"Was ist denn
Musik?....Musik ist eine heilige Kunst"
What is
Music?.....Music is a
holy (noble) Art.
Hofmannsthal/Strauss - Ariadne
auf Naxos.
|
Myer Fredman |
Conductor/Author |
|
|
A
Personal Pilgrim's Progress.
I
had piano lessons from about the age of six but only became
interested in music some years later thanks to a new teacher who also
initiated me into the study of harmony,
strict counterpoint and basic orchestration. To learn something about
string technique, I had lessons on the
Viola and taught myself
the Double Bass with which I fumbled through The
Messiah and The
Pirates of Penzance.
After obligatory National Service
in the Army (2 years) I enrolled in the Music Department at Dartington
Hall where I learnt a great deal about stick technique from singing in
the choir under John
Clements who was a brilliant choral trainer. I came
to the attention of of Joan Cross by then Director of the Opera School
in London who accepted me as it's first repetiteur
student where Vilem Tausky took me through the
standard
operatic
repertoire from the conductor's perspective, and Peter Gellhorn worked
on improving my keyboard technique and allowed me to observe him
when coaching singers. I earned a living by extemporising
for ballet schools, playing for singers and vocal teachers, music
copying. I even
"acted" in Honegger's Joan of Arc
at
the Stake at the Stoll Theatre (now demolished) as one of the
peasants who burned Ingrid
Bergman at the stake. I also had a number
of conducting lessons with Sir Adrian Boult and worked as an assistant
to Otto
Klemperer on his recording of
Così fan tutte.
From 1959 to 1974 I worked at Glyndebourne,
initially
as Assistant Chorus Master, then Chorus Master,
Assistant Conductor and finally as First Conductor & Head of Music
Staff, In 1968 with the launch of Glyndebourne
Touring Opera I became it's initial Music Director
and undertook conducting engagements in
Ireland, Belgium, France, Poland, Romania, Germany,
Scandinavia and
Canada while the Italian Government awarded me a medal ‘Per
Servizio della Musica e Cultura Italiana’.
During the same period I recorded for Lyrita, Rubbra's Inscape coupled with Still's Elegie, his Concerto
for Strings and his
Symphony
No. 4
and an LP entitled 'Lollipops'
including music by Arthur Benjamin and Delius. This led to conducting
world première recordings of the 1st. and 2nd. Symphonies by Arnold Bax (No.1 re-released on CD)
and the
6th. and 16th. Symphonies
by Havergal Brian. In 1970 I
conducted
the first performance in England of Fennimore
& Gerda by
Delius at the
Camden Festival
After my debut with the Australian Opera in 1974 in the
newly opened Sydney Opera House, I was invited by the New Opera Company
of Adelaide to become it's first
Music
Director which was a unique
opportunity to establish a professional opera
company and, during my tenure with
that company, it became The
State
Opera of South Australia. Along side the standard repertoire I
conducted the Australian premières of Michael Tippett’s Midsummer
Marriage (in the presence of the composer), and Benjamin
Britten’s
Death in Venice during successive Adelaide
Festivals,.
In 1980 I was appointed Head of the Opera School at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and made many guest conductor appearances with the six major Australian symphony orchestras in concerts and recordings while, with the Australian Opera (now Opera Australia), I was appointed an Artistic Associate and regularly conducted for the company. My Australian recordings include Puccini’s first opera Le Villi (produced by John Culshaw), The Apocalypse by Eugene Goossens, Vaughan Williams' Job and his Partita for Double String Orchestra, Arthur Benjamin’s The Prima Donna, and the world première recordings of Peter Sculthorpe’s Piano Concerto and his television opera Quiros. My recordings in New Zealand include C.D's of music by Britten and Delius and, for a number of years I was the Artistic Director of a Vocal Summer School in Salt Lake City during which I was invited to conduct the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on two occasions. Other overseas engagements have taken me to Canada, England, Argentina and Uruguay.
