Introducing ‘Unplucked’! Our new interview series where we chat with some of our favourite collaborators about their musical life.
We couldn’t think of a better person to inaugurate ‘Unplucked’ than the recorder and viol player Ruth Wilkinson. Ruth’s musical expertise and passions are based on the performance of music from the 12th to the 18th century. Her performances have been praised for their musical integrity, imagination and brilliance. Ruth has been a leading member of the Early Music movement in Australia for over 40 years! She collaborated with 642 in 2016 on our ‘Klagelieder’ program of 17th-century sacred German music and we are always inspired by her sensitivity, good taste, and generosity in sharing her wealth of experience. Hannah spoke to Ruth about her path to early music, the scene in the 1970s, and her lifelong love of bass lines!
Tell us a bit about your musical life: what was your inspiration for pursuing a career in Early Music?
My background which led me to Early Music was a circuitous one. Early Music had little presence in my musical training but when I look back, I see that there was a pull in the choices I made and the music I wanted to play that eventually took me to Basel.
First was the piano, which I adored. It gave me harmony, counterpoint and Bach! Then at high school in Sydney an instrument program put a double bass in my hands and a lifelong love of playing bass lines. At the University of Queensland I was able to study both instruments to a high level but always bubbling along in the background was my true love, the recorder. I had picked it up at primary school, taught myself, and was very lucky to have been part of a prize-winning recorder quartet at high school, encouraged by inspiring teachers. I was inspired by my well-worn LP of Frans Bruggen who was everybody’s pinup recorder player. Unable to find a teacher in Australia where I was studying, I was left to my own devices learning repertoire that I found in the University library and saving up for a decent instrument. I was encouraged by sympathetic lecturers to develop my craft on the instrument and was given free access to some instruments they had in their store. My first paycheck earned in my brief employment with the Queensland Symphony after graduation was spent on a down payment for a descant recorder, which I still have.
I went to Geelong as Director of Junior School Music at Geelong College and there I came to know Hartley Newnham, whose job I had taken when he moved to Europe. I was invited to play the recorder in concerts with him and the Australian lutenist Jonathan Rubin, then a student at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland. I realised that studying the recorder was a possibility! Completely self taught and armed only with a music degree in piano and double bass, I dared to audition on recorder at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and was one of three students accepted by Hans-Martin Linde that semester. It was a fast learning curve but I was in the hands of a great pedagogue and musician who patiently filled in the gaps and opened a world of sound and music, which I had never experienced before.
Tell us more about your studies at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in the 1970s. That must have been an amazing time to be in Europe, when many influential Early Music ensembles were founded. What was the atmosphere like?
For me this experience opened my heart and mind to what studying and performing music was really all about. I was exposed to teachers who guided me with wisdom, kindness and inspiration. I was introduced to music, instruments, primary sources and manuscripts that I had never heard of at that point in my musical education. I made lifelong friends there through music. It was very exciting! I was surrounded by such a talented cohort including Bruce Dickey who was just starting his studies as a cornetto player, the founding members of Sequentia, Barbara Thornton and Ben Bagby, the lutenist Paul O’Dette, and the cellist Christoph Coin. They were just a few of the talented students who have made their mark on the development and expansion of Early Music. My new violone/gamba teacher Jordi Savall and his wife Montserrrat Figueras were in the early days of Hesperion XX and their own solo careers. Hopkinson Smith was one of the inspiring lute teachers.
The Studio for Early Music with Thomas Binkley, Andrea Von Rahm, Richard Levitt and Stirling Jones was at the forefront of Medieval performance practice. I had never heard medieval music brought to life the way this wonderful ensemble could do it. There was always an emphasis on finding performance solutions from the primary sources. Richard Erig was researching what was to become his seminal work on Renaissance diminution practice. Anne Smith was also a student at this time. Her iconic book, The Performance of 16th-Century Music published in 2011, is a product of a life that began at the Schola.
The Schola was forming a baroque orchestra directed by Jaap Schroeder who would travel from Amsterdam to share his knowledge of baroque string playing and prepare us for concerts. This is how my Violone playing began, on a Schola instrument. It was a quick learning curve transitioning from being a modern double bass player to finding my way around this six string rather cumbersome instrument. Of course I was hooked!
You've been a vital contributor to the Early Music movement in Australia for over 40 years, starting with your group La Romanesca in 1978. What was it like being an Early Music specialist working in Australia then and how do you think the scene has evolved from when you started your professional life?
When I returned from my studies in Switzerland I was so fortunate to be part of the formation of two ensembles that were taken up by a public that was thirsty for this new movement and gave us their enthusiastic support. With Melbourne-based La Romanesca (with John Griffiths, Ros Bandt and Hartley Newnham) we specialized in Medieval and Renaissance music. Canberra-based Capella Corelli (which was formed by baroque violinist Cynthia O’Brien who had recently returned to Australia from Vienna and harpsichordist/philosopher Paul Thomand and later John O’Donnell) explored music from the seventeenth century. Both groups ran their own concert series and introduced music to Australia that was mostly unheard, played on unfamiliar instruments and with a fresh approach to music making. Musica Viva were quick to offer both groups touring opportunities throughout Australia. The Department of Foreign Affairs supported us with overseas touring.
