“a sophisticated and emotive collection of music that captivated the audience“
Beth Spencer
La Mama
Melbourne
July 2024
On a cold Melbourne night, the La Mama Courthouse offered a warm place to come together to experience this wonderful new musical work by Callum Mintzis. Billed as “reflections on silence, emptiness, and the disconnections at play in our world” this collection of music for stringed instruments explored a range of emotions and sounds through delicate and intricate performances by a talented collection of musicians.
The first part of the evening featured a solo set by Lawrence Folvig on guitar. This melancholy and reflective composition built upon a collection of undulating arpeggios to create sound that was partly restless and partly meditative. Utilising a pedalboard, Folvig looped and layered elements together giving the feel of a collection of instruments rather than just the one. While Folvig didn’t engage much with the audience directly, his expert use of the pedalboard and sensitive treatment of the music was a good demonstration of his musical skill.
After a short break, Mintzis introduced the Quiet Air collection. He first thanked all the creatives who had come together to bring this music to the audience at La Mama. Not wanting to influence the audience in their experience of the music by going into the themes in detail, he simply explained that this music was written after he had been away for a while in Asia. He then handed the stage over to the very talented group of string quartet and guitar.
The music was beautifully composed around the themes of disconnection and emptiness. The minor keys and sometimes discordant overlapping of the voices of each instrument built up a picture of a struggle to connect and make sense of the world. At the same time there
was something calming in the consistency of the minor key and the repetition of earlier themes later in the piece. The fact that each part of Quiet Air faded away into silence felt like a reassuring return to a kind of peace.
The performances of each of the members of the string quartet were stunning. Their ability to make this challenging piece of many layers, levels, and techniques look so effortless and smooth was fantastic. Natalie Mavridis and Isabel Hede on violins and Anthony Chataway on
viola were completely in sync in bringing the main themes of each part of the work forward with beautiful dynamics and coordination. Hamish Jamieson’s cello provided a strong and deep bassline to this work that was perfectly balanced.
In the introduction to the collection, Mintzis mentioned that guitarist Theo Carbo was able to make a guitar not sound like a guitar, which was not an understatement in any way. Carbo was able to augment the stunning sound of the string quartet with a range of other voices
that sometimes felt other-worldly and sometimes seemed to evoke a more percussive flavour that perhaps hinted at the Asian influence that Mintzis revealed in his introduction.
Overall, this was a sophisticated and emotive collection of music that captivated the audience. It is certainly work I would love to listen to again to be able to fully appreciate its many layers and intricacies.
This La Musica performance was the first of a series of creative events being held at La Mama throughout the week, and leads into a range of professional development opportunities offered in the following week across a range of creative roles.
Beth Spenceer, Theatre Now
