Composer Larry Sitsky said his Concerto for Orchestra, receiving its Canberra premiere on Friday, was a work 200 years in the making. It was also one that left him feeling "a little bit spooked".
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The kernel of the composition was a section of J S Bach's The Art of Fugue which was unfinished when he died in 1750. In the early 20th century Italian composer Ferrucio Busoni became interested in the fragment and worked on various versions of a completion. But he, too, died before he finished the piece.
In 1985 Sitsky was asked by the ABC to write a piece to mark the tricentenary of Bach's birth and chose to integrate Bach and Busoni's work with musical elements of his own, despite what had happened to his predecessors.
"I orchestrated the whole thing and I'm here to tell the tale!"
The concerto will be played by the augmented Canberra Youth Orchestra conducted by Rowan Harvey Martin as the centrepiece of a concert marking Sitsky's 80th birthday, which was in September.
Harvey Martin said that Sitsky – a founding member of the ANU School of Music – was the Canberra Youth Orchestra's patron and had been generous with his time and encouragement so she wanted to do something special to mark his 80th birthday which resulted in a concert focusing on the concerto.
"It required bigger forces than we could manage so we augmented it into an 80-piece orchestra with a lot of percussion."
The other performers will include the ANU Chamber Orchestra directed by Erin Helyard, members of the Canberra Symphony Orchestra and some musicians from Bowral who wanted to be a part of the concert.
Among the other works in the program are pieces by two of Sitsky's PhD students, Fiona Fraser and Chloe Hobbs and a movement from Sitsky's Dimensions of Night, performed by Harvey Martin's brother, Michael, for whom it was written.
Sitsky said the year had already been marked by many events to mark his birthday including a special broadcast on the ABC and a vice-regal occasion in Hobart at Government House.
"It's nice to get a pat on the back after all these years."
The concert will be held at Llewellyn Hall on Friday, October 31 at 7.30pm. Tickets $25/$15 from Ticketek and CYM office on 62474714.
