Universal language

Violinist Martin Riseley is a self-proclaimed "original Seasons junkie".

That is Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. It is music he has been playing since he was a teenager. So when asked to perform German-born, British-based Max Richter’s recomposition and reinterpretation of Vivaldi’s violin concertos he was stepping out of his comfort zone.

But never one to turn down an opportunity to try something new, Riseley grabbed the opportunity and admits after performing it last year with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra (CSO) "the piece itself is growing on me".

"A lot of it is Max Richter taking ideas of Vivaldi’s and expanding on it. Like people do when they take samples of tunes. He’ll just take one little bit of the movement and develop that, loop it, repeat it in a much more in a modern way."

Richter’s music is not the only challenge that came with the piece. The CSO’s former artistic director Gretchen La Roche also suggested they collaborate with inclusive dance company Jolt for "Seasons", doing three concerts in Christchurch last year.

Riseley’s job as director was to bring together the music and dancers on stage.

"It was very inspiring. The music can stand on its own, sure, but when you add dance to it, it is so much better. It is a wonderful combination — there are 12 movements in this piece and they are all different."

The dancers, known for their improvisational work, have interpreted the music in their own ways, with the choreography reflecting how the music speaks to them. The last piece is very long, so all the dancers come on stage paying homage to the music.

"For one dancer it is about the power of the earth and the space — there is this growth, a breathing. That is completely different to the composer’s thoughts about the music."

In this year’s tour different dancers will also perform in the North Island shows and the South Island ones. It means each time the piece is performed it will be slightly different.

"That means it is always a challenge to bring all the bits together. We’re still evolving even though we are just three days away from the next concert."

The music itself is a complex score featuring four violins parts, two cello, two bass, two viola, harps and harpsichord.

"It’s more then double the amount of different things going on at once than in original. There is a lot more to get into my head to be aware of what is going on. There are little bits of original Vivaldi but the rest of it is quite different."

For once, Riseley, as both musician and conductor, faces the dancers.

"It means we can interact that way, which is a very cool thing to be part of, where the music is only just part of the whole. We’re kind of the glue, I guess."

Having the opportunity to tour the work was even more special given earlier plans to tour had to be cancelled because of Covid-19 restrictions.

"It is a miracle. Now all we have to do is stay well and make it happen. It is very exciting for us to be bringing it to new audiences and to see how they react to it — it’s a very inspiring thing to watch and feel."

The experience so far has opened his eyes to how music can connect with people of all abilities and backgrounds.

"It’s a universal language. I’m really privileged to get to do this and to see the joy on the dancers’ faces when they’re doing it as well. It is very cool to learn about that. Dancing is not one of my strong points, so I’ve been able to watch and learn."

It also highlighted how people find ways to manage and adapt to whatever their physical limitations might be — even for musicians after years of playing.

"I’ve learnt as I’ve got older to play in a different way, to find the easiest way to get the results I want. To use my body to play so I am not just stressing certain parts of my body — just like dancers have to do I suppose."

Riseley, who is an associate professor of music at Victoria University, says to be good at something means you can adapt, so over his career he has got to play all kinds of music — jazz, pop, rock and the many different genres of classical music.

"As a musician, doing different and new things is exciting. It is one of the best parts of being a musician.

"Trying to learn how things might be appropriate within all these styles is one of the challenges but also just trying to be good at my instrument is hard enough at times."

While he has been playing violin since he was 6 years old, New Zealand-born Riseley says he is still learning about the violin, something that is only helped by teaching it.

"Working with students I learn so much from seeing what people are doing now and how they learn and what they can achieve. Keeps you feeling young and engaged in what you are doing."

He has a particular interest is in minimalist music, a new offshoot that developed in the late 1970s in the United States which also crosses the genres.

"Composers like Philip Glass, who wrote symphonies based on albums of David Bowie, and there are other artists in the pop world who have taken his stuff so it’s gone back the other way too. It’s cool to do and takes a little bit of stamina."

Trying and learning something new is something Riseley is used to. In his position as concertmaster of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra in Canada he performed with many top conductors such as Grzegorz Nowak, Enrique Batiz, Uri Mayer, Leif Segerstam and performers including Italian opera singer Luciano Pavarotti in 1996.

"He was amazing. He got given these amazing roses at the end and he handed them to me, so I gave them to members of the orchestra and took some home to my wife — it was pretty cool. That concert was not in a concert hall, it was in a hockey stadium."

Riseley also directed a concert with the orchestra and singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan for live television in the same venue.

"That was fun but stressful stuff."

Having the opportunity to perform with Israeli-American violinist Pinchas Zukerman in Ottawa inspired his own playing and teaching.

"That experience inspired me to develop that idea of working with classical music — Mozart and Haydn — that way. He’s a master of that as a conductor and violinist."

In 2007 he performed the Brahms B-major Trio with William Eddins and Yo Yo Ma at the Annual Fundraising Gala of the Edmonton Symphony.

"He’s an amazing guy who works with so many different cultures and genres within music. He’s really inspiring."

While he does not like to travel, he admits having to adapt from one venue to the next, the audience, the acoustics, is an important skill for a musician and is what makes live music exciting.

"Doing concerts is still fun."

In Edmonton he was lucky they played at home sometimes three times a week.

"We could do country one night, opera another and then classical. It was very exciting."

His big love is playing in an orchestra and the music it allows him to play.

"It’s just so varied. My favourite stuff to play is usually in the 20th century but I love Bach and a lot of 19th century violin music too."

He got his doctorate on Prokofiev, looking at how he was not recognised for his work despite being popular.

"He’s now recognised as one of the greats of the 20th century. He’s my favourite composer to play."

In Wellington he conducts and programmes ensemble work for his students, sharing as much of his varied experience as he can.

"My mission is share what I like about the violin. I try to find music that inspires them. Music and any kind of art is how it appeals to you personally — you have to love it."

Riseley is trying to do more work with groups including piano trio Te Koki Trio, with Jian Liu and Inbal Megiddo, colleagues at the university.

"I’d like to do more music but with Covid a lot of plans have not happened."

He played his first solo concert when he was 10

and by the time he was 11 years old he knew he wanted to play the violin as a career.

"My dad thought I was crazy."

At the same time he was performing in the Christchurch Cathedral Choir. His first visits to Dunedin as a child were with the choir when it came to the city to sing with the St Paul’s Cathedral choir.

"It was always really fun when I was a young musician."

After several years of study with the English violinist Carl Pini, he went to the University of Canterbury School of Music as a pupil of Polish violinist Jan Tawroscewicz in 1986.

In 1988 he won the Television New Zealand Young Musicians Competition and Australian Guarantee Corporation Young Achievers Award.

After graduating with a bachelor of music degree he went to New York’s The Juilliard School in 1989, where he got his master’s in 1991. In 1996 he got his doctorate of musical arts degree.

That early love of the violin has continued over the years, emphasised by the great performers he has heard and performed with over the years. One of the greatest experiences of his career was hearing Lord Yehudi Menuhin play in Sydney. While he met him a couple times after that, it was that concert that sticks in his mind.

"Hearing a great master — even at 76 near the end of his life, he was still so good."

Rebecca Fox, Otago Daily Times