Joff’s Notes:
The Maestros is an hour long documentary about the recent construction of the Melbourne Recital Centre and Melbourne Theatre Company buildings. It follows the story of their creation, from concept and planning through to opening.
The composition is mostly constructed with my own musical portraits of the architecture. Parts of the underscore represent the MRC, with its pentagonal repetitive shapes, and the glow of the MTC illuminating the street at night. Other aspects of the music try to capture how people relate to, or feel about, the buildings. A version of the Allegro from Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet in A was recorded for this film and elements of this tune are hinted at throughout the rest of the underscore. The piece is one of Dame Elizabeth Murdoch’s favourite, and as the main hall in the MRC is named after her, and she officially opened it, it seems very fitting.