96 S A L I F E C H A N N E L 7 S U N D AY S 5 . 3 0 P M S A L I F E . C O M . A U

WHEN JULIAN COCHRAN STUDIED PURE mathematics at Adelaide University, he would run up to the Elder Conservatorium of Music between lectures. Even five minutes spent composing on the Steinways and harpsichords there was worth the

effort. “I compose when I’m sleeping or cycling, wherever I can allow my mind to drift,” Julian says.

The need to write music can reap its rewards, such as when esteemed concert pianist Gil Sullivan played Julian’s Mazurka No. 1 to a standing ovation at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Sullivan will perform more of Julian’s works at Elder Hall on November 11 as part of an Australian tour, before taking them to the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

Julian is a polymath, a talented person of many parts. He won a scholarship to the Con in Year 10, and designed a successful computer game, D-Zone, when he was 17. D-Zone found a global audience before the internet appeared. Julian writes software for his own business, and you can add multi-instrumentalist, sound recordist and concert and recording artist to his job description.

But, at 38, “composer” is how Julian best describes himself. “It wasn’t a plan, I didn’t just decide,” he says. “Certain things in music just happen. While I still write software, composing music has become my way of life.”

That way of life has gained Julian a massive following for his compositions in eastern Europe, with 70,000 Facebook likes,

WORDS ARTS EDITOR LANCE CAMPBELL

the majority from Russia, many others from the likes of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. In younger days, Julian played with a Russian balalaika ensemble, and was drawn to Russian, Romanian and Hungarian folk music.

Although this musical direction might appear slightly out of the mainstream for a Cambridge-born Adelaide boy, Julian says he “adores the eastern European sound. I can’t explain. I don’t know why. Composers are very sensitive to sound. Many people think I’m Russian. When I play in Russia, nine out of 10 people who listen will be captivated, and are imaginative in their response.” As a young musician, tackling the piano works of Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev and Balakirev along with Liszt further strengthened the eastern European connection.

Julian’s CDs and sheet music sell well in the part of the world where those great composers were born. Interest is keen enough in Germany for a private Gil Sullivan concert at the Australian Embassy in Berlin late next month, with Julian and his German contemporaries in the audience.

The folk music of eastern Europe also is dance music. This led Julian to the mazurka, which is originally from Poland and similar to the waltz, except with the emphasis on the second or third beat rather than the waltz’s first.

Julian’s Extracts from Romanian Dances – Animation Suite and Mazurkas has been CD of the Week on ABC Classic FM. The mazurka that brought the house down at Carnegie Hall prompted Sullivan, who taught Julian at the Con, to describe his former student’s compositions as “exhibiting striking individuality and personality, exuding dramatic intensity and power”.

Julian’s creative restlessness surfaced early. His mother Mary, who arranged his first private piano lessons with noted teacher Muriel Hopgood when he was 11, died soon after that. “From the age of 12 I was very independent,” Julian reflects, and resourcefulness runs in the family. Older brother James, a finalist in the 2008 Archibald Prize, is a practising visual artist in London and France. Younger sister Lucy, married to actor and comedian Eddie Perfect, is a strategic planner.

With the lights out, Julian would stay up all night playing instruments and multi-track recording them. When his doctor father Malcolm brought home an IBM 8080 computer without a manual, he taught himself to program it. The pure maths degree never was a career move. “I just wanted to answer the question about how I could improve my mind,” he says.

Julian resists the temptation to link his computing and his maths to his music making. “Temperamentally, yes, because of the attention to detail, but not intellectually,” he says. “But I do think computer programming is an art form because you are constantly making creative decisions and aesthetic judgments. I do like the idea of writing something for the computer and have it come up with a result again and again without tiring. That’s quite a feeling.”

It’s not as good a feeling as composing a mazurka or a sonata though. As an accomplished concert pianist, Julian sees performing and recording as the easier options for him. “When the Beatles made a record, the art is there in the record,” he says. “All you have to do is play it, and it never changes.

“In composing, I am making what I call a seed that can always be re-performed and reinterpreted. In 300 years’ time pianos will be different, musical instruments will be more advanced. I’m just fascinated with making something beautiful that is self-contained, that can go on being played and communicating.”

Art in many forms

Julian at Elder Hall with his tools of trade. “In composing, I am making what I call a seed that can always be re-performed and reinterpreted.”

At Pulteney, we believe in learning that extends beyond the classroom, into the realm of personal discovery. Not only does this help your child learn better, it prepares them for a lifetime of success.

Academic entry scholarships are available for Years 5, 7 and 8 for 2014.

For details, please check under the ‘enrolment’ menu on our website, or call the Registrar on 8216 5555.

Principal’s Tour begins at 9:30 amJunior: Tues 23 OctoberSenior: Thurs 25 October

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First published in SALife, October 2012. ©SALife Magazine, Adelaide, Australia.