‘I guess new music broke Zoom,” quips Tessa Brinckman. The flautist is discussing her just-released album, Take Wing, Roll Back (New Focus Recordings), comprised entirely of contemporary compositions, when the Zoom connection revolts.
The internet has it wrong; Take Wing, Roll Back is one of the most interesting releases of the year so far ‒ a United Nations of musical styles given focus by Brinckman’s playing. “I like uniting different cultures, places. It’s almost like I’m uniting parts of myself,” she says.
Brinckman has lived and worked in the US for years, but she was born in Aotearoa to a Kiwi mum and South African dad, and as a young person, spent time in both parents’ home countries. “I was born bifurcated, you might say, between two cultural and colonial realities.”
The South African reality of that time was Apartheid, and geopolitics remain prominent in the way Brinckman experiences life and music. “Whether you’ve lived in South Africa or has deep family connections, you can either go, ‘Well, this is the way it is and I’m not going to think about it,’ or you’re deeply affected by the human rights violations and they shape your perspective on how you want to be a creative.”
Take Wing, Roll Back, therefore, contains a pair of works by the Black South African composer Andile Khumalo, who applies French techniques to Asian and African sonorities. That mash-up of styles continues throughout the album, including on Brinckman’s own compositions. The mystical huff and puff of Taniwha, which features taonga puoro by Horomona Horo, explicitly references Aotearoa, but it was inspired by the sounds of the New York subway, and acts as a homage to the city to which Brinckman moved in 2022 after many years in Oregon. The switch has been good for her.
“I’ve been lucky,” she says. “It’s very competitive but there’s a lot of generosity there. People are interested in each other’s work; they’ll show up to concerts and they’re big on building relationships, which is essential.” While Brinckman operates mostly in the contemporary classical world playing in small groups, she confesses a love for orchestral music, too – with a few reservations.
“I enjoy the repertoire, and it’s nourishing to sit inside that body of sound,” she says. “I love to play 19th-century music, but I believe in acknowledging the realities. Many composers from our past were probably sexist, racist and classist. I don’t worship those composers, but I appreciate their work. I don’t want a hagiography and I don’t offer that to past composers. We just need to be generous, realistic and have good critical thinking.”
Tessa Brinckman’s Take Wing, Roll Back is out now on streaming services and through newfocusrecordings.com
