Gary Kulesha
National Arts Centre Award Composer
The Interview
- What is it about Mozart's music that inspires you
as a composer?
Mozart is the purest combination of technique with music. His music is technically perfect in every way, but we as listeners are never aware of how hard he is working. Perfect technique fully at the service of art is an ancient ideal, and even translates into other areas, like sport. The finest athletes are the ones who are so in control of their sport that playing seems effortless. Mozart is the greatest athlete among the great composers. - Do you have a special musical memory from when you were very
young?
My earliest memories are of music by Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, and Chopin, as well as piano boogie-woogie. It was actually boogie-woogie (a kind of early rock'n'roll for piano) which got me playing piano. - When did you first start composing music?
When I was 8 or 9, I believe. - How long does it take you to compose a work? Do you have a favorite
place to compose your music?
This varies from piece to piece. A long work of 25 minutes for orchestra can take up to 8 months or more. An opera takes a full year. But I can write a shorter chamber piece in a few months, or even less. My work Syllables of Unknown Meaning, which the NACO toured in Eastern Canada last year, took about a month, which is very fast for me. When I was very young, I used to write complete 3 minutes pieces for tuba and piano in a few hours. In payment for this, my tuba-playing closest friend would buy pizza for us both. - What instruments can you play? Do you need to play all the instruments
you compose for?
My principal instrument is piano, but I also play viola. When I was young, I also studied oboe, and played sax in the high school dance band. I also did some playing on percussion in concert band. And I played bass guitar, rhythm guitar, and keyboards in various rock bands. - Does your music sound particularly "Canadian /Mexican /American"?
If so, why?
No, I don't think so. I don't consider this to be important. - What is the source of inspiration for your compositions?
It varies. Sometimes, it's an image, or just an idea, or a story. Sometimes it's just a musical thought. My work Syllables of Unknown Meaning was commissioned to celebrate the Millennium, so I used a fragment of a chant from a work by Hermannus Contractus, a composer who lived a thousand years ago. My piece was partly inspired by an old science fiction movie, in which people from the future communicate with people in the present through their dreams. I imagined myself dreaming the music of Hermannus Contractus, and making contact with him across time. This image gives the work its atmosphere. - What advice would you give a student who would like to compose?
Harmony, harmony, harmony ......and counterpoint. Study the basics. They are your language. You can't write poetry in Ancient Greek unless you learn vocabulary and grammar, and then practice hard. You can't be creative in any language without knowing the basics. - Which of your compositions is your favorite? What should I,
as a student, listen for?
Syllables of Unknown Meaning is one of my very favourites, certainly, as is my Violin Concerto, and my Symphony. But it's very difficult to single one piece out over the others. They are all different, and try to do different things. Listening is no different for a student than it is for anyone else: listen for communication. It doesn't matter what style the music is in, it either communicates something to you or it doesn't. Classical music is not like pop music, though-- it is not designed to give you an immediate rush of some kind, it's designed to provoke and challenge you a little. The best classical music is the music that makes you want to come back and hear it again, and which yields something new each time you hear it.
