the Malthouse Theatre as part of the Melbourne International Festival in September 1993. The band at that time was billed as the Paul Grabowsky Orchestra, and they presented a program titled Ringing The Bell Backwards.
This was a collection of European folk and popular songs of the 1910s - 1940s, radically re-arranged by Grabowsky to provide a series of challenging and stimulating settings for improvised solos by some of the boldest young players on the Melbourne jazz scene, joined by several like-minded players from Sydney and Brisbane.
The program's theme was a commentary on the horrors of war, and the rise of fascism in Europe between the two world wars. As Grabowsky explained at the time, This is new music arising from the memory of the old: a statement about love and war, about the legacy of fascism and the unquenchable spirit of the individual.
The songs arranged by Grabowsky included 'Lili Marlene', 'Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien' and 'We'll Meet Again' (songs associated with Marlene Dietrich, Edith Piaf and Vera Lynn, respectively), as well as two songs from the Jewish ghettos of the Holocaust in Poland and Lithuania.
The response to Ringing The Bell Backwards was overwhelmingly positive. Rave reviews in the press, along with enthusiastic word-of-mouth, saw the crowd build in numbers each night, with the third and final concert being played for a full house.
When the orchestra reconvened a few months later to record Ringing The Bell Backwards, they played a two-night stand at the Continental in Prahran, and drew cheers from the standing-room-only audience.
When the CD of Ringing The Bell Backwards was released on Origin Recordings in 1995, critics around the country sat up and took notice. It was obvious that something significant was happening here.
With the momentum generated from the Ringing The Bell Backwards project, Grabowsky seized the opportunity to organise the orchestra that he had longed dreamed of leading, and writing music for, as an ongoing concern.
The rest is history... and the future.
- Adrian Jackson
Performers
- Bob Coassin (Trumpet, Flugelhorn)
- Scott Tinkler (Trumpet, Flugelhorn)
- Stephen Grant (Cornet, Accordeon)
- Simon Kent (Trombone)
- Adrian Sherriff (Bass Trombone, Didgeridu)
- Philip Rex (Tuba)
- Ian Chaplin (Reeds)
- Peter Harper (Reeds)
- Tim Hopkins (Reeds)
- Jim Glasson (Reeds)
- Elliott Dalgleish (Reeds)
- John Rodgers (Violin)
- Stephen Magnusson (Guitar)
- Alex Pertout (Percussion)
- Paul Grabowsky (Piano, Synthesizers, Samplers)
- Stuart Campbell (Piano, Synthesizers, Samplers)
- Gary Costello (Double Bass)
- Niko Schauble (Drums)
- Jacqueline Grenfell (Sampling)
Guest musicians on the CD Recording
- Scott Lambie (additional Drums on 'Miracolo')
- Philip Rex (additional Double Bass on 'Miracolo')
- Stephen Grant (additional Guitar on 'nter Dayne Vayse Stern')
- Shane O'Mara (additional Guitar on 'Strange Meeting')
Press for Ringing The Bell Backwards
- "Grabowsky's Backwards Bell Ringing is a Triumph"
- The Age (Adrian Jackson), 27 April 1995
- "Promise fulfilled with more to come"
- Sydney Morning Herald (John Shand), 8 May 1995
- "Ringing in the Changes"
- Herald Sun (Jessica Nicholas), 24 March 1995
Listen to a sample from Ringing The Bell Backwards
