Ed. Ian Shanahan & Chris Dench - Sounds Australian No.34 (Winter 1992) - An Emotional Geography of Australian Composition OCR

No.
34 REFERENCE
COLLECT/ON
Winter 1992
Sounds Australian
Journal of Australian music ..
--
-.
.....
AN EMOTIONAL GEOGRAPHY
OF AUSTRALIAN COMPOSITION
34 composers in all directions
BEST POSSIBLE MUSIC STATION
Debbington, Crawford, Elder, Ford, Southwood, Toop
Dent Perspectives: We of the Ugly-Ugly
Modern Music is Growing Younger
Research: Contemporary Music Audiences in Sydney
Reviews: recordings, bool~s , music
ISSN 08 11 J 149 r\egl srered by Ausrro ll o Posr Pu blico non No NOH 595 1
4.95
Sounds Australian
Journal of Australian music
Number 34, Wlnter 1992
1st F!:}(:'r, 18 /\rgy~z St
CONTENTS Tile Rocks, (IlSW
Tei: (C'~: ) ;~~? ' ~0T1- :;;:: (02) 241 2373

2000
T()(l FrsD ;'::.1i~1!:: 0r: (1300) (351 834

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
J Roger Frampton, Juliet Hoey, Ernie Althoff, Chris Matters ................ ,................................... 1
,f
~ BENT PERSPECfIVES
We of the Ugly-Ugly - Michael Lonsdale ...............................................................................4
SURVEY
Contemporary Music Audiences in Sydney - Fiona Allan ...................................................... 5
AN EMOTIONAL GEOGRAPHY OF AUSTRALIAN COMPOSITION

Michael Smetanin, Don Kay, David Worrall, Bruce Cale,
Betty Beath, Ann Carr-Boyd, Peter Brideoake, Graeme Gerrard,
Eric Gross, Andrew Ford, Raffaele Marcellino, Michael Whiticker,
Thomas Reiner, Warren Burt, Neil Currie, Stephen Benfall,
Mary Mageau, Colin Bright, Haydn Reeder, Nigel Butterley,
Stephen Cronin, Robert Allworth, Ron Nagorcka, Ian Fredericks,
Stephen Whittington, Ross Edwards, Liza Lim, Carl Vine,
Claudio Pompili, Elena Kats-Chernin, Jennifer Fowler, Helen Gifford,
Anne Boyd, Edward Cowie - edited by Ian Shanahan and Chris Dench .......... .. ................ ..... 8
BEST POSSIBLE MUSIC BROADCASTER

Andrew Ford, Bruce Elder, Charles Southwood, Warren Bebbington,
John Crawford, Richard Toop - edited by Richard Letts ................................................. 33
AUSTRALIA LIVE
Modern Music is Growing Younger - Peter McCallum ..........................................................42
RECORD REVIEWS
- Peter McCallum, Peter Platt, Hans Licht, Neville Cohn, Geoff Page ...................................44
BOOK REVIEW
The Pink Violin by Jon Rose and Rainer Linz
- Reviewed by Warren Burt ............................................................................................ 51
MUSIC PUBLICATION REVIEW

Australian Piano Miniatures (Bk 2) - Reviewed by Sheila Learmonth ................................ .52
COVER ILLUSTRATION: Rocco Fazzari .

c
An Emotional Geography of
Australian Composition
Edited by Ian Shanahan and Chris Dench
Introduction Both of us, however, do (David Worrall) and/or

