Written by: Elise A Sulaiman
Publication: The Jakarta Post, March 15th, 1997
Classical
music lovers should be proud of the Nusantara Chamber Orchestra's nearly
perfect performance at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta earlier this week. It was
successful not because the tickets were sold out, but because of the performance
itself.
The concert displayed excellent teamwork between the NCO and the conductor,
Gary Daverne, who comes from a different background and culture. Daverne's
conducting showed his personal touch and ability to create a setting that
is enjoyable both for the players and the audience.
Daverne is a professional conductor with extensive overseas experience,
having just concluded a series of concerts inTurkey, Portugal and in England
with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In March 1996, he conducted the
Christchurch Symphony Orchestra in a classical out-door extravaganza before
an audience of 120,000.
Daverne, who has held the position of musical director of the Auckland
Symphony Orchestra for 20 years, is well-known in television, radio, and
the recording industry as a composer, arranger, and musical director.
The evening began with the concert overture Youth of Auckland composed
by Daverne for Auckland's Secondary Schools Youth Orchestra, where he
taught economics, accounting and music. Many of the songs and repertoires
that he has composed for his students remain very popular and are regularly
performed. His decision to perform Youth as an opening was suitable
for the young and dynamic NCO musicians.
During the performance, some parts dragged a bit, but Daverne brought
back the emotion with a perfect ending. The NCO had the talent and knowledge
to play the piece but perhaps needed a little more experience and self-confidence.
In the second half, the NCO presented Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op.
95 by Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904). The symphony opened with an introduction
marked with adagio, which led to a vigorous allegro molto. The first movement
was introduced by French horns. The second theme was taken from Bohemian
folk characters with a modal flavor and was quickly modified to suit the
demands of the full orchestra.
Daverne successfully expressed the character of Dvorak in the symphony
called From the New World, which was composed during Dvorak's three-year
stay in America. There were many things in the New World which fascinated
him, as he kept telling his students in New York: "These beautiful
and varied melodies are product of the soil. They are American, and a
composer must return to them. Only in this way can a musician express
the true sentiment of the people."
And so did Daverne. Many parts of the movement from this symphony contained
Native American and African American characteristics.
The concert was closed with Cello Concerto in B Minor, Op. 104, composed
by Dvorak with Reynard Rott, a young and talented cellist. He has a strong
character in expressing Dvorak's piece. The NCO performance with Gary
Daverne and Reynard Rott was a great combination of teamwork, youth and
experience.
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Written by:
Ian Evans
Publication: East Anglian Daily Times, May 29th 1995
East Anglia's own concert in the park lived up to its classic and spectacular
billing on Saturday, with a well-orchestrated treat for the thousands
who turned up. Orchestrelle '95 in Christchurch Park, Ipswich, was blessed
with good weather which allowed for an impressive fireworks display to
light up the town sky.
Music-lovers were not disappointed by the Royal Philharmonic which performed
popular classics with the expected professionalism of one of the world's
premier orchestras. The appreciative audience encamped on the banks of
an ideal auditorium, lapped up the offerings of Bizet, Strauss and Grieg
among others while tasting their own offerings from the vine.
The atmosphere could be best described as mellow as the social mix on
their seats and rugs relished a performance sadly all too rare in the
region. To the layman, the organisation must have been a major headache
but the organisers carried it out to perfection - bar a mystery microphone
relaying the musicians' chitchat during an interval. The music was of
course excellent, but probably more important was the sound system which
was top quality.
One must not forget the warm-up acts which whetted the appetite of the
congregating audience. Doonican's Rant were well worth a concert on their
own, albeit on a smaller stage, while Stefani Pleasance and Jessica Templer
are the owners of obvious talent.
But it was for the main performance that the concert-goers had paid out
15 pounds a ticket which for nearly five hours of entertainment was a
relative snip. It was one of those concerts where you wanted the performance
to carry on well beyond the endurance capabilities of the musicians -
and the firework technicians.
Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture was always going to be the climax and
the orchestra, conducted by New Zealander Gary Daverne, did not let the
expectation down. The accompanying fireworks turned the night sky over
Christchurch Park into a kaleidoscope of colour and fuelled the adrenalin
of an already energised audience.
It was a fitting finale to an excellent evening from which it seems many
chose to stay away. But as a spectacle it was impressive and professional,
for which promoters Cobbold Mills should be congratulated.
Will there be another?
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Written by: Author unknown
Publication: The Press Newspaper, 1992
Leaving behind the "old" theme, this CD covers a cross section
of work by an Auckland composer, Gary Daverne, not his debut recording,
but one well worth the effort. Not only a composer but a multi-talented
instrumentalist, he has a soft spot for the accordion, this instrument
being a feature of "Rhapsody".
His approach to music is vigorous and relatively uncomplicated, with lyrical
passeges to balance extrovert opening passages. The music owes much to
the celluloid epics of film and TV. It does make attractive listening,
especially at the big moments in the "Trombone Rondo" or the
respective "Concert Overtures".
