Ringing The Bell Backwards

Image credit: Jeff Wassmann

Composer: Paul Grabowsky
Musical Director: Paul Grabowsky
Premiére: Malthouse Theatre, 1993, Melbourne International Arts Festival

Program

Miracolo (Paul Grabowsky)
Spectre of a Rose (Paul Grabowsky)
Unregrettable (Paul Grabowsky)
Unter Dayne Vayse Stern (Paul Grabowsky)
Tsu Eyns, Tsvay Dray (Paul Grabowsky)
Immortal, Invisible (Paul Grabowsky)
Das Karrusell (Paul Grabowsky)
Strange Meeting (Paul Grabowsky)

Program Notes

Why should we celebrate
These dead men more than the dying?
It is not to ring the bell backward...
- T.S. Eliot, 'Little Gidding'

Ringing the Bell Backwards is a program of European folk and popular songs of the 1930s-1940s, radically re-arranged by Paul Grabowsky. Originally commissioned by contemporary German orchestra Die Konferenz in 1990, the success of this program led to the establishment of the Australian Art Orchestra in 1994.

The suite provides a series of challenging and stimulating settings for improvised solos from the extraordinary players that make up the Australian Art Orchestra. The songs evoke memories, not only of Piaf, Vera Lynn and Dietrich but memories of an era; of a world tearing itself apart in conflicts of huge and terrible ideas, memories of real situations of unimaginable cruelty, bravery, hope, love and fear for a particular generation, and for those of us born since those days, memories encoded within us and living as secrets.This is new music arising from the memory of the old: a statement about love and war, about the legacy of fascism and the unquenchable spirit of the individual.

Watch excerpts from Ringing the Bell Backwards

Tour History

1993 - Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne International Arts Festival
1994 - The Continental, Melbourne
1995 - East Coast Tour, Australia
1998 - The Forum, Melbourne
2009 - Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre

Recording History

1994 - Ringing the Bell Backwards, Origin Recordings
2009 - Ringing the Bell Backwards (remastered) , AAO Recordings

Buy the remastered Ringing the Bell Backwards

Performers

Bob Coassin / Scott Tinkler Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Eugene Ball Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Phillip Slater Trumpet, Cornet
Stephen Grant Cornet, Accordion (original line-up)
Simon Kent / James Greening Trombone
Adrian Sherriff / Charles MacInnes Bass Trombone
Philip Rex / Tim Jones Tuba
Ian Chaplin / Lachlan Davidson Reeds
Peter Harper / Sandy Evans Reeds
Tim Hopkins / Tony Hicks Reeds
Jim Glasson / Jamie Oehlers Reeds
Elliott Dalgleish Reeds
John Rodgers / Sarah Curro Violin
Stephen Magnusson Guitar
Alex Pertout Percussion
[Paul Grabowsky]Paul Grabowsky Piano, Synthesizers, Samplers
Stuart Campbell / Alister Spence Piano, Synthesizers, Samplers
Gary Costello / Philip Rex Double Bass
Niko Schauble Drums
Jacqueline Grenfell Sampling (original line-up)

John O'Donnell Sound
Paul Jackson Lighting Design (2009)

Collaborators:
Guest musicians on the CD Recording:
Scott Lambie, additional Drums on 'Miracolo'
Philip Rex, additional Double Bass on 'Miracolo'
Stephen Grant, additional Guitar on 'Unter Dayne Vayse Stern'
Shane O'Mara, additional Guitar on 'Strange Meeting'
Duration: 1hr 15min
Interval : No

Press for Ringing The Bell Backwards

Grabowsky's Backwards Bell Ringing is a Triumph

The Age   (Adrian Jackson)  27 April 1995

Promise Fulfilled With More to Come

Sydney Morning Herald   ((John Shand)  8 May 1995

Ringing in the Changes

Herald Sun   (Jessica Nicholas)  24 March 1995

Strange Meeting

Jazzcontinuum.com  (Graham Collier)  7 April 2009

Ringing the Bell Backwards - An Introduction

  (Adrian Jackson)