I am the author of four
books based on my
professional experience. The
Conductor’s Domain; a guide for aspiring maestri. ISBN 0-903413515 with a Foreword by
Sir Charles
Mackerras ‘I
warmly recommend this book to anyone wanting to take up the complex
profession of conducting; and I might say that
there are many
points made by Myer Fredman in the course of the book of which even
older and experienced maestri might well take heed’. From
Idomeneo to Die
Zauberflöte; A conductor’s commentary. ISBN
1-903900-10-7 also with a
Foreword by Sir Charles Mackerras. ‘Tere is plenty
that the professional
musician can learn from Myer Fredman and many an interesting fact or
comment which can be appreciated by layman and professional alike. It
is a pleasure to welcome this excellent addition to the already vast
literature about these towering masterpieces’. The Drama of
Opera: exotic and irrational entertainment.
ISBN
1-903900-49-2 and 1-903900-50-6 with
a Foreword by Dame
Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge ‘This
fascinating
book is for those who love opera,
those who know nothing about opera, and especially for those who know
what they like but don’t know why. Every piece of information you could
conceivably want to know about the ‘exotic and irrational
entertainment’ is to be found between these covers'. My most recently published book is Maestro,
Conductor or Metro-gnome? Reflections from the Rostrum. ISBN
1-84519-124-2.
***********************
Bax
Symphony No. 1
London Philharmonic
Lyrita
Bax
Symphony
No. 2
London
Philharmonic Lyrita
Bax
Symphony No. 3
Sydney
Symphony
ABC
Benjamin Overture to an Italian Comedy.
Royal
Philharmonic
Lyrita
Britten
Sinfonia da Requiem
New Zealand Symphony Naxos
An American Overture
Peter
Grimes;Four
Sea Interludes
& Passacaglia.
Brian
Symphony No. 6
London
Philharmonic Lyrita
Symphony No. 16
London
Philharmonic Lyrita
Butterley Sometimes
with One I Love
Adelaide
Symphony
ABC
Delius
Walk to the Paradise Gardens
Royal
Philharmonic Lyrita
Paris; Brigg
Fair; Eventyr;
New Zealand Symphony
Naxos
Prelude
to Irmelin
La
Calinda (from Koanga)
Edwards Piano Concerto
Queensland
Symphony
ABC
Elgar
Enigma Variations
Sydney
Symphony
ABC
Nursery Suite
Sydney
Symphony
ABC
Goossens The
Apocalypse
Sydney
Symphony ABC
Meale
Images
Adelaide
Symphony Sarec
Puccini
Le
Villi
Adelaide
Symphony
ABC
Respighi Piano
Concerto
Sydney
Symphony Marco Polo
Rubbra
Inscape
Jacques
Orchestra.
Decca
Sculthorpe Piano
Concerto
Melbourne
Symphony
ABC
Still
Elegy for Baritone,
Chorus
Jacques
Orchestra
Decca
and small Orchestra
Concerto for Strings
Symphony
No.
4
Royal Philharmonic
Lyrita Vaughan Williams
Partita for Double String
Orchestra
Sydney Symphony
ABC
******************************
Links
My E-mail address
is; mfredman@aapt.net.au
ClassicWeb
http://www.classicweb.com
Composers
Havergal Brian
http://www.musicweb.uk.net/brian
Arnold
Bax
http://www.musiweb.uk.net/bax/Welcome.htm
http://www.classical.net/music/comp.1st/bax.html
PeterSculthorpe
http://www.fabermusic.co.uk/fabermusic/
Robert
Still
http://www.grahammusto.btinternet.co.uk/Robert_Still/
Orchestras
The Orchestras of Australia Network (TOAN) http://www.orchetrasaustralia.org.au
Australian Singing
Competition.
http://www.aussing.com
Publishers
William Elkin Music Services.
http://www.elkinmusic.co.uk
Sussex Academic
Press.
http://www.sussex-academic.co.uk
Myer Fredman; February 2007