Interview with MacDonald for Western Alumni Gazette (2003)

Interview with Andrew Paul MacDonald

conducted by Janice Wallace for Western Alumni Gazette, November 20, 2003

JW      What are some of your favorites memories of your days at Western? What  classes or activities did you enjoy most?

APM  The courses I enjoyed most at Western were my classical guitar lessons with Ray Sealey (I was a performance major), theory classses with Robert Riseling and orchestration with Alan Heard.  Some of my favourite memories involved playing chamber music with my fellow students, especially my own compositions! (eg. my Trio, op. 1, for flute, clarinet and guitar and my Quartet, op. 2, for flute, oboe, viola and guitar).  Also, playing medieval music was fun–myself on the lute while Richard Semmens sang or played the recorder–in fact, I started playing the lute while at UWO, using an old instrument that was lying around at the Music Faculty.  I also performed with many singers.  For example, I accompanied the now famous Nancy Argenta on her graduation recital in 1979 (or 1980?), playing the lute for a set of songs by Thomas Morley.  For my own graduation recital in 1981 I composed a guitar concerto for myself as soloist.  My roommate Ivars Taurins (now of Tafelmusik fame) was the conductor and the orchestra was made up of students at the school whom I had persuaded to play.  At the first rehearsal only half of the players showed up.  But word got out that this was an interesting piece, so more amd more players starting coming to subsequent rehearsals.  At the premiere we finally had the whole orchestra together, and the performance was a great success, earning a rousing standing ovation.

JW      What did you learn at Western that has helped shape your career? What people had an influence on you and the choices you’ve made?

APM  As an undergrad in Music at Western I ameliorated my overall skills as  a musician and my technique and knowledge of repertoire as a guitarist/lutenist.  I also really started composing in a serious way at that time as a result of improving my understanding of how to compose well for instruments and the voice, and by having opportunities to have my music performed.  I improved my understanding of instruments by studying them through practical application.  That is, I would write music and try it out on my colleagues, often taking it to the next level by performing it with them in concert.  Also, my composition profs Art Giron, Alan Heard and Murray Schafer (in residence at UWO 1980-81) introduced me to many new scores by composers from around the world, and to approaches to compositional design which I hadn’t considered before.

As far as who had an influence on the choices I’ve made, I’d have to include all the names above, and especially Robert Riseling, whom I held in awe at the time (and still do), and who once told me I had something there and to keep working at it.  Well, I did, Bob, and it seems to have paid off!  My music is getting lots of performances, new CD recordings, new commissions, and prizes such as the Juno Award– but, I must say that it’s still a lot of work, especially as life gets more complicated.  My activities as a prof, department administrator, performer (guitar/lute/conductor), concert series director, instrument inventor, ancient Greek musicologist, athlete and family man all have to be balanced with my very active creative life as a composer!

I should also mention Simon Streatfeild–a visiting prof in conducting in the late 70s who conducted my first orchestral piece and some of my other compositions.  Simon has since conducted many premieres of my music.  He also made the recording of my Violin Concerto for the BIS label which won the Juno Award in 1995.  As well, I was the soloist in the North American premiere at Western of Richard Rodney Bennett’s Guitar Concerto under Simon’s direction!

JW      How do you balance teaching and composing?

APM  I don’t know how I balance teaching and composing!  As you can see from my last paragraph, I must balance more than just those two activities.  I guess it all comes down to “time management”, as I’m always telling my teenage kids, Ilana (17) and Cameron (14).  Besides composing and teaching, I also give many performances on classical guitar and lute, playing traditional repertoire along with my own music.  I especially enjoy playing duet concerts with my wife, soprano Eleanor Gang (BMus 82), whom I met at Western.  I’m also Chair of the Music Department here at Bishop’s for two-year stints in alternation with my principal colleague, Jack Eby (MMus 78), and I run our concert series, Musique Chez Nous.  Co-produced with la Chaine culturelle de Société Radio-Canada, this “little concert series that could” has blossomed into a 30+ concerts per year affair, with 50% of them being broadcast nationally!  I also conduct the Bishop’s Chamber Orchestra (BCO), a fine group of talented young musicians eager to explore the repertoire.

