BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Tommie Andersson has been with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra since the very beginning. The founding member has spent precisely three decades making music with his fellow players — though he admits he couldn’t possibly have predicted the way live music would look in 2020.
Tommie, who is the Brandenburg’s principal theorbo player and Baroque guitarist, will feature in a new digital concert series. Unlike many other live streamed events, Ayres & Graces will be accessible to audiences in a variety of ways: firstly, the musicians will play live to listeners inside the City Recital Hall from 27-31 October. Then, on 1 November, the series will be premiered on the digital platform Brandenburg One.
In this interview, Tommie chats with CutCommon about two unusual things: the Brandenburg’s fusing of digital and physical performance offerings, and the rare and wonderful instrument he plays. Let’s start right there.
Tommie, how does one get into theorbo?
It’s a long and winding road leading to the theorbo.
I started out with group lessons on the guitar in Year 5, and progressed to classical guitar in high school — with a bit of electric thrown in — and commissioned my first lute in Year 12.
It was only in my tertiary years that I realised what a versatile instrument the theorbo is, and how it opens up a new world when it comes to playing in orchestras, operas, and chamber music. Learning to play continuo (figured bass) is, of course, a must. But that is a very hands-on skill that is relatively easy to master, at least on a rudimentary level.
The theorbo is a very striking and photogenic instrument, and you get a lot of astonished ‘wows’ when people see it for the first time. Imagine a guitar with an extra set of strings, on a separate pegbox, that are as long as you are tall! This gives the bass register a big, punchy tone that cuts through even in the biggest venues.
Striking indeed! When you were starting your career, what were some of the biggest challenges you faced that were explicitly due to your rare instrument?
When I started playing the lute and theorbo in Sweden, there were no teachers and no possibility to learn these instruments at a tertiary level. As a matter of fact, I ended up teaching the lute at the conservatorium. So, it was very much a question of teaching yourself, reading all the sources and treatises, and figuring out what a solid technique would consist of.
I maintain that, in many ways, this is the best way to go about it. But there are, of course, pitfalls that can be avoided with a good teacher.
There were a lot of considerations like whether to play with nails or fingertips, what the best posture would be — with the theorbo being such a big instrument, this is a very important matter if you plan to be playing it for many years — and various technical decisions like how to get around the 14 strings the best way.
There are also practical complications like how to travel with it. You learn quite quickly the best way to fit it in a car — when my wife and I get a new car, we always bring the theorbo case to see how it fits!
Travelling by train can be a challenge, and the first time I flew with a theorbo it went underneath with the luggage and promptly broke coming up the carousel. It has had a seat next to me in the plane ever since!
You found your home in 1990 as a founding member of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. Having toured across the world and played with many orchestras and ensembles, what became the main driver for you to establish the Brandenburg — something you can now reflect on exactly 30 years later?
I had been a resident in Australia since 1984, and experienced several failed attempts to establish Baroque orchestras, when I was invited by Paul Dyer to play in the inaugural Australian Brandenburg Orchestra concert at the Sydney Opera House early in 1990.
I really did not think that it would lead to very much, but soon realised that Paul had the drive and charisma to make it work, and here we are 30 years later!
There have been both lows and highs along the way, but the progress has been very steady. A high point for me must be our European tour in 2001 that culminated in a wild and rowdy reception at the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall, London – what an experience!
A tour to Japan with Derek Lee Ragin, who sang the lower register of the voice of Farinelli in the 1994 movie, was memorable, not the least for the Australians who experienced a snowstorm in Tokyo — as a Swede, I am used to these things!
Our recordings with Yvonne Kenny, Graham Pushee, Sara Macliver, and Andreas Scholl were highlights as well as the Handel Concerti Grossi, Baroque Tapas and many more.
So, considering the Brandenburg has been so much based on these experiences of “live” music, how have you felt about the transition to digital offerings in the past few months?
