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Hope Renewed

by Nat Bartsch

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Compact CD featuring all 8 tracks.

    Cover based upon the photograph ‘Last Light, Hancock’s Lookout’ by John Hodgson
    Artwork by Luci Everett
    Studio photography by Tamara Murphy

    Includes unlimited streaming of Hope Renewed via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Compact CD featuring all 8 tracks.

    Cover based upon the photograph ‘Last Light, Hancock’s Lookout’ by John Hodgson
    Artwork by Luci Everett
    Studio photography by Tamara Murphy

    Includes unlimited streaming of Hope Renewed via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Hope Renewed via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days

      $40 AUD or more 

     

1.
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5.
Untitled 05:17
6.
Emerging 03:02
7.
8.
Hope 04:36

about

Hope Renewed is a re-interpretation of my 2021 album Hope, for jazz quartet, classical musicians and ambient electronics. The compositions contained on both albums create a space for the listener to sit with all the grief and disappointment of 2020, and to look to the future with a quiet optimism.

This music was deeply cathartic to write (and hopefully to listen to). I composed most of the pieces with the smell of bushfire smoke in my house, and later managing the struggles of covid lockdowns in Melbourne. The pandemic is slowly ending, and we are joyfully together
again – but, we are still recovering from the era Hope was made in.
Individually, I’m only beginning to understand the trauma I experienced as a primary caregiver in 2020/2021. Collectively, we are still reeling from social, geo-political, economic and health impacts.

Composing Hope for piano and string quartet was my solace in those turbulent times. Creating Hope Renewed, two years on, is part of my process of healing.

I am very grateful that Hope has been embraced. It received Classical ARIA and AIR nominations, reached #1 on the iTunes Classical Australian charts, and received a standing ovation at the Melbourne premiere. So why, you may ask, would I want to re-record an album that has gone so well, and risk it falling short in comparison?

Other than my own creative fulfillment, it is simply that there are other worlds these pieces belong to, and are inspired by. Worlds I would love to share with you. I am in constant pursuit of a creative life that is truly genre-defying. I just want to sound like me. And use as much composition, improvisation, orchestration and audio production as is needed to bring
my musical ideas to life. Hope Renewed is an experiment in seeing how it feels to show all the musical sides of me in one place.

It would have been more predictable to create Hope Renewed with the same kind of quiet, gentle lyricism contained on Hope (and my quartet’s previous release, Forever More). And whilst there are moments of this on the album, I also found myself leaning into a kind of maximalism – creating an intricate patchwork of sounds, that the listener can immerse themselves in. This patchwork, to me, reflects the complexities of post-pandemic life. Our world became so small, and now it seems enormous.

I am at peace with the notion that there will be some listeners of Hope who feel there is no need for this re-interpretation. They love the original and may not believe it should be further tampered with and jazzified. That is still a beautiful result for music I have made. For others, Hope Renewed’s exploration of adjacent musical worlds may hopefully be just as enjoyable or even more so.

Hope Renewed was born in jazz clubs across the east coast of Australia, as my quartet toured my album Forever More. Reduced to a leadsheet (melody and chords), the pieces from Hope were exquisitely re-painted every night, thanks to the extraordinary musicianship and sensitivity of Robbie Melville, Tamara Murphy and Maddison Carter.

In the studio we began recording in this quartet setting. Then came added layers and intricacies. Synth, post-rock guitar effects, ambient piano electronics. I composed parts for strings, harp and classical saxophone in response to the recordings of the jazz quartet. I wanted their notation to create a meaningful new dialogue with the improvisations (as
opposed to a traditional ‘jazz arrangement’ where notated parts for orchestral instruments are usually written first, and the last component is the improvising).

Sometimes, original string parts were only adjusted slightly to fit the new context. Other times, a whole new texture or phrase was needed to tell the right story. This is taken to the extreme in Over the River, the String Quartet piece on Hope, now converted into the loudest and most intricate song I’ve ever recorded, with huge piano chords, double drums, distorted bass, slide guitar and more. And to complete this genre-bending circle, a sample of the world premiere of Hope by Stonnington Symphony Orchestra is embedded in ambient
electronics at the end of the album.

Hope Renewed is an epic, beautiful monster I’m proud to have found the audacity to create, and I hope you’ll enjoy hearing it as much as I enjoyed creating it.

May it represent an era of renewal for all of us.
Thank you for listening x

credits

released March 3, 2023

Nat Bartsch – piano, synth, electronics
Robbie Melville – guitars
Tamara Murphy – double bass and electric bass
Maddison Carter – drums
with
Lucy Warren – violin
Eunise Cheng – viola
Rebecca Proietto – cello
Mary Doumany – electric harp
Joseph Lallo - saxophones

Recorded at Head Gap Studios, Preston, 20-21 August 2022
Overdubs recorded at Digital Hub, Monash University School of Music, 25 October 2022
Engineered and mixed by Hadyn Buxton
Produced by Nat Bartsch
Mastered by Lachlan Carrick
Cover based upon the photograph ‘Last Light, Hancock’s Lookout’ by John Hodgson
Artwork by Luci Everett
Studio photography by Tamara Murphy
Hope includes a sample of the world premiere of Hope arranged for orchestra,
commissioned and performed by Stonnington Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Joseph
Lallo at Malvern Town Hall on 13/11/22
Nat Bartsch plays Yamaha Pianos
All compositions by Nat Bartsch (control)
This album was created on the land of the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri peoples of the
Kulin Nation. We pay respect to theirs elders past, present and emerging and acknowledge
sovereignty was never ceded.
This album is dedicated to my beautiful sister, Jacinta Kemp.
www.natbartsch.com
Thank you to
The artisans who created this world with me:
Robbie Melville, Tamara Murphy, Maddison Carter, Hadyn Buxton, Lucy Warren, Eunise
Cheng, Rebecca Proietto, Mary Doumany, Joseph Lallo, Lachlan Carrick, Luci Everett, John
Hodgson.
And also to: ABC Classic, AIR, APRA, Australia Council for the Arts, Australian Music Centre,
Marc & Wendy Bartsch, Glenn Dickie, Andrew Fuller, Brigid Gallacher, Eilish Gilligan, Stuart
Greenbaum, Drew Hopkins, Jeremy Hopkins, Luke Howard, Nic Hyatt, Kai Lehmann, Jessica
Lindsay Smith, Johannes Luebbers, Évolène Lüthi, Cyrus Meher-Homji, Therese Milanovic,
Moderna Records, Monash University School of Music, Julian Morgan-Smith, Alex Morris,
Martel Ollerenshaw, PPCA, Hugh Robertson, Nathan Rippon, Rohan Sforcina, Tim Shiel,
Sounds Australia, Megan Steller, Stonnington Symphony Orchestra, Jackie Thomas-Piccardi,
Chelsea Wilson, Jill Wheeler, Yamaha Music Australia, Miriama Young, Reuben Zylberspic.

Many thanks to those who are conscious of the impact of digital streaming services, and
also choose to purchase physical copies, sheet music, commissions or tickets to live shows.
You are the backbone of our industry.
This project has been assisted by the PPCA and the Australian Government through
the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.
Copyright 2023 Nat Bartsch
All rights of the owner of copyright reserved. Any copying, renting,
lending, diffusion, public performance or broadcast of this record without the authority of
the copyright owner is prohibited. Made in Australia.

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about

Nat Bartsch Melbourne, Australia

Nat Bartsch is a twice ARIA-nominated Australian pianist and composer who creates lyrical, ethereal work that explores the space between neoclassical, chamber music and jazz genres.

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