Big Skies

Our program spans a period of over thirty years from the seventies when names familiar today were first experimenting, looking for their own voices, and turning to many different sources and influences to do so. Some, like Sculthorpe’s Tailitnama Song, shows a strong Aboriginal influence, a borrowing which later evolved into his iconic reflections on the Australian landscape. Others take inspiration from overseas – Greece, Uzbekistan, Indonesia – others from paintings. Ann Carr-Boyd’s skill lies in her ability to dip into just about any genre, something which she has done to great effect in Look at the Stars.

From the manuscript and pen era, here are works reflective of Australia’s ability to absorb and make its own many different cultures and create vibrant new music in the process.

Phillip Bolliger: Six Greek Dances (‘70s)

Bolliger’s colourful Greek Dances were originally written for guitar following a sojourn in the Greek Islands. He has both added to and subtracted from the collection in this reimaging for harpsichord.

Anne Boyd: Bali Moods I (1988)

Bali Moods 1, originally for flute and piano, takes Balinese gamelan music as its primary influence. Boyd says that it is written ‘in an equally-tempered version of the pelog scale, one of the two predominant scale systems associated with Indonesian music. Moods also implies modes.’

Diana Blom: Cloud Studies (2006)

‘Cloud Studies’ was inspired by Blom’s examination of Constable’s series of paintings, his own ‘Cloud Studies’. The three movements reflect different atmospheric conditions superbly.

Elena Kats-Chernin: The Birch Tree (2013)

The Birch Tree was a commission of mine. I requested a short work based on a folksong. Needless to say, she drew upon her childhood memories of songs from her home-country Uzbekistan.

Ann Carr-Boyd: Look at the Stars (1978)

Ann has looked to the stars for inspiration since the 1970’s when this collection was first made, and has continued to do so ever since. Using the abundant compositional tools at her disposal, she reveals each spatial body in a different way, creating a complete collected entity full of variety, interest and beauty.

Mars: makes reference to the Greek god of war. The piece is menacing and threatening, yet holds back at some point from full confrontation in a state of suspended animation.

The Sun: is represented by the greatest of the sun-lovers – the ancient Egyptians. The background is liquidy and golden, overlain with wafts of breezy notes.

Pulsar (in Crab Nebula): A strident chord sends signals of repeated notes into the ether.

Spiral Galaxy (NGC 4565): Counterpoised duple and triple rhythms go one way then another, twisting and turning and ultimately drifting off somewhere unknown.

Earth: (Numunkanga, a folksong from the source of the Nile): takes it’s spirit from things of the earth – The Dragonfly – a thing of lightness and airiness, that dips and dances over water. The texture is dry, the mood exuberant.

Sombrero Galaxy (NGC 4594): Yes, it’s a tango, rather laid-back and subdued.

Fiji Moon (rising red over Viti Levu): A call to watch introduces lush chords that build and build, the moon rising in full grandeur to its full glory.

Stefan’s Quintet (a cluster of 5 galaxies): A ‘lost in space’ moment on a repeated bass –  gentle, far-off, lonely.

Quasar Pks 2142-75: How do you convey the paradox of an enormous (bright) body which is also the most distant (and therefore the faintest)?  How about by the juxtaposition of depth with the ethereal.

Saturn: An improvisatory piece in which orbiting bodies (pitches) of different shapes and sizes emerge and depart through the prevailing murk of harmonics.

Peter Sculthorpe: The Song of Tailitnama (1974)

The Song of Tailitnama was originally written for film and scored for soprano, six cellos and percussion, Sculthorpe later arranging it for piano and cello. The name is derived from the Aranda peoples of Central Australia, from a rock wallaby song describing the glowing rock formations, the sunrise and the birdsong as the land awakens. Sculthorpe was inspired by Aboriginal music as his evolved into his characteristic voice.

Diana Weston, with reference to composer notes.