Our audiences in Melbourne and Canberra became faithful followers of our music making and both groups performed all over Australia through Musica Viva. La Romanesca represented Australia at the Festival of Asian Arts in Hong Kong. We both toured Europe, Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and performed at Wigmore hall in London. Capella Corelli toured most of NSW as part of the Musica Viva schools program for many years. We all gave workshops, taught at Summer Schools (The Australian Summer school in Canberra was established to fill a gap that existed in Tertiary institutions at that time) and played at countless Festivals. We became involved in The Fourteenth Century recording project led by John Stinson and John Griffiths, whose aim was to record the extant repertoire of the fourteenth century with the guidance of language and manuscript scholars.
I was also Musical Director of the Junior School at St Michael’s Grammar School running a Kodaly program from Kinder to Year 6 as well as teaching recorder and directing various early music ensembles at The University of Melbourne and the Victorian College of the Arts. These were busy and exciting times.
We have all made a contribution (amongst others) to the Early Music scene through our concerts and teaching and it is wonderful to see how there is no longer a need to plead our case when performing on early instruments in an historically informed way. Students are so well trained now before they pursue further studies either in Australia or overseas. They have true command of their instruments and many have a busy concert life in Australia with the formation of so many successful groups especially period orchestras.
I hope that new groups will be prepared to explore new repertoire. There is still much to be discovered and hopefully the new generation won’t be content with replicating the music that is appearing on recordings or the transcriptions of music that can be downloaded easily on IMSLP.
What inspires your music making? You perform music from the 12th—18th centuries both on recorders and viols. Is there a particular repertoire that is close to your heart?
I always say that the program I am working on is my favourite. It is a good way to work as it is important to fully embrace the moment you are in. When I am playing with La Romanesca I love fourteenth century music and improvising with my colleagues in troubadour and medieval Spanish cantigas. With Capella Corelli I have been able to develop a musical relationship with Cynthia O’Brien. Although we are separated by many miles we enter into a magical sphere every time we meet. We love to explore Corelli, unusual sonatas, anything from the early-seventeenth century and more recently the Paris quartets of Telemann. In more recent years I have loved working with my younger colleagues as a member of Ludovico’s Band, Trio Avium, Collegium, and The Recorder Co-op. This latter group is a particular delight as it is formed from my former students at the University of Melbourne. There have been many opportunities to join other ensembles, which come together to play particular repertoire. Locally, the Festivals of Woodend and Ballarat are willing to go out on a limb in presenting music that is rarely heard but worthy of our attention.
Everyone is asking this question right now but what are you listening to (if anything!) in isolation? and any favourite or influential recordings?
On the negative side I am saddened by listening to my lovely students through the filter of Zoom. I can’t wait to hear live sounds again. I am not listening much to music at the moment because I think deep down I miss it too much. I am practising music without the pressure of due dates, which I have enjoyed. Lots of Bach and lots of fourteenth century music with my University Medieval Ensemble, Le Roman de Fauvel.
What advice would you offer to young musicians wishing to pursue a career in Early Music today?
You have to be your own entrepreneur! You must be prepared to put on your own concerts, and be imaginative with your programming. Don’t follow recordings and other people’s ideas as this usually leads to insincere music making. Don’t forget the primary sources, keep learning from them and making your own performance decisions. Spend time with your core ensemble making as much music as you can, read everything, improvise together, cook great meals and drink good wine. Find the people you love to work with and encourage each other. Play as much repertoire as you can and learn to be both part of the team as well as a director.
Take your chances. Don’t be afraid of what others may think. In this new strange world that we have inherited, I think there will be a real opportunity for chamber ensembles such as 642. There will be a lot of playing to small audiences who I feel will be starved for live music. There will be new ways to support our musicians.
Here is a selection of the recordings I have been involved in over the course of my musical career
It began with the LP!
La Romanesca
Love Lyrics and Romances of Renaissance Spain, Move Records (LP)
Medieval Monodies, Move Records, re-released on CD
Via Frescobaldi, Move Records
The Iberian Triangle, Move RecordsThe Fourteenth Century Recording Project
Two Gentlemen of Verona
I am Music
A Florentine Annunciation
Every Delight and Fair pleasure
All available through Move RecordsCapella Corelli
For ye Lovers and Masters of Musick, Larrikin Records (LP)
La Prima Stravaganza, Move Records
Capella Corelli plays Handel and Telemann, Move Records
Concert a Deux: An Acoustical Pilgrimage, Ruth Wilkinson and Cynthia O’Brien, Scribe Virtual Music, 2007
Forthcoming: Concert a Deux: An Acoustical Pilgrimage, Vol 2Solo recordings
Music for the Countess of Sandwich: Music of Charles Dieupart, Ruth Wilkinson Voice Flute, harpsichord Linda Kent
Handel Recorder Sonatas, Ruth Wilkinson recorders with John O’Donnell, Harpsichord and Miriam Morris, viola da gamba. Divine Art, UKConsort Eclectus
Music for viols and voice, with Vivien Hamilton and Dean Sky-Lucas.Ludovico’s Band
The Italian Ground, ABC ClassicsElysium Ensemble
The Bedroom of the King, Move Records
Johann Joachim Quantz, Flute Concertos, Resonus ClassicsTrio Avium
Birdsong with Ros Bandt and Cynthia O’BrienA brief appearance on Ros Bandt, Tarhu Connections, Hearing Places
To find out more about Ruth’s work visit:
Trio Avium: www.hearing places.com
The Recorder Co-op, www.melbournerecorderacademy.org