Interview with Emeritus Professor Joe Wolfe
UNSW Orchestra will be performing UNSW Emeritus Professor Joe Wolfe's special work, Circle of Fourths in their upcoming concert 'Romanze' on Friday 10 November, 2023 at Sir John Clancy Auditorium.
We invited Professor Wolfe to introduce himself to our community and give us the insider's view of Circle of Fourth.
1. Please introduce yourself to our readers!
I’ve worked in the School of Physics since 1982 and am now an Emeritus professor, working part-time. My research is mainly in acoustics and biophysics. I also love teaching and, because of the large classes in Physics 1, I estimate I’ve taught more than 20,000 students, mainly engineers.
I’m also a player of woodwind instruments and an occasional composer. Until fairly recently, the UNSW Orchestra was nearly always short of oboes or bassoons, so I filled in on one or the other.
2. Please tell us a little bit about ‘Circle of Fourths’.
The orchestra asked me for a piece to celebrate its 100th concert and Eric Sowey, the Orchestra’s archivist, specified that it quote the number 100. At the same time, some orchestra members were discussing the circle of fourths, so I chose to include that too* – building up the circle into a complete, crashing chord. I’ve written about it, with sound files, at https://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/music/circle/
3. Do you have a favourite section of ‘Circle of Fourths’?
I like the simple tunes (e.g. bar 16 (strings) or bar 72 (winds)).
4. How would you like the audiences to respond to this piece?
I hope they’ll just enjoy the music: the tunes, the rhythms, the orchestral colours … and the strange crash of the circle. If they did look up that web site and find out the interesting mathematical puzzle with the circle of fourths, they’d get a further insight. But it’s not needed – I hope the work stands on its own as a piece of music. And I hope the players enjoy it, too – they’ll hear it more than the audience!
5. Do you have any future musical endeavours planned?
When Covid came, I moved to the Central Coast, where my wife works. We both play (cello and bassoon) in Symphony Central Coast, with a concert on 26 November.
Circle of Fourths was performed by UNSW Orchestra in their concert 'Romanze' on Friday 10 November, 2023 at Sir John Clancy Auditorium.
