By Mungo MacCallum, Let a thousand weeds bloom Hoppe stands up. Three quartets have been selected for the finals. This is inspiration.. We're here to help. Oh yes, I did, says her friend, the violinist was lovely., No, the woman corrects her. The Atos Trio is radiant now on stage, and its radiance fills the hall. I know for a fact this is not show. Cool! say Heinemeyer and Hoppe in unison. We hadnt spoken once about the elephant. HMAS Melbourne & HMAS Voyager By Justin Clemens, No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July I am what we call in Germany asit-giant,he explains. What does the future hold for a town battered by climate-change catastrophe? That evening the trio is lured into a Lygon Street restaurant by the promise of free undrinkable wine. We tucked our CVs of failure into our back pockets, and we kept on playing. The competition was held in an ancient hall in the Italian seaside town of Senigallia; competitors practised in a nearby music school. Van Pagee pops his head over the balcony. Clearly, Hoppe has been doing the rounds with his Bernstein anecdote. In-depth analysis of the moments that define the day from Rachel Withers. There is an intimacy to chamber music that is perhaps as close as humans get. After my trios disappointment four years ago, the three of us sprang apart and barely spoke to each other for six months. The Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition was the last competition we entered as a trio. I have a little first-aid kit for failure, a selection of clichs for topical application. The Brahms B Major that follows is not as emotionally fraught as the Morgenstern Trios performance, but nor is it as interesting. My story is different, says Hoppe, 35, the old man of the competition. .signup-box-container .cls-2{fill:#fff;}. At lunch, in Carltons Rathdowne Street Food Store, the trio gradually becomes quieter. Never again do I want to hear that we are all winners, or that music is the winner, but in this competition Van Pagee is creating something profound. It is a technically excellent performance. Rex Hunt kisses fishes.. The string quartets were more disappointing. It was a fearful avalanche of sound, and it threatened to consume me. My role is mediator.. How could this happen?. It was always my dream to play in a trio, says von Hehn softly. Heinemeyer is scarcely larger than his cello, and seems as he plays to be drawing its sounds out of his own body. The three look unprepossessing, but launch into a gripping performance of Beethovens Ghost trio. Competitions are a necessary evil, adds the groups pianist, Thomas Hoppe. When you have heard so much polished music in one day, its currency becomes devalued. Afterwards the trio stands to bow and reels backwards from the applause, that great wind of gratitude. Other ensembles are still wounded, and remain huddled in groups, trading conspiracy theories. At 20 I had never heard an orchestra live, had never been to an opera. The final performance is by the Atos Trio, and the zephyr leaves them alone. Did you see what happened? she asks afterwards. By Gideon Haigh, Culture I wanted to raise the profile of chamber music in Australia, he explains, blushing with enthusiasm. 2, Heinemeyer and von Hehn lean into each other and smile; I glance around and see an entire audience smiling back at them. There is a German saying,nie intim im Team, or dont be intimate with the team. Heinemeyer looks a little puffy. It shows a sweeter, less muscular side of their playing, which in the last movement expands to joy. Perhaps Heinemeyer amps up his gestures a little for the scale of the venue, but the joy of their playing is real. Now, ladies and gentlemen, this is the end of it.. At one competition in Osaka, I invested my own trios fate in a giant inflatable elephant on the roof of the skyscraper adjacent to our hotel. It remained buoyant for the second round, which went well, but became a grey, inauspicious puddle before the announcement of the finalists. In Beethovens Op. It's Bennelong time Heads swivel; exasperated looks are exchanged. It isnormale. Come on, Stefan, its not worth it.. Its a lottery. This competition has never liked Russians. Instead we had achieved something notable as a trio: a perfect ensemble of magical thinking. The trio is too nervous to stay for the quartet finals. By Annabel McGilvray, Politics We were eliminated after the first round. The difficult thing is knowing how to act, Hoppe says afterwards, around all these disappointed people.. I imagine the Atos Trio in a Lygon Street brawl under my watch. You continue to overcharge us.. It doesnt matter how the result will come, Heinemeyer declares. He organises a subdued celebration in his room and pulls out his laptop to cheer up the disappointed. They then return to their rooms where they try, unsuccessfully, to sleep. He turns to the violinist with a rueful smile and plays on by memory. In the second week of July the trio comes to Australia for the Fifth Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition. It is a diverse audience, but it occasionally thinks as one. Sometimes Stefan has to fight for something to feel its worth it, Hoppe says later. The three of them seem as surprised as we are, as if they have accidentally given the performance of their lives. On the morning of our first-round appearance, it was proudly inflated, taking up much of the sky. Leonard Bernstein used to get this. First he shows a slideshow of photos of funny cats. It is simple, says Heinemeyer, with a beatific smile. The Monthly is a magazine Thats why you have to go in a lot.. On Friday morning the Atos Trio has a turbo-rehearsal of the Schubert B Flat Major Trio, in preparation for its second-round performance that evening. Email us at [emailprotected] On Wednesday evening Heinemeyer accompanies me to hear the piano trios. That night, after the announcement of prizes, a weary Hoppe calls his family. Is there any chance that breeze might have been engineered? The audience gasps; the violinists face becomes blotchier. .signup-box-container .cls-1{fill:#f0483e;} On Monday the Tecchler Trio, from Germany, plays first. 1 No. Two years earlier, we had won the Piano Trio and Audience Choice awards at the national competition, but the international competition had always been our raison dtre. I feel so comfortable here., Youre in one of the trios, arent you? asks a man. Then he plays a recording of a disastrous performance of RavelsBolero. By Anna Goldsworthy, Society Heinemeyer has changed out of his suit into a smart white leather jacket. Perlman was a big influence on me in the absolute joy in his playing. Just say I didnt win. I thought I might never recover from the shame. On Tuesday the second round begins. She no longer has to count the sips in a glass of wine. How are you doing? he asks. We work well together because we still can laugh at my jokes, Heinemeyer suggests. My mind was lost; it was too late. No, no,no! No one laughs, and they finish their lunch in silence. And it is good to have a lawyer to settle disputes, Heinemeyer adds hopefully. Hot dang! Hoppe exclaims. Tales from pig city Theyre going to take you all outside and stone you, and the three who are left standing will be the winners!. Competitions are terrible, says Stefan Heinemeyer, the diminutive, twinkling cellist of the Atos Trio, from Germany. But perhaps competitions also acknowledge a Darwinian reality about artistic careers. My entire future as a pianist seemed to hinge upon its outcome -and by extension, according to the equation I then lived by, so did my right to exist. Hoppe hugs von Hehn. By Robert Forster, Linda Marrinon: Let Her Try by Chris McAuliffe If we are not already prepared, we have a problem.. I like very much how someone brings you water as soon as you step off stage., What I would like is a whisky or an ice-cold beer, says Hoppe. The Atos Trio begins with Beethovens Op. History abounds in legendary musical duels - Handel and Scarlatti, Mozart and Clementi, Liszt and Thalberg - that were frequently declared draws. Then the Atos Trio takes the stage. Modern competitions tend to be less diplomatic, and their failings are well documented. It was normale.. Sometimes it is this simple: music is alive in an ensemble or it is not, like love in a marriage. Four measures before the end of his performance, someone backstage would light his cigarette. They are in a triumphant mood and even bad food cant dent their cheer, nor undrinkable wine. Full house Let me just say that adolescence hit me very hard. I will speak for only a moment, he says, because I have only one thing to say that is of interest to all of you. He scans the audience like a startled owl. The competitions first two rounds are held at the Australian National Academy of Musics headquarters, in the South Melbourne Town Hall. He was out until late the previous night. The ABC receives a spate of complaints about his commentary. But you don't have to stop here.Subscribe to The Monthly and enjoy full digital access. The three of them take their beers back into the hall for an ABC interview as the jury makes its decision. After a few drinks, some of them will summon up the courage to approach the jury members for feedback. Backstage, the crew has ice-cold beers waiting. The night before its first competition appearance it performs at Labassa House, in suburban Caulfield, for the German consulate. Normally I would never come along to listen to the others, he says, but this competition is different. As National Missing Persons Week begins, the founder of an advocacy network for families reflects on the ambiguous loss experienced by those left behind, Years of government attacks over funding and balance have left the national broadcaster in desperate need of repair. In the Brahms C Major that follows, the trio feeds off the large audience and generates an even greater thrill than the night before. We are very different, Heinemeyer explains. The German consul quickly stands up and normalises things: What an exquisite music. In the fourth movement of the Tecchler Trios prosaic Ravel, a flurry of unchecked coughs spreads through the crowd. The Morgenstern Trio begins with a game, committed Brahms C Major, but in the Shostakovich that follows a breeze moves through the hall and worries at the violinists music. Late on Sunday afternoon the Morgenstern Trio, from Germany, walks slowly onto the stage. Pianist Thomas Hoppe is tall and broad, and looks even taller when sitting at the piano. And they can have a trickle-down effect into a larger culture, at least according to the founder of the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, the Dutch-born violist Marco van Pagee. I have a theory about the trios. Congratulations, she says, you must be very pleased.. 