Outside the university I have served as a member of arts council juries and music competitions, external examiner for other universities, vice-president of the Canadian League of Composers and executive committee member for various music camps and orchestras, and I’m currently president of Ensemble Musica Nova, a new music group which I founded in 1989.

JW      Are most of your works commissioned by specific performers or groups?

APM  As you can see from the info above, most of my pieces are commissioned by specific groups for concerts, recordings, etc.  However, sometimes I just feel like writing a new piece for somebody, such as the duet for piano four-hands, Best Friends’ Suite, which I’m writing for my kids to play.  I also write a lot of music for Eleanor to sing which is not commissioned, unless you consider all those great meals she’s constantly coming up with!

In my CV I list funding sources and performance groups who have commissioned music from me.  There you’ll see the Canada Council, the Ministère des Affaires Culturelles de Québec, the Conseil des arts et lettres du Québec, the Laidlaw Foundation and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, along with outstanding orchestras, chamber ensembles, solo performers and performance competitions.

JW      Who and what influences your writing?

APM  I get inspiration from all types of sources, such as:

1. Ancient Greek myth and music.

Take for example the following works:

• The Return of Ulysses, op. 17 (1988), for strings, based on the story of Ulysses (Odysseus) from the Odyssey, when upon returning home after his long adventure, he found his house and affairs in disarray;
• In the Garden of Gaea, op. 23 (1991), for orchestra, based on the creation myth of Hesiod, a contemporary of Homer;
• Eros, op. 35 (1994), for orchestra, on the myth of the Eros and Pysche;
• Hymenaeus, op. 38 (1996), for violin and viola, an ancient Greek wedding march and dance which employs ancient Greek compositional techniques featuring, for example, 1/4 tones;
• Pythikos nomos, op. 39 (1996), for oboe/Eng. horn/oboe d’amore and string quartet, based on the custom or “nomos” used in music competitions at the Pythian Games from 586 BC onwards. This nomos was the story of the battle between Apollo and the Python, guardian of the sanctuary at Delphi, over control of that holy place, told through music. This piece employs many ancient Greek compositional techniques and a quotation of the “Hymn to Apollo”, composed by Athenaeus in 127 BC.;
• Free Flight, op. 40 (1996), for cello and orchestra, based on the myth of Icarus and Dedalus;
• The Great Square of Pegasus, op. 42 (1997), for violin, viola, cello and double bass, on the myth of Pegasus and Bellerophon;
• The Winds of Thera, op. 44 (1997), for accordion and string quartet, inspired by ancient Greek wind instruments, the rhombos, iynx and conch, and the myths related to each;
• Pleiades Variations, op. 45 (1998), for flute, viola and harp, on the myth of Orion and the Pleiades sisters;
• Triangulum: Concerto Grosso No. 1, op. 46 (1998), for string orchestra, based on the myth of Phrixos, Helle and the golden fleece.
• The Eleusinian Mysteries, op. 47 (1998), for harp and gamelan orchestra, based on the ancient Greek cult of Demeter in Eleusis;
• Hermes of the Stars: Concerto Grosso No. 2, op. 48 (1998), for string orchestra; on the myth of Hermes;
• Nausikáa, op. 49 (1998), for solo violin, based on the story of Nausikáa from Homer’s Odyssey;
• The Dream of Amphíon, op. 53 (2000), for solo piano, based on the myth of the brothers Amphíon and Zethus and the building of the walls of Thebes;
• Through the Asklepion, op.54 (2000), for violin, cello and piano; inspired by the ruins at the Sanctuary of Asklepios (the god of healing) near Epidavros, and related myths; contains a fragment of an ancient hymn to Asklepios;
• On the Wine-Dark Sea: Third Sonata for Violin and Piano, op. 55 (2001), sea imagery inspired by Homer’s Odyssey;
• String Quartet No. 4: Andromache Suite (2002), a reworking of themes that I used in incidental music which I wrote to accompany the play Andromache by Euripides;
• Kassandra’s Tears (2003), for violin and piano, based on the myth of Kassandra, from Homer, Aesychlus and others;
• Circe (2003), for orchestra, based on the story of the sorceress Circe from Homer’s Odyssey.