recognise the limitations of the environmental concerns (Ron
"Our aim is simply to present,
journalistic medium: cassette Nagorcka). Certain composers were
and provide a linking commentary
upon, the clearly-stated artistic presentation of a composer's music, tongue-tied: these acoustical
and hence their artistic intent, is creatorsfound the task of verbally
beliefs of a number of Australian
composers, covering as wide a arguably the ideal format (as articulating their compositional
Warren Burt noted in his covering vision to be almost insurmountably
stylistic spectrum as possible. We
are optimistic that such a collection letter to us and Michael Whiticker daunting, indeed well-nigh
points out herein), although, on the impossible. (Stephen Cronin,jor
of brief 'Composer Credos' or
basic grounds of expense, it is rather example, stated that "I'd prefer to
'Manifestos' will serve to raise the
level of understanding of each utopian. So unfortunately, one must let the music stand alone" .) The
be pragmatic and settle for a remaining responses rangedfrom
others' work within the Australian
compositional cl)mmunity (at both "typical score page", admittedly a the mystical and metaphysical
the aesthetic and philosophical less-than-perfect substitute for lithe through to the abstract or
levels) - as well as encouraging music" - in particular for those intellectual. We leave it to the
composers who do not furnish their reader to wend their way through
mutual respect and recognition of
composerly unity. We therefore art on (manuscript) paper. this multi-dimensional labyrinth of
request from you ... a concise At any rate, our collection of thought, and unravel the complex
enunciation of compositional succinct responses is about as network of interconnections.
purpose." diverse and idiosyncratic - Anyway,let the proceedings now
With this brief, we approached linguistically, syntactically, and in begin with an incisive statement
quite a sizeable number of our terms of actual content - as the from Michael Smetanin.
Australian colleagues. [l] Not various musical personalities
merely to elicit a reply to the themselves. Therein, we trust, lies its Michael
simplistic question "Why do you fascination.
compose?" (which one composer Nonetheless, certain Smetanin
below rightly denounces), but more commonalities, recurring themes When composers are invited to
10 find out "Why does composition and modes of reply did emerge. The articulate their reasons for
matter to you?" and "What do you impact of Peter Sculthorpe's composing, they are being requested
understand to be its purpose?". Our landscape-based musical vision, for to perform one of the most difficult
primary intention, then, in gathering instance, is perhaps made apparent tasks their profeSSion can expect of
together such a variegated set of by the number of composers who them. I suspect that most of us do
writings, has been to increase the not have a written credo, framed,
claimed that Australia's
hanging on the wall before which
level of informedness and sensitivity characteristic topography has - or we genuflect each morning as we
for any future discussion or debate has not - been an influence in their begin to compose, but within us,
on the subject of Australian music - music. Some replies were deeply we all have (to varying extents)
this concern being particularly personal (Ross Edwards) or needs and ways in which to
important in the light of recent anecdotal; others focussed upon compose. This, I suppose, is the
acrimony. sociological or cultural issues essence of a composer's musical
PAGE 8 SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN, WINTER 1992

credo. The preservation of this musical warning stand well as preface to the
The maintenance and exploration "environment" is essential to my set of texts. He has outlined the
of my compositional methods, be belief that we are all under an dilemma which many below address
they intuitive or number- obligation to keep our musics in their differing ways: in a
predetermined, are fundamental to intelligent, free of simplistic (not fracturing musical mileu, without
me, as is stylistic integrity. I simple) solutions, and non- certainty of our music's relevance,
believe in musical composition and regressive. Without such an artist
how can we go on? Don Kay and
not in tune-tailoring, and cannot basis I would feel that my music
has become unnecessary and
David Worrall offer diametrically
employ expediences in method or opposed reactions to an obvious first
style. If I did, my game would be irrelevant to both my specific
musical community and all others recourse in the quest for
lost and the artist community in significance - our place of origin,
which I exist would be cheated. beyond it.
Michael Smetanin's words of and its 'genius loci'.
STRANGE ATTRACTIONS
Michael Smetanin
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SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN; WINTER 1992 PAGE 9

tend to be blown about

Don Kay in the flatulent breezes
of other social/political!
My music is
economic "new world
triggered by all sorts of order" experiments,
stimuli, abstract, whilst at the same time
metaphorical and literal. not grasping the
It is often a mix of
significance of
these things in varying
experiment and
and unpredictable orders
innovation in
and quantities. In recent maintaining cultural
years I have become resilience. Many
aware that the more I
Australian artists feel
recognise the origin of
that they can't live here,
the stimulus, the freer
and many of us who do
the music becomes, so
find living here
that pitch, rhythmic,
extremely difficult
textural, timbral and
"culturally" - even arid.
dynamic shapes and
The jingoisms that so
patterns are more easily
dominate public
manipulated in response
definitions of ourselves
to other than purely
as Australians in the
abstract ideas.
present social and
I believe this political climate are
increased openness is shallow nostalgic
due in part to a desire resonances of a
to identify with my fundamentally irrelevant
place of origin: to have past.
my music be at one This criticism is
with the place I live in Don Kay. Photo - Fred Koolhof necessary - it functions
and love. The love has to identify the milieu in
always been there but a means to which I as a creative artist, as a
express it in an appropriately David Worrall social animal, find myself. On a
individual manner has only recent visit to cities in western
gradually developed. This has been Exploring the Australian NSW I w~ struck by the pathetic
due, I believe, to only a partially Context: A Reflection way overt exploitation of the
conscious pursuit of the means. It The plethora of cultural roots relatively recent colonial past is
hasn't been an exclusive extant in Australia, together with a being glorified by European
compositional pursuit. However, I general profound dissatisfaction or Australians in trying to establish a
now realise that for me it has been disinterest with traditional concepts sense of continuity, of purpose, of
most significant in my development. of "nation" and "nationality" reason for being there; and at the
I now have much greater ensures that Australia is unlikely to same time, the way that local
confidence in the ability of music ever develop as strong a national aboriginal peoples and their cultures
to interpret, for example, the forms, identity as older nation states have. are consistently ignored. Much as
colours and textures of the natural Economic rationalism as a we might like to think about and
world. defining creed for social interaction incorporate aboriginal concepts and
is rife in the "new" world. It is ideas - and even sounds - into our
I also regard my compositions art music, until we are prepared to
irrationally rational in not taking
as a social act in part as I want to into account the importance of grow and learn from these peoples'
communicate to people about contributions to contemporary living
human values - values which are
thoughts, places and ideas: to draw in a radically different way th&n we
exposed, explored and defined in
attention to my part of the world as have to date, we will continue to
and by the arts and give richness
a place to value. Mostly, though, I be the disadvantaged.
and meaning to all our activities.
compose compulsively, each work
To think of the arts industry as European composers have a well
representing a stage in self-
simply a provider of (cultural) of folk music to draw upon - even
discovery and I delight when the services is to truly miss the point. if today they do not do so overtly.
music generates positive response in
Until the central role that artists I am very aware that I don't have
others.
play in constructing their any folksongs which are readily
It is not uncommon for place of communities' identities is generally definable as my own. This "missing
origin to provide strong creative recognised and supported as the fundamental" means that I do not
motivation across all the arts. This essential activities that they are, have as direct an emotional
is universally understood and Australians will continue to be vocabulary for communicating with
acknowledged. I am fortunate, culturally pubescent. my listeners as my European
indeed, to have Tasmania as my Because Australians don't have colleagues have.
birth and work place. very deep common social roots, we I live in Australia and I write

music. I don't know if it can be living a life devoid of meaningful creative thinking.
identified as Australian in some and uplifting experiences. I search The natural decay of any sound
other way - it does not really for these experiences and try to one hears in this environment can
concern me. I am attracted to highlight and explore them in my be witnessed without interruption;
Australian landscape in a way that I music. Then perhaps, just perhaps, in fact, one sound moves to another
am not attracted to landscape some sympathetic resonance may - not always in harmony, but in
anywhere else in the world. This uplift those who hear it. communication within the allowed
attraction, through its sounds, its "Music (has to be) edifying, (so) space.
forms and colours, is extremely from time to time it sets the soul in My wife, painter Pat Cale, and I
strong. It is not overtly emotional; operation." (John Cage - Silence, work daily in these inspiring
it is almost abstract. I do not know p.62) surroundings, and the creative
- (
=====-:D~
/
Excerpt from the Fellowship of Australian Composers' award-winning composition Breeze in the
chimes of time by Bruce Cale (Recorder multiphonics by Martine Kientzy and Ian Shanahan).
how this has come about but energy sometimes appears to have
because of it I understand almost a hum to it.
something of the sense that
aboriginals have of being of the
Bruce Cole Although I was born in this
Blue Mountain region, I "took off'
land. An implication of this is a The search for a free and explored, enjoyed and gained
commitment to protecting it as a synergetic aSSOCiation from some fourteen years overseas -
source of spiritual energy and this living in London, Boston, San
(ritual) commitment ensures a Living out in country New
South Wales beyond the Blue Francisco and Los Angeles, with
continuing contemporary relevance. working visits to New York.
Although it is generally agreed Mountain ranges for the past
that spiritually we are in very decade-and-a-half, has, I believe, These years, it seems to me at
difficult times, it is not enough for contributed to the success of my this point, proved to be a potent
me to analyse situations and create music in terms of composition. foil for the quietude of my life
works which probe in ever more Open space, the natural beauty now. I feel free within my
minute detail the misery of our of the land and the birdsong are all environment to express my
modem deconstructed condition. So conducive to a flow in creati vi ty .
many people express the despair of concentration and connected Over the past forty or so years
SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN, WINTER 1992 PAGE 11

of my musical life, there appears to During the late 80s here in which are universally understood,
be at least four significant events Australia, I became interested in without regard for language as
which have shaped and helped my extended woodwind techniques as a such. However, as I love words and
musical understanding. These are: part of my written music. The the meanings of words, the text is
Becoming a player member of composer/recorder-player Ian tremendously important to me. I
the Bryce Rohde Quartet in Sydney Shanahan, has, by the nature of his sometimes take months to find the
during the early '60s. The Quartet knowledge and enthusiasm towards text which I know is just right to
was a "modem jazz" band which music, inspired me to further set. I will have a very definite,
played the original compositions of developments in the growth of my certain response when this happens.
pianist/composer Bryce Rohde. The music composition. I am very much aware that the
music stretched all the boundaries One 0/ the abiding quality of the text has a
of the art form at that time: it was corresponding relationship to the
preoccupations o/post-war music
a great learning experience for me quality of the music it provokes.
(and, indeed, arguably, all Western During the period when I am
as a double-bassist. Art Music) is the investigation and thinking about a poem and again in
As a member of this band, I expansion 0/ instrumental resources. the actual writing, I feel strongly
was introduced to "The Lydian As inhabitants 0/ the Pacific fringe linked with the intention and
Chromatic Concept of Tonal many Australians have inevitably thought of the poet through the
Organisation" by American George pushed their experimentation text. To be satisfying, the end result
Russell. This Concept is the
backbone of my theoretical
towards the Asian shore '" ... the song, must be faithful to the
intention of the poet as expressed
knowledge; I studied with George
Russell in the U.S.A. Betty Beath through the text.
Living in Los Angeles during Although I am moving in new I have not consciously made a
the 70s, the then principal directions much of my work has search for exotic material. The fact
bassoonist with the Los Angeles been written for the voice with that some of the writers may be, is
Philharmonic Orchestra, Fred piano, instrumental or orchestral probably co-incidental ... in that my
Dutton, commissioned me to accompaniment. This is not simply choice has to do with content,
compose a piece for a concert because the voice is a favourite simplicity, communication. In the
performance in Los Angeles. The instrument. I do think the voice has case of Javanese poets whose work
music was a success, and brought a unique ability to communicate at I have set, there is a small
about my continued interest in a very personal level but has, as qualification, for not only was I
composing music to this day. well, the ability to express feelings attracted by the beauty of their
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Excerpt from Ann Carr-Boyd's "Slow Step", from her solo harpsichord work, Suite for Veronique.

poetic expression, I have also made highlight the contents of the work while creating an individual voice.
a significant response to their and communicate meaning and These may be unattainable,
country which is a continuing and direction to the performer and perhaps even overly pious. (Should
lively influence in my work and in listener. I'm continually fascinated I have included ... to be rich,
my life. Though I know Indonesia by the physics of sound and the envied and famous?)
or indeed, Asia to be an important "pull" of one sound toward another.
They are, nonetheless, worthy,
influence, I believe my music to be [2] And I too (as in the "Slow
since they seek to achieve what I
essentially Australian in character. Step" of Suite for Veronique) have
consider to be an ideal richness of
I haven't defined my succumbed to the powerful
expression.
compositional "style". I notice dictatorship of the V - I
progression. Achieved or not, I compose for
change and hope for change
my own satisfaction; all the better
especially as it emerges naturally. In the final result, I think that
if I am not-alone in enjoying it.
To cast myself in some form of constructional means should serve
compositional mould would be to produce something which appeals
terrifying. There are always and gives emotional satisfaction in Graeme
influences and I think we naturally a way which belongs so particularly
select those we will use most to music.
Gerrard
successfully. I believe that in
creating a work we sub-consciously Peter Brideoake Why I compose music
draw on the experience of our lives I am not aware of any singular
and that we are very much Music and enjoyment readily
form a common association - for motivation for composing music. I
influenced by the landscape, the like the way others can be
depth and breadth of our horizons example, in the Chinese language,
these words share the same written categorical, but I can't. I think
and the rhythm and tempo of our "everything is true", every position
language. I find myself "listening" character. The enjoyment of sound
may be deeply felt or simply is valid within its context. That's
much of the time ... I'm interested not the same as sitting on fences,
in new work, and "new" sounds are entertainment; there are many
versions of what is musically hedging bets, etc.
a wonderful discovery, even though
they may be ancient - like the enjoyable. We may join with others Because I make electronic
gamelans in Indonesia or the who share similar ideas and easily music, I am very much involved
sounds of a corroboree. feel disapproval when music and with the creation of sound and the
enjoyment appear in unsatisfying or realisation of music, as well as the
Ann Carr-Boyd disturbing versions. composition. These are all integral
aspects of a single activity.
I compose music which I like,
Everyone is a product of their with the intention that some others I compose music because (not in
particular era. In my lifetime, there will also find meaning and therefore any significant order that I am
has been a revolution in enjoyment as I do in the sounds aware of, other than as they occur
communication: in music, the produced. to me):
developments in performing and - I take delight in patterning,
It is unlikely that many will
recording have meant access to a both formally and semantically.
dance to it; too few consumers will
huge variety of styles at the flick of
sing along (making it an unsuitable - I am compulsed/addicted.
a radio button or CD control. In the
chart contender), and I am unlikely - I love playing with sound, it's
same way that architecture of the
to start a new movement or fashion. one of my favourite manifestations
glass box variety has invaded much
Nevertheless, I am interested in of vibration.
of the globe, an international
expressing musical thoughts which
"wallpaper" music of the dominant/ - I bounce off fortuitous
will resonate with some part of an
tonic variety has developed and accidents in the studio.
audience.
invaded areas where once only the
I aspire to create individual and - Discovery is absolutely
dingo and humming-bird reigned. It
worthy music, and I pursue this fundamental.
seems that ease of communication
can produce blandness. I'm goal with certain desired ideals: - Sometimes I have "something
conscious of wishing to make my to say".
-It is necessary to absorb
own small statement as personal as - I believe that art is more
compositional techniques and
it's feasible to do. profound in its impact on
methods, to a point where I need
I have always been fascinated consciousness than politics or
not rely upon them, and still avoid
by harmonies and chords, as well religion.
music which is indulgent,
as the different lights they can cast amorphous or confused. - It doesn't "need" to be done.
in juxtaposition with each other and That is, it is a deliberate act
set into motion - and so I often -To be unreserved about direct counter to a world based on utility.
work my melodic and rhythmic expression (feeling, emotion, or - I like to - better than washing
ideas around contrasting harmonic passion), but capable of coherence dishes or programming accountancy
colours. I'm also conscious of the which avoids artifice and packages. Composing is usually
need for a tonal centre - a base construction. much more demanding work. But I
from which to explore and return. I -Not to be limited by the like work.
try to tie these ideas in with the necessary lessons of tradition, yet - I enjoy the feeling when other
overall form, so that the form can still avoiding fads or novelties people respond to the music I make

performances. I have used some of

my compositions to make political
statements either by implication, as
in my orchestral work Na
Shledanou v Praze - its first
performance took place in Olomouc,
a Czech city with a Russian
garrison on its outskirts at the time
of the performance and I therefore
used the Czech National Anthem as
my main theme - or by the use of
pertinent philosophical or political
texts, as in my cantata Pacem in
Terris which uses textual extracts
from ' an encyclical, of the same
name, by Pope John XXIII; I
composed this work during 1966
when Kruschev foreshadowed the
beginning of the end of Stalinism in
the USSR and the advent of the
Kennedy presidency in the USA
raised hopes of pOlitical and social
progress in the Western world.
In addition to a predilection for
Jazz idioms, my world-wide travels
and cultural experiences tend to
give my music a cosmopolitan
flavour with some traces of
Austrian, Scottish, Asian and South
Graeme Gerrard. Photo - Craig Beard American influences emerging from
time to time. Although I like to use
- a mixture of pride and humility. standards and integrity, is to my existing compositional and
- Sometimes I get money for it. performers/interpreters because it is instrumental teclmiques, I enjoