Limelight — May 2017

What first attracted you to music as a boy?

Wehadapianointhehouse,andmeandmy

sisterwouldtoyaroundonit.Iremembershe

wouldplaythelefthandofpiecesandIwould

playtheright.IthinkIwasquitealonelykid,

andthepianowasjustanotheruniverse.Isee

kids nowadays on the internet, and I wonder

if that’s the same impulse.

So when did you first hear a harpsichord?

Itwasinmyearlyteens.AtthatstageIwasa

voraciousconsumerofABCClassicFM.Ihad

this tape recorder that I could programme, so

often, late at night, I’d record these amazing

works.Ihadthesecuratedcassettesofallthis

weirdrepertoire.Iwasfascinatedbythe18th

century–itmayhavecomefrommything

forAustralianhistoryandTheFirstFleet.

At around eight or nine I discovered that

the piano wasn’t around in the past. “Oh,” I

thought,“sowhatdidthesecomposersthat

Ienjoy–Bach,Mozart,Haydn–actually

play?”SlowlyIlearnedthereweretheseother

instruments,andlaterIwasabletostudy

harpsichord at the Sydney Conservatorium.

IstartedwithPaulDyerwhenIwas14.

Gosh!Hadyoubeenidentifiedasgifted?

Iguessso.ItwasunusualbecauseIdidn’t

have an instrument, so it was hard to practise.

AndIhadtotakethetrainfromGosfordto

Sydney,whichwashard.WhenIfirststarted

onaharpsichord–andI’vetalkedtoother

people who’ve had the same response – it

suddenlyfeltlikeahugeweightwaslifted

offmyshouldersplayingthisrepertoire.The

instrumentandthemusicwereamatchatlast

–thetessituraofthemusic,thesimplicityof

the counterpoint, the transparency... Through

peoplelikeBachIdiscoveredScarlatti,and

thenthe17th-centurycomposers,andthen

French composers. I remember one of my

favouritethingswastopushmyparentsto

drivemedowntoZephyrMusicinCrows

Nest,andthereIwouldbe,mynosepressed

against the glass of the candy store.

Andwasoperaalsoafirstlove?

No,butyouknowwhatwas?I’mabit

hesitanttosayit,butitwasmusicaltheatre.

IwasatGosfordMusicalSociety.Withmore

sophisticated musical theatre, like Sondheim

andBernstein,youhearthepowerofthe

humanvoice,thepoweroftextsettomusic

inEnglish.ButthenIsawanamazing

filmed version ofDon Giovanniwith Kiri Te

Kanawa,whichIrememberwatchingover

andoveragain.SoIguessIgotintoopera

andmusicaltheatre.Ididalotofmusicalsas

apitmusician,whichtaughtmealotabout

improvisation and not treating the score as

this holy relic, which we’re often encouraged

to do in 19th-century music. Music from the

17th and 18th centur y is completely un-

proscriptive. It’s a recipe, an aide-mémoire for

the musician. It’s the same in musical theatre.

Iknowyou’reincrediblyvoraciousasa

listener. Has that always been the case?

Oh,yes.It’sfunny,asanundergraduateI

formed‘theAnti-Bachclub’withafriendof

minebecause–andIsaythisonlyinjest–

because I felt that everyone concentrates on

acoupleoffiguresinthe18thcentury.Of

course,Ilovethemtobits,andasIgetolderI

still come back to them as sources of comfort

andrejuvenation.Butatthetime,Ithought,

these guys can’t have existed in a vacuum.

ERIN HELYARD

Pinchgut’sArtisticDirectorhasjustcuthisfirstsolodisc.Clive Pagettalks to an in-demand

harpsichordist about the joys of Handel, voracious listening and being an Enlightenment dude

IrecallthattheHassecelebrations–Ithink

it was his bicentenary – brought all these

recordings and I bought every single one.

Galuppi, I remember getting into as well.

Vivaldiwasslowlygettingrecorded,and

suddenly we discovered that his operas were

incredible. And then I got interested in places.

HassewasinDresden,whoelsewasthere?

You’ve done more solo work in the last year.

Is that an area you’re moving into?

That’smyhappyspace.Butitwasfunny

doingtherecordingbecausesuddenlyIdidn’t

haveotherpeoplethere.That’sliberating,but

also not liberating. When you’re in charge,

youcantrustyourself–atleastIknowwhat

mycapabilitiesare–butatthesametime,

you’reinadifferentworldasasoloist.

How different is playing Handel suites, from

conducting an opera from the keyboard?

It’s not majorly different. Obviously the

texturesaredifferent,buttheHandelsuites

IchoseforABCClassicshavelotsoffugues

in them. Of course, something likeSaulalso

haschoralfugues–he’sactuallyanamazing

contrapuntalist–buttheninthesuitesthere

arealsolotsofdancemovementsderived

fromthe17thcentury,sothat’sadifferent

traditionaltogether.WhatIlikeaboutmy

career is that people often ask you to do so

manydifferentthings.Youcanconductthe

Australian Haydn Ensemble and then play

instrumental music, or you do opera with

Pinchgutandthenyou’reduettingin19th-

century rep with Stephanie McCallum. But

actually,it’snodifferenttothe17th,18th,

or early-19th centuries when musicians

did all of those things. I think the

28 LIMELIGHT MAY 2017 http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au

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