Remote Places

Philip Bolliger

Six Greek Dances

Ann Carr-Boyd

Moonrise over Lake Argyle

Setting Sun, Moonrise, Darting Fish, Serene Moon

Diana Blom/Diana Weston

The Royal Exchange

Andrew Ford/Jordie Albiston

Gone

Ann Carr-Boyd

Outback River

At the Source, By the Fire, Finale

Ross Edwards

A Flight of Sunbirds

Ann Carr-Boyd

Scenes of Country Life

Moonacres Farm, Bong Bong Street Two Step, Old Mandemar Road

Andrew Ford/Christina Rossetti, Arr. Diana Weston

The Birthday of my Life

Mary Sambell – piano

Angus Ryan – cello

Lucy Cormack – cello

Hester Wilson – voice

Diana Weston – harpsichord

Phillip Bolliger

Six Greek Dances

Greek Dances were originally composed for guitar, soon after a holiday in the Greek Islands. The exception is No. 5 which was composed for harpsichord by Phillip when apprised of my intention to play his pieces on harpsichord. He seemed surprised, but I don’t know why. They sounded great (his fourteen year old daughter agreed!).

Ann Carr-Boyd

Moonrise over Lake Argyle, 2019

Setting Sun, Moonrise, Darting Fish, Serene Moon

I sent Ann some photos of our trip to Lake Argyle.  The place is extraordinary. A massive body of water due to a dam on the Ord River, the lake is full of fish, birds and crocodiles.

At dusk, at the same time as the sun is setting, the moon is rising, and the birds are twittering before settling for the night. The moon’s rays are reflected in the violet waters, fish leap out of the sparkling water, the moon’s orb casts a surreal light over the whole lake.

Diana Blom/Diana Weston

The Royal Exchange, 2021/22

Diana (Blom) wanted some lyrics for a song she had been commissioned, for a young baritone. She had a tango bass-line already worked out but needed a song-line.  Immediately this poem came to mind. We know this place so well. It’s Broken Hill, home of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

The Royal Exchange

The town sits comfortably/In the desert,/Protected by a band/Of porous vegetation./Once a thriving mining town,/The evidence is all around,/Marks the centre even /A pile of rubble,/Enormous, overpowering,/Devoid of greenery,Workers’ cottages,/Some well to-do,/And twenty-five pubs.

Opposite the post-office,/Quietly modest/In the face it presents,/The Royal Exchange suggests/A different world,/Of refinement, elegance/And permanence./Its pillared spaces/Now fill with diners/Who, if interested,/Can hear a tune or two/From the baby grand/Placed out of the way,/In a far corner./What better place/To dance a lonely tango?

Andrew Ford/Jordie Albiston

The place, in Andrew Ford’s beautiful song, is the mind, even while speaking of other places.

Gone, 2022

When you go over the water under the sun,/away from the world and ev’ryone,/you are gone./When you know you are rowing with only one oar/None of it matters any more/Going, going, gone/When you go through the spaces toward the good trees,/you feel yourself sinking onto your knees/and you’re gone./When you know it’s the moment ev’ry thing ends/you throw yourself wide into emptiness

you are gone……………

Going going gone –

Ann Carr-Boyd

Outback River, 2022

At the Source, Finale, By the Fire

We wanted to see the Darling River in flood. We travelled to Menindee. Nearby is Kinchega National Park, encompassing the Darling (Barka), home to the Barkinje people. The water was at the lip of the embankment, the river red-gums standing up to their midriffs. We noticed that the colour of the river was not uniform. Pale green flowed alongside pale fawn, the two streams not yet merging, such was the flow of the waters.

Ann has envisioned Outback River as starting at the headwaters of the flood way up north, where it is still a trickle over parched earth, gathering thousands of tributaries and forming ephemeral lakes before swelling into the great Darling.  The two cellos and harpsichord represent the colours of the Darling, flowing parallel, seemingly calm on the surface (cellos), but underneath and invisible are snags and eddies that are dangerous (harpsichord).

Ross Edwards

A Flight of Sunbirds, 2001

The introduction to Ross Edward’s suite of nine short piano duets tells us that he composed some of the pieces anew, and some from previous works. I love the title which I think is very fitting, as this is how I imagine the suite – the sun-birds’ plumage shimmers and changes as they flit about, in the sun, as they sip nectar from the flowers. (I may be completely wrong about this).

Ann Carr-Boyd

Scenes of Country Life, 2017/18

Moonacres Farm, Bong Bong Street Two Step, Old Mandemar Road

Ann lives in the pretty town of Bowral, the main road of which is Bong Bong Steet. During the week, the folks who live there (mostly elderly) wander down the street, chatting and doing a bit of shopping. The pace is slow. It’s a different story on the weekend. Sydneysiders come down for a shopping spree, to see the sights, and indulge in lengthy lunches and coffee stops. Old Mandemar Road is still there, not used much now the motorway has been built. Its edges are crumbling and overgrown with bush, hence the hint of nostalgia.

Andrew Ford/Christina Rossetti, Arr. Diana Weston

The Birthday of my Life, 2001

My heart is like a singing bird /Whose nest is in a watered shoot/ My heart is like an apple tree/ Whose boughs are bent with thickest fruit/My heart is like a rainbow shell /That paddles in a halcyon /a; My heart is gladder than all these/Because my love is come to me./Raise me a dais of silk and down,/Hang it with vair and purple dyes,/Carve it in doves and pomegranates/And peacocks with a hundred eyes;/Work it in gold and silver grapes,/In leaves and silver fleur de lys;/Because the birthday of my life is come,/My love is come to me.

Thoroughbass today is made up of long-time friends and family – Angus, Lucy, Hester, Mary and Diana. We all have wide experience in many different fields including law, journalism, medicine, education, and of course music. Whatever our profession or stage in life, music is essential to our well-being and we hope in this concert that you will enjoy its music as much as we do.

October 2022.