2. Astronomy and constellation mythology. This crosses over somewhat with Greek mythology. I bought a big telescope for my backyard a number of years ago, and started exploring the night sky in detail.  I became intrigued by the mythology surrounding the constellations and wrote a number of pieces:

• The Great Square of Pegasus features four solos, each named after one corner of that constellation’s square, for violin, viola, cello and double bass respectively;
• Pleiades Variations are a set of seven variations on a seven-note theme inspired by (what else?) the Pleiades, a constellation which features seven prominent stars known as the “Seven Sisters”;
• Triangulum is a concerto grosso which reflects the three prominent stars of this constellation through changing trios of soloists, three-note motives, three movements, etc.;
• Hermes of the Stars, inspired by the planet Mercury, which was the god Hermes for the Greeks;
• String Quartet No. 3, “The Delphinian” (1998), inspired by the constellation Delphinus, or the Dolphin;
• Prophecy from 47 Ursae Majoris (2000), for clarinet and piano. Inspired by the recent discovery of new planets outside of our own solar system, the work is an attempt to capture the contents of a possible message received by our radio telescopes—a message sent in the universal language of music.

3. Great books. I’m always reading!  Here are some pieces inspired by what I’ve read:

• The Illuminations of Gutenberg (2003), inspired by The Gutenberg Galaxy by Marshal McLuhan;
• The Mechanics of Stardust (2003), inspired by Vital Dust by Christian DeDuve;
• Kassandra’s Tears (2003), inspired by Agamemnon by Aesychlus;
• Don Quixote, Knight of the Sad Countenance (2003), inspired by Cervantes’ Don Quixote de la Mancha;
• Dante and Beatrice (2003), inspired by The Divine Comedy by Dante.

4. Poetry. I’ve set lots of poetry to music, especially that of the late Ralph Gustafson, a famous Canadian poet who lived nearby in North Hatley and was a close friend. I’ve also set poetry by Keats, Shelley, Blake, Euripides, Yeats, T. S. Eliot and Robert Graves, to name a few.  Here are some examples:

• Landscapes (1981), for soprano and guitar, poetry by T.S. Eliot;
• Songs of the Wind Among the Reeds (1983), for soprano and guitar, poetry by W.B. Yeats;
• Songs of Life’s Complaint (1986), for soprano and chamber orchestra, poetry by Shelley, Keats and Blake;
• The Birth of Spring (1989), for soprano solo, SATB chorus, and strings, poetry by Ralph Gustafson;
• Innocence (1991), for voice and piano, poetry by William Blake;
• The Jam at Jerry’s Rocks (1992), for soprano, clarinet and stereo tape, anonymous Canadian logging ballad;
• A Notebook of Love-Songs (1993), for soprano, oboe and guitar, poetry by Robert Graves;
• Green Steps in Sunshine (1994), for narrator and clarinet, poetry by Ralph Gustafson;
• Gustafson Landscapes (2001), for soprano and guitar, poetry by Ralph Gustafson;
• Andromache (2001), music for the play by Euripides, for electronics, solo soprano and chorus.

5. The Visual Arts have also inspired me to write music. In 1993 I wrote my second string quartet, Quatuor pour Camille, after experiencing Camille Claudel’s exquisite sculptures at the Rodin Museum in Paris. Also, I’m currently composing my first symphony, The Red Guru, after a stunning canvas of the same name by Canada’s David Sorenson.

JW      What advice do you give student composers today?

APM  Work hard.  Learn traditional compositional techniques thoroughly, then as much about new approaches as possible.  Learn to play your instrument well, so that you can appreciate what your performers must go through, and so you can keep in touch with the physicality of music.  Listen to a lot of music (new and old).  Go to many concerts.   Hang out with performers and play music with them.  Then write music to play with them socially, then professionally.  Learn lots about electronic music as it will open your mind to many new sonorities.  Experiment, but make sure that anything you write can actually be played.  DO this by checking with the performer(s) before the piece is finished.  ALWAYS be willing to learn from your colleagues!