It is an old saying, how life imitates art, but for Dunedin composer Anthony Ritchie it came just a little too close to being true.
"It’s been a very up and down, traumatic three years."
Back in 2020, while Ritchie was dealing with the Covid lockdown, a new position as head of University of Otago’s School of Performing Arts and his teaching responsibilities, his creative juices were flowing.
"It was a little bit perverse, really. Teaching from home and working from home was conducive to creative work, I found. Even though I was pushed for time, I found myself starting this piece."
Given the timing, what became Symphony No 6 was partly informed by the crisis, but also the political strife around the world such as Donald Trump still being in power in the United States.
"The first movement is informed by this sense of crisis and upheaval, but at the same time I was sort of exploring the meaning of love — it’s a life-long journey trying to discover what love is all about."
So throughout the symphony, there is a reoccurring love theme played on the saxophone.
"A reoccurring motif, if you like. It explores issues like life, love and death."
Another movement is called Spirits and looks at the idea of the spirit world and afterlife.
"Partly as you get older — I’m in my 60s now — you start to know people who have died or been unwell.
"Ironically enough, just as I’d finished the work, I got quite seriously ill myself and was carted off to hospital for three weeks, and five or six operations later I’m all good."
The experience meant the last movement became a little more "allegoric" or introspective about the nature of death than it might have been.
He admits the past three years have been tough, but the support of his colleagues and the university was great.
"There were times you wonder if you can go on, but I feel I’ve made a good recovery."
More positively, he got to start this year with a sabbatical, his first in seven years, which gave him time to focus solely on composition and research.
"I found I composed more than I thought I would, which is good, a good sign."
It meant he could get on to some projects he had been wanting to do, including writing a piece for string quartet, a horn trio and a piece for bassoon and string quartet which is being premiered at the Martinborough Music Festival, also this weekend.
"The day after the symphony, which necessitates a quick trip the next day to Martinborough."
"At the same time, I always feel nervous because you want it to go well and worry something dramatic is going to happen, which it usually doesn’t.
"I’m lucky I’ve got really good performers, so I don’t have to feel too nervous."
Having it premiered in his home town by the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra (DSO) with musicians he has worked with for many years as well as some of his department’s students is very special, he says.
Also having the piece conducted by music director and principal conductor of London’s Southbank Sinfonia Simon Over, who is visiting Dunedin from the United Kingdom for the first time since Covid, added to that.
Over, who is principal guest composer for the DSO, says being back in New Zealand and making music with the DSO and performing at Dunedin Town Hall is a great privilege he does not take for granted after the lockdowns of the pandemic.
He is also looking forward to catching up with old friends, "making music together after such a long period of silence", St Clair Beach and a Mazagran flat white.
Over enjoys conducting Ritchie’s works, having conducted Gallipoli to the Somme both in New Zealand and in the United Kingdom.
"I love the hauntingly beautiful melodies and sonorous harmonies, the powerful rhythmic drive, masterful orchestration, unusual instrumentation — alto sax in this work — and his masterly use of percussion, the taut, well-crafted construction; all part of an exhilarating journey through a wide range of emotions."
It does not come without its challenges though.
"Because there’s a lot happening with frequent changes of time signature; half an hour of intense concentration."
Ritchie says he wanted to use tonality or key as a characteristic of the music in a programmatic sense.
"By that I mean the music ends in the key of E flat minor — an unusual key for a symphony to be in. What I’ve tried to do is to use a very dark chord from that key as a reoccurring sound device idea.
"It keeps coming back throughout the piece. I’ve made the analogy of a black hole which the music keeps on trying to escape, but keeps getting sucked into this black hole of a chord, so from a musical point of view it’s quite an interesting exercise to try and make the harmonies and key gravitate toward one point all the time — it’s also symbolic of the inevitability of death. It’s something we can’t avoid."
Ritchie chose to include the saxophone as he really likes the instrument.
"I’ve often wanted it to be a regular member of the orchestra, but it’s not."
He also had the image in his mind when composing of a saxophonist on a balcony during the Covid lockdown playing to themselves.
"That was what I was imagining."
"To hear two different interpretations is great."
However, in a recording situation you do not get to hear the symphony from start to finish, as the aim is to get each part perfect and eliminate mistakes.
"It is quite a different mindset to live performance. It is not nearly as satisfying for the players, or me, but you end up with a recording that is spotless."
Ritchie enjoys live performances much more than a recording.
"I like the energy you get."
As the music business changes, he finds it interesting to be part of it and to try new things.
"I’m old-fashioned really, compared to the students, but I still find I get energised by new developments which makes me want to keep writing."
He has also enjoyed writing songs for the first time in a long time, writing pieces based on Katherine Mansfield poems for the anniversary celebration of her life.
"You have to think like a singer and fortunately I have some experience as a singer, I always sing over my words."
While he used his sabbatical to write some pieces for duos and quartets, writing for orchestras is where his passion lies.
"That's why I keep coming back to my symphonies."
To see:
Dunedin Symphony Orchestra’s Dvorak’s New World, Dunedin Town Hall, Saturday, 7.30pm.
