Meret Louisa Vogel and the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra perform Matthew Hindson’s celebrated flute concerto House Music with conductor Nicholas Milton on 23 and 24 May at the Concourse, Sydney.
The title of House Music evokes both the irrepressible energies of the popular musical genre and a journey through the many familiar domestic spaces of the 25-minute piece. The first movement is a frantic exploration of kitchen, garage, and workshop, beginning with a cadenza for flute that is comprehensive in its exploration of standard and extended techniques – “everything but the kitchen sink”, as Hindson puts it. The second is sensual and decadent, imagining a spacious foyer with luxurious fountains and inviting swimming pool.
‘Lounge’ follows with more relaxation, this time surrounded by 1960s red vinyl with Muzak on the stereo. This temporary repose is interrupted by a demanding group of children, who whisk the audience through the Nursery and Games Room in an ebullient closing movement that also makes a deft nod to the composer’s love of video games.
Both Meret Louisa Vogel and Milton performed the work with the Göttingen Symphony Orchestra as part of the 2024/25 season focus on Hindson. The Willoughby Symphony Orchestra last performed the work with Virginia Taylor in 2016. House Music premiered with Marina Piccinini and the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2006 at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, conducted by Roberto Minczuk; it was recorded in 2015 by Alexa Still with the Oberlin Orchestra and Raphael Jimenez. Other soloists to take up the piece have included Julien Beaudiment (with the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra), Sofia Gantois (Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège), and Eliza Shephard (Melbourne Symphony Orchestra).