70 No. By Zora Simic, China This is the brutal mathematics of a competition. Sometimes they went well; more frequently they did not. You can subscribe and receive full digital access on the website, and via the iPhone and iPad apps.Subscriptions start from $44.95. We each have our own lives., Hoppe reaches for another glass of champagne. There is an extra hush in the audience, as if an idea has arisen suddenly in the room. We had spent the previous two months in Germany, rehearsing for eight hours a day. Perhaps the most seductive thing about a competition is that it makes experts out of us all. The plush red seats at the front of the auditorium are given over to Platinum Pass Holders, who have purchased tickets to the whole competition. It happens again during the Teccher Trios performance of Frank Martin. It is a 15-minute indulgence in romantic nonsense.. Instead, the three of them go to a restaurant where they try, unsuccessfully, to eat. You are very kind, thank you, says von Hehn. By Shane Maloney and Chris Grosz. At five, my cello teacher put me on the stage, he says. Hoppe offers a lame pun on crab and mash; Heinemeyer ripostes half-heartedly on pea soup. Thats competitions, he says, as if he has always known they were the worst things in the world. In a system that van Pagee describes as suspiciously simple, the jury members rank the performances in order of preference, with no discussion. We work well because we have the same goal, says Hoppe, suddenly serious. Founded in 1989, the competition is now one of the richest of its kind, with almost $90,000 in prize money. The three of them look thoughtful. Van Pagee sits alongside the judges in the balcony, surveying the audience like a master puppeteer. The competitions jury comprises eight international musicians, with Melbourne QC Julian Burnside as the non-voting head. Midway through a performance by Trio Novalis, a woman catwalks to her Platinum Pass seat, extravagantly rearranges her pashmina and turns around to wave at a friend. The cellist swats at his music with his bow, but then it blows shut completely. What doesnt break you makes you stronger, I offer TinAlleys cellist, Michelle Wood. Because there can never be a perfect melding of sound, the piano trio operates as a conversation between three individuals. Van Pagee shakes his head grimly. Music and competition is an odd coupling, though not a recent one. At the after-party at Cookie, a fashionable city drinking spot, Heinemeyer holds forth to a cluster of groupies. Van Pagee gulps at his wine backstage. After a day of chamber music, you have to wait for the goose-bumps, for your body to decide for you. It is this flaw that lends the genre its friction, its drama. The spruiker, who looks like he might sideline as a hit-man, steps up to our table. Each time I present my licence I am reminded what disappointment looks like. By providing your email, you agree to our terms and conditions. I loved this performance, says Heinemeyer. After the standing ovation in the first round we thought,Yikes, says Heinemeyer, we have to practise now., It is a very nice competition, von Hehn offers after a while. But Heinemeyer remains where he is, arms folded, until the waiter reissues the bill. The piano trios are the Morgenstern, the Tecchler and the Atos.. As the pianist strode on to the stage to collect it, her defiant, vindicated footsteps echoed through the hall. The first time I entered an international music competition I was 17. At the reprise in the slow movement, the little boy in front of me turns despairingly to his mother. We got out of it what we put into it, she trades me. Then they look nervous. We will not rehearse tomorrow, he says. I dont care at all, insists the pianist from the Manhattan Piano Trio, a surprise omission. At its best, it expands to include the audience; Van Pagees vision is that it might expand to include a country, too. As I wandered the schools corridors in search of a piano, the practice of the other contestants snowballed into the most terrifying white noise I had ever heard: partMephisto Waltz, partPaganini Variations. Most of his choices are European, apart from two Canadian quartets, a Russian trio that calls itself American and Melbournes TinAlley String Quartet. Did you like that? a woman demands of her companion in the toilets, after the Trio Fridegk, from Germany. Then we remembered that we loved each other, which is not too strong a way of putting it, and that we loved chamber music. The losers drift off; the finalists have to stay for a photo shoot. After every performance he runs backstage and delivers a puffing verdict on ABC Classic FM. I knew we hadnt made it, said Helen, our violinist, as we flew home, when I saw that they had deflated that elephant.. Violinist Annette von Hehn is of aristocratic descent, and has the austere beauty of a Princess Leia. They played well and could easily have been in the final. I dont understand at all, he says, perplexed. The violinist was quite plain., Oh yes, youre right, her friend concedes. When the waiter brings the bill, Heinemeyer glances over it and then sends it back. They encourage young musicians to work, and expose them to new audiences. Other groups make better choices. Her violin sound is unassailable, noble, and yet merges perfectly with Heinemeyers exuberant cello. Your Beethoven was - how can I say - not bad, not good, he said, and fixed his canny eye on us. Mate, what is your fuckinproblem? the waiter asks. There are six groups with genuine smiles in the room, and ten that are just pretending or not even bothering to do that. Certainly I cant say that the Arensky is a piece that I would play every day, Marco van Pagee tells the radio audience. There is a feeling of gravitas at the South Melbourne Town Hall on Friday night. It is a good jury - no mafias, Hoppe says. Frequently he leans over the railing and addresses a comment to the back row of the stalls or photographs an oblivious head. Privacy policy. I never make fun of your clothes, Hoppe says, but I do make fun of your face creams., Heinemeyer ignores this and turns to me. So that after the first applause he could walk off-stage, have a sip of whisky and take a drag at the fag.. Im very happy, she says. I bought this jacket from an Italian tailor in Berlin, he announces, proudly. I show them a review in theAge,which identifies them as the competitions favourites. The audience stands as one, in the competitions first standing ovation; the trios CDs are immediately sold out. Anna Goldsworthy is a writer and pianist. In the second movement the violinist gives a thrilling performance, playing like a woman possessed. On the radio, Marco van Pagee does not mince his words. Australias TinAlley String Quartet is gracious but a little stunned. There is nothing wrong with it at all. Wheres our little man? he asks, and finds Heinemeyer and embraces him, too. But no one else is. Finally, Von Hehn and Hoppe take their leave. He tears it up into confetti and sprinkles it on the table. Whats that noise? asks Hoppe. Suddenly we have this one ensemble that rises above everything else, he declares. On the plane on the way home a woman casually asked my mother where we had been. Heinemeyer smiles and nods with the graceful forbearance of a celebrity. I am not in a mood mostly to fight. Most musicians have a public CV of successes. Rethinking Lismore in the new era of floods, The complicated grief when a family member goes missing, Once upon a time in Helsinki: Richard Dawson & Circles Henki, Vivienne Binns: On and through the Surface at the MCA. published by Schwartz Media. There is the curse of the first-prize-winner, who rarely goes on to the expected great career; the compromising nature of juries, which can reward everyones second favourite over the artist who thrills someone and offends another; the veneration of accuracy over artistry; the inevitable political corruptions. These are difficult hours, filled with portent. By Judith Brett, Politics On the plane on the way home a woman casually asked my mother where we had been. I thought it might be painful to revisit the site of such disappointment, but this has been a joyous week. Hearing these consistently impressive ensembles, it is easy to become careless about excellence. A group of Melbournes young chamber musicians sits in the back row of the hall, concentrating sternly. Later that night Hoppe puts his arm around the violinist from the Manhattan Trio. We feel a little strange about winning, the Badke Quartets violinist admits at the after-party, when we didnt think we played our best.. At the end of the first movement she turns urgently to the pianist. We love it here.. She is director of the cultural policy program at the Stretton Institute and director of theJ.M.Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice at the University of Adelaide. Its difficult when you feel quite passionate about the outcome, he says. The highlight of the evening is the Manhattan Piano Trios Arensky, in which the strings give dazzling, solo-like performances. As Roe v Wade is overturned in the United States, what are the threats to accessing abortion in Australia? You go in with certain expectations. Years ago, at the Premio Trio di Trieste competition in Italy, my own trio approached the Russian judge for feedback on our semi-final performance. A girl plays a ditty on the violin. I think the Rachmaninov is an absolute waste of time, to be very rude, van Pagee declares on the radio. Von Hehn requests more flow in the second movement; Heinemeyer asks for moreshwingin the third. Earlier, Hoppe had spoken to me about the violinist Ishtak Perlman, for whom he used to work. There is a