(L-R) David Tunley, Victoria Rogers and Cyrus Meher-Homji, authors of a recent book on pianist Eileen Joyce, which was launched at the University of Western Australia on 4 December. Photo: Caroline Smith.
By Caroline Smith
When David Tunley, Victoria Rogers and Cyrus Meher-Homji set out to write about the career of Eileen Joyce, their task was a significant one: not only to reveal how a girl from the Goldfields region of Western Australia could become an internationally-recognised concert pianist, but also to examine her contribution to the film industry and early music movement.
Launched on Monday 4 December at the University of Western Australia, the book, entitled Destiny – The Extraordinary Career of Pianist Eileen Joyce, is the culmination of five years’ research by musicologists Tunley and Rogers, together with Universal Music Australia executive Meher-Homji.
Each author contributes a different aspect of Joyce’s life and work, beginning with her upbringing in the town of Boulder, where she was educated at St Joseph’s Convent and received additional instruction from local pianist Rosetta Spriggs.
Here, she was ‘discovered’ in 1923 by Trinity College examiner Charles Schilsky, who garnered support for the teenager to continue her education at Loreto Convent in Perth, where she was taught by music teacher Mother John Moore.
But Eileen’s international career really began three years later, when composer Percy Grainger – then on tour in WA – announced her as a great musical talent, and encouraged further support for her to study overseas.
Ultimately it was decided that Joyce should enrol at the Leipzig Conservatorium in Germany, before debuting in London at a promenade concert in 1930.
Chapter Two of the book focuses on the style and origins of her piano technique, and on her teachers. Of these the most significant was Robert Teichmuller, who helped her to develop not only great clarity of fingerwork but also subtleties of tone and a wide knowledge of the musical repertoire.
It then traces her rising profile as a concert pianist with the BBC, her tours of the United Kingdom during the war years, and in particular, the development of her performance style, adding glamour to her concerts through colourful gowns and the use of lighting.
Next, Destiny turns to Joyce’s work on various film soundtracks, including Brief Encounter and The Seventh Veil (both in 1945) and Men of Two Worlds (1946). This part of her story is followed by an account of her involvement in the growing early music movement in the 1950s, in particular her championing of the harpsichord as an instrument that could be used in contemporary performances.
Finally, the book examines the 124 recordings made by Joyce – recordings which have recently been released on the Decca Eloquence label as a 10-CD box set.
Overall, this easy-to-read book provides fans of classical music – as well as those new to the subject – the opportunity to learn the story of this unique and gifted performer and to become aware of her contribution to both performance and the evolution of the classical style in the 20th century.
Destiny – The Extraordinary Career of Pianist Eileen Joyce is priced at $55, and available through Lyrebird Press on (telephone) 136352 or at http://vca-mcm.unimelb.edu.au/about/publications/lyrebird-press-australia.
The CD collection Eileen Joyce: The Complete Studio Recordings is available from Decca Eloquence and priced at $60.