The past six months have been difficult to say the least; we have seen a lot of cancellations of live performances, and it has at times been hard to see a way forward. We were meant to do an all-Bach series in July, so instead we embarked on a digital platform called Brandenburg One with performances of some of Bach’s solo music. I played a sarabande and double from his Partita for Violin No. 1 in B minor, which I arranged for my gallichon, a type of 18th-Century lute.
Ayres & Graces is a concert program that we have taken on regional tours in the past, and its success made it the obvious choice for us to share with a broader audience on our digital platform. As the program only involves six players, it works very well from the social distancing aspect, and it is a program we know intimately, and which has evolved over time.
The first time I played in a concert digitally — this was for the excellent Melbourne Digital Concert Hall — I must say that it felt very strange not to have an audience to relate to or bounce off, but it’s amazing how one can adapt to new situations. I do miss an audience, though.
What are the things you need to consider when recording the theorbo for digital distribution or broadcast? After all, very few people have much experience with even hearing a theorbo, let alone knowing how best to prepare for a digital performance.
When it comes to setup and mic placement, it is a bit of trial and error to achieve the best and most natural sound. Luckily, I’m always in the hands of very competent experts that I can trust with this.
Here’s a hilarious anecdote from the 1990s: I played a concert in a church that was being recorded by a local radio station. During the sound check, my theorbo was lying on the floor next to my music stand and the sound-guy said to me: ‘Hey mate, could you please move your Thredbo, so I can put up the mic?’ We have kept ‘Thredbo’ as a nickname for it ever since!
Your performance in Ayres & Graces will be streamed as a digital concert on 1 November. When it comes down to it, why does this online series excite you?
I really enjoyed recording this; my fellow musicians are all exquisite instrumentalists and we have a lot of fun playing together, as you might be able to tell!
The set-up is really stunning with digital screens behind us with the most beautiful patterns of wallpaper that change for each piece. Oliver Miller, video director for the Digital Première, gave some very imaginative advice on the progress of the concert and the narrative it involved.
The concert series will feature English and French Baroque music. Tell us something we probably don’t know about why these two styles will be a great match on a program.
Some people say that French music is difficult to understand, but for me it is refined, subtle, and stylish. What we play comes from the court of Louis XIV at Versailles, and includes dance music — the king was an enthusiastic dancer — from the first operas, tragédies lyriques; and from the Lully/Molière production of Le Bourgeois gentilhomme. There is also a pastoral musette by Marais to give a different, more rustic aspect on French music.
During Cromwell’s Commonwealth, the English King Charles II was in exile in France. So when the monarchy was restored in England in 1660, he brought a lot of the French taste in music and French musicians with him. This was a huge influence on English composers like Henry Purcell, even though Purcell always kept his English quirkiness.
The English have always loved their folk tunes, and a favourite way of performing them was in variation form. Playford published a plethora of books with tunes for dancing with instructions. London was also a melting pot for influences from Italy with many famous composers, instrumentalists, and singers trying their luck on the musical scene. And, of course, the greatest of the continentals who ended up a naturalised citizen: George Frideric Handel.
Looking back to when you first started at the Brandenburg, did you ever imagine you would one day be playing theorbo for listeners who are kicking back in their bedrooms, or binging on a block of chocolate while watching from their beanbag?
When I first started playing in the Brandenburg, I could not possibly have imagined the digital revolution we are witnessing today. Did we even have mobile phones then? I don’t think so. It is only really in the past year that we have had to think in new ways — thank you, COVID-19! — and I think a lot of it is here to stay, even after these troubled times have blown over.
It feels like life is changed forever now, but it’s not all for the worse. And a block of chocolate is never wrong, of course!
Any parting words about your November digital concert series?
I hope you will enjoy Ayres & Graces as much as we enjoyed playing it! And please, give us some feedback on the Brandenburg One website!
You can watch Ayres & Graces however you like. Attend the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra’s event at the City Recital Hall from 27-31 October, or enjoy it digitally from 1 November.
Images supplied. Performance photos captured by Keith Saunders.
