Hope for orchestra
new 2-track single release
In 2021 I released my album 'Hope', for piano, string quartet and ambient effects. Hope responded to the Black Summer Bushfires and long Melbourne lockdowns in 2020. The title is hope as an abbreviation of hopefulness and hopelessness, as we all managed this difficult year. It is cathartic and emotional music, designed for us to reflect upon our many struggles in 2020 (or at any other time since). Ultimately however, by the final title track, Hope, my intention is for the listener to feel soothed and comforted: to be able to look toward the future with optimism and hope.
Hope has resonated well with the public. It received a standing ovation at its premiere in May 2021, and ARIA and AIR nominations for Best Classical Album. The album has been toured across Australia. In 2023 I released a jazz/post-rock reinterpretation, 'Hope Renewed', which has received several 5-star reviews. Both records have had their intended impact: many listeners have said they feel moved, becalmed, and hopeful from this music, which is very special!
I've long existed on a jazz-classical spectrum as an artist, and so whilst creating Hope Renewed, it was wonderful to receive a commission to arrange the final piece from Hope (the title track) for Stonnington Symphony Orchestra. This music now encompasses the full range of my genre-fluidity: from core classical, to neoclassical, to jazz, to post-rock, which is very meaningful to me.
Arranging Hope in this way was also a huge career step - my first orchestral work - and hearing their first rehearsal was a deeply moving experience.
The work was premiered in November 2022 with conductor Joseph Lallo, and in the 12 months since, it has been performed by several other orchestras.
However it also seemed fitting to release the work as a recording of my own, like its Hope/Hope Renewed album companions. But why, you may ask, would I want to release a third version of this piece of music? As a dear friend once said... "c'mon Nat, you've gotta start writing some new pieces eventually!". Which is fair 😅 (and I’ve just finished composing a new lullaby album).
However, I think there is still a need to find hope wherever we can. The pandemic may be over, but we are still living in extraordinary times. The devastating Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, the endless war in Ukraine, the failed Voice to Parliament Referendum for First Nations Australians, the ongoing impacts of climate change inaction, the rising cost of living pressures. I feel that Hope is just as relevant as it was when it was first released. It could be listened to during any difficult times, individually or collectively. And so it feels right to share it with you, just one more time.
I recorded Hope for Orchestra on 1/12/2022 with the amazing Budapest Art Orchestra (as heard on Luke Howard's 'Open Heart Story' ). I also decided to record a bonus second track, a solo piano version of Over The River. This piece also undergoes a third but much more contrasting transformation: from string quartet movement, to epic post-rock anthem, and now, back at the piano, intimately, where the piece began.
Hope for orchestra is the second new release on my record label Amica Records, for genre-bending, kind music. Which is the essence of this music especially. I hope you enjoy listening.
Nat x
Release credits
Composed, arranged and produced by Nat Bartsch
Mixed by Hadyn Buxton
Mastered by Lachlan Carrick
Cover art by Luci Everett, with photo by John Hodgson (Storm Surge, Tacking Point) used with permission
Hope (for orchestra):
Recorded by Budapest Art Orchestra, conducted by Peter Pejtsik
Recorded at East Connection Music Recording, Studio 22, Hungary, 02/12/22
Engineered by David Lukacs and Gabor Buczko
Contractor/session producer: Miklos Lukacs
Arrangement commissioned/premiered by Stonnington Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Joseph Lallo, 13/11/22
Over The River (for solo piano):
Recorded at Lukktone, Melbourne, 10/01/23
Engineered by Hadyn Buxton
With thanks to Joseph Lallo, Alex Morris, Stonnington Symphony Artistic Development Fund, Luke Howard,
Moderna Records, Stuart Greenbaum, Miriama Young, Sam Williams, Charles Watson and everyone who made this project Pozible.
Dedicated to Hadyn Buxton.