Home conductors will relish the chance to show their talents in the stirring
passages and many are reminiscent of Copland, Ron Goodwin and Ferde Grofe.
It would be unfair to take away anything from the originality of Daverne,
with so much sparkling colour, humour, diversity and open-handed style
that demands recognition.
This summary is summertime listening at its best.
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Written by:
Pat Baskett
Publication: New Zealand Herald, 1991
JINGLES (not the Christmas bell type) have the irk-some habit of going
around in your head, imposing themselves on your thought processes and
driving you mad. That's a measure of their success, as anyone from an
adverising agency will tell you. But not many jingles include, in their
life cycle, a stint with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra under the
baton of William Southgate or John Hopkins. Listen carefully to a CD the
NZSO has made of music by Auckland composer Gary Daverne. There, in his
Concert Overture - Youth of Auckland, is the tune from a British
Airways television commercial that screened in the early 1980s
The main theme in his Rhapsody for Accordion and Orchestra is the
jingle from the advertisement for state coal. Elsewhere on the CD, which
contains six of Daverne's major compositions, is the theme from the Tip
Top commercial. All of which Daverne wrote. "I just recycle",
he smiles. Well, why not? Handel did it. Bach sonatas were rewritten for
different instruments. Daverne loves writing jingles. He has the happy
knack of being able to write music on demand and not, he explains with
disarming ingenuousness, because he has anything to say.
Some other contemporary composers from the academic establishment give
him sideways looks, or he feels they do. "They think I'm prostituting
myself because I write for commercial reasons. But I'm an accountant".
He was, too, among his former lives. Daverne trained as a secondary teacher
in economics and accounting as well as music, and was head of accounting
at Glendowie College. But he gave all that away in 1979 and has been a
full-time musician since.
Like many of his ilk, he is something of a jack of all trades. His first
instrument was the euphonium, a smaller version of the tuba, which he
played in brass bands. Later, he switched to the clarinet and percussion,
saxophone and piano, playing in rock groups, jazz bands and symphony orchestras.
Since 1975 he has been musical director of the Auckland Symphony Orchestra,
which he was involved in founding. There are more than 80 instrumentalists,
who meet once a week under Daverne's baton and have performed many of
his compositions for orchestra.
Their community-based ethos is close to his heart. Hundreds, he says,
are turned away at their free concerts. Daverne travels the country conducting
such groups, and loves it. Recently he was in Hawera. "There's such
good music there".
His compositions for accordion and symphony orchestra are an attempt to
bridge the gap between symphony orchestra and more popular music. The
new CD includes the Rhapsody for accordion and Orchestra performed
by Harley Jones. Daverne
says this work has been performed more than 60 times overseas since he
composed it four years ago. He doesn't play the instrument and his involvement
with it was initially reluctant. He was known as an arranger for television
shows, like Happen Inn, when the Air New Zealand accordion orchestra
approached him to do arrangements for them.
They paid cash, so he agreed, and ended up joining them to tour America.
He had never even heard them play until he went with them, but when he
did "they blew my socks off!" Their association strengthened
and he has gone with them to China, and , more recently, to Germany.
Hearing his own music performed gives Daverne a buzz; especially when
it's one of the eight operettas he has written for schools. They have
titles like Cats of Ponsonby, Robyn and her Women of Sherwood, Pooh
and the Bees and their words are written by various scriptwriters.
"I like happy, bubbly music", he says. His head is never silent.
Going around in it is material for a collection of children's piano pieces.
And what more suitable jingle than "I'm a San Bran fan
?"
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Written by: Rex Fisher
Publication: New Zealand Herald Recordings Review Column
Versatility would perhaps best describe Auckland composer and conductor
Gary Daverne, who has created in Fiedleresque image in Pops and youth
music in this country. Crossover music is very much his forte, as displayed
on this new compact disc. Daverne's love of film music is strongly apparent
in his works.
His compositions have that Big Country feel that is reminiscent not only
of Hollywood sound stages but also of the unforgettable musical pictures
painted by Copland and Virgil Thomson - not to mention Vaughan Williams.
For instance, his tone poem Ka Puke Maeroero (the Southern Alps):
with the services of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra - John Hopkins
at the helm - suitably long melodic lines, punctuated by big brass and
percussion chords, graphically paint the capricious moods of the Great
Divide.
His Rhapsody for Accordion and Orchestra, featuring Kiwi accordionist
Harley Jones, has
a bright Pops ambience about it and is something of a revelation on the
compatibility of squeezebox and big band. Jones makes the most of its
quiet melodies with a sensitive performance.
Daverne's empathy for brass is apparent in the Rondo for Trombone and
Orchestra, with Marc Taddei as soloist. Here again, the wide open
spaces are evoked. The sprightly first theme sets a happy mood that prevails
throughout.
Not the least of the items on the disc is Three Songs for Choir and
Orchestra, featuring Viva Voce (John Rosser). Man That Is Born
of Woman makes special appeal, with its gentle cadences, harmonic
invention and unsullied vocal beauty.
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