Toward Takayna: Concerto for Two Guitars in 3 movements (Duration ~ 20:00)
The beauty and wonder of the natural world have inspired composers since the dawn of notated music (and almost certainly before that). From Vivaldi’s immortal weather reports in The Four Seasons through to the Norwegian fjords you can almost “see” in Grieg’s music, or the “big sky” sounds in Aaron Copland’s evocations of the American west, composers have painted musical canvases filled with evocations of nature.

Throughout his composing life, Nigel Westlake has created music which speaks of a powerful affinity with natural environments and the creatures that live in them. Think of his music for the Imax film Antarctica (from which you’ll hear the suite later tonight) and his glimmering Six Fish, which he created for Slava Grigoryan’s guitar quartet Saffire. Two of his most recent concert works have been inspired by the magnificence and fragility of the Tasmanian wilderness. Not long before composing his oboe concerto Spirit of the Wild, created for Diana Doherty and the Sydney Symphony in 2016, he had been to Bathurst Harbour on Tasmania’s South-West coast, and wrote:

‘My trip there, with environmentalist Bob Brown, reminded me of the preciousness of the wilderness, and of mankind’s propensity to become subsumed by materialism, neglecting our connection to country and the wonders of the natural world, choosing instead to value only those elements of our environment that can be quantified by monetary worth. Such wild places are truly priceless and we exploit and destroy them at our peril.’

Just as Westlake’s Bathurst Harbour experience became the catalyst for Spirit of the Wild, so his 2019 journey to the Tarkine wilderness in north-western Tasmania became the inspiration for the concerto you will hear tonight. The Tarkine is home to Australia’s largest temperate rainforest, and is alive with unique creatures and habitats.  As Westlake explains:

‘In 2019, thanks once again to Bob Brown, my wife Janice and I took a five-day road tour of the Tarkine, which is known as Takayna by the first nations custodians of this place. Toward Takayna is my musical response to this journey – a musical acknowledgement of this rich and delicate environment and perhaps a way for me to hold its enchanting beauty in my hand.

Additionally, Toward Takayna is informed by my long-term desire to write a work for my two dear friends Slava and Leonard Grigoryan. Some of the musical material for the work has been developed from Six Fish, and there is an allusion to Hinchinbrook Riffs – a piece of mine that Slava loves to play – in the final movement.’

The sense of a wonder-filled journey in Toward Takayna is palpable from the opening bars, in which the gently chugging strings form the backdrop for evocations of birdsong by the woodwinds. When the guitars emerge from the orchestral undergrowth, as if singing back to the figures that have just been “sung” to them, their phrases are embedded on a cushion of shimmering sound, in which the harp, celeste, and multiply divided strings feature most prominently. Throughout this opening movement, the shifting time signatures suggest the rocking of a boat, until we reach a moment when orchestra and soloists seem overwhelmed by the beauty of Takayna itself. After this powerful climax, the two guitars have a short, rapt cadenza, which seems to leave you suspended in mid-air until, with the very next chord, you realise that you are in a different musical space.

The overriding impression of Toward Takayna is one of serenity, felt most powerfully in this second movement. The descending chromatic passages for the soloists suggest the movement of night creatures, while the ensuing dialogue between wind, harp, percussion and guitars makes it difficult not to imagine a canopy of stars.

In the latter part of this movement, and towards the end of the third, Leonard swaps his six-string guitars for a 12-string. As Westlake explains: ‘Not many people enjoy playing the 12-string or play it as well as Lenny. It has a bright, rich sound, and brings a specific colour to certain passages in the piece. It’s inclusion here is also a tribute to the shared admiration that Slava, Lenny and I all have for the playing of 12-string master Ralph Towner.’

No sooner has the second movement concluded than the soloists launch into the concerto’s second cadenza, a dazzling passage that, it soon turns out, acts as the beginning of the finale. In his exhilarating movement, Westlake often treats the guitars colouristically, as they weave them in and out of the vibrant, virtuosic orchestral texture, sometimes playing very percussively. Then, (just before the final swap to 12-string guitar), the mood changes from that of high adventure to one in which we seem to be meditating on the journey that began with the concerto’s opening bars.  With a final glisten of marimba and harp, Westlake seems to say, Takayna is a moment in time, and a place, that lives forever in his memory.
©Phillip Sametz 2021

Guitar solo parts – $30.00 each + GST
A3 Score – $110.00 + GST
A4 Score – $55.00 + GST

To order printed score and parts of this work please contact info@rimshot.com.au

For more info, please view the print music catalogue