drafty, post-apocalyptic feeling in the hall as the ABC crew takes down the microphones and volunteers disassemble the floral arrangements. The page-turner runs backstage for a moment, and the whistle of the air-conditioning descends a tone. To articulate it would look foolish, as well as destroying its magic. I was running around in a leather jacket, with a little plait down to my waist, a blond streak here and a feather earring. By Diana Bagnall, Society Some selections are hideous. Announcer Emma Ayres jokes that he is earning a reputation as the Rex Hunt of chamber music. This year, for the first time, every group must program a work composed after 1985. Formed in 2003, the Atos Trio has an impressive CV of competition triumphs, such as first prize at the Schubert Competition in Graz and at the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb. She was very plain.. A young girl approaches. Enough music already!, A competition official steps up to make a speech. I recovered sufficiently to enter further competitions, first as a soloist and then with my trio, and after a time it became clear that they were a numbers game. I sank down in my seat. Like love in a marriage It is a combustible combination, and in the Brahms C Major Trio it takes the roof off the drawing room. Trio Chausson, from France, presents a stylish, enlivening Haydn; the Russian-born Manhattan Piano Trio delivers authoritative interpretations of Rachmaninov and Shostakovich. If you see his face on stage, it is radiant. After its final work, by the Spanish composer Cassad, the trio is summoned repeatedly back to the stage. At the reception, a waitress brings the trio some champagne. The assembled company chuckles, but the pianist from the Manhattan Trio laughs and laughs, and then laughs more, until she is rolled up into a ball on his bed and is suddenly crying. The Monthly is a magazine published by Schwartz Media. During the meal Hoppe fingers a meticulously folded five-dollar bill in his pocket for luck; von Hehn counts the number of sips it takes to finish her wine, as if this might tell her something. He wears his white leather jacket and a pair of aviator sunglasses that push his hair out of his eyes. It is cadaver-white, unseeing. I think its hilarious that people come to competitions and expect them to be fair, says juror Caroline Henbest at the after-party. The Atos Trio won the Piano Trio Audience Prize, the Piano Trio first prize, the Primus Telecom Grand Prize and the Musica Viva Special Prize. You dont need to tell her that, I hissed. In the Schubert trio that follows, Hoppe takes a more flowing tempo in the second movement, as promised, and Heinemeyers cello entry is so fragile, so inward, that the entire audience seems to huddle into the stage. You have such delicate fingers, she breathes at him. 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We are very thirsty, Hoppe calls out impatiently. The competition finals, on Sunday, are held at the Arts Centres Hamer Hall. We also have an alternative CV of failures that we keep tucked away in our back pockets, not to be shared with strangers on aeroplanes. At its conclusion, the pianist jumps from her stool and charges towards the audience, hoping to provoke a standing ovation. Second prize was awarded to the Morgenstern Trio; the ABC Listeners Award went to the Manhattan Trio. In Labassas ornate drawing room, as the Atos Trio plays, this friction could not be clearer. Four years ago, my own trio was one of these wounded groups. Open all hours It is clear from the first day that the piano trios are of a higher calibre than the string quartets. I dont like its chances. None of them helps, but there is nothing else to say. The Atos Trio begins with a colourful folkloric trio by the Chinese composer Bright Sheng. The audience knows it and can only hope that the jury does, too. After the competition, the disappointed and the triumphant return to their homes. Late last year van Pagee travelled the world for the entrance auditions, selecting eight piano trios and eight string quartets. For subscription enquiries, call 1800 077 514 or email [emailprotected], For editorial enquiries, email [emailprotected]. Clusters of speakers hang from each side of the large stage; out of the corner of my eye they turn into lynched men. Subscribe for full access. We thought we were a little perverted, bringing ten CDs to Australia, Hoppe says. Freecall 1800 077 514 (Australia only). Im bored, he says. Trio Fridegk starts to weep. Even physically the groups members are entirely different. I cant believe how many prizes we won., Perhaps it was van Pagees suspiciously simple voting system, but for once the jury got it right. Heinemeyers hair is gelled back, gangster-style, but will not remain that way for long. Australias TinAlley Quartet gives a compelling performance of KurtagsSix Moments Musicaux,which displays its command over a range of techniques. During one quartet, the four-year-old in front of me turns to his mother and strikes his head with his palm, astonished that such sounds could exist or that people could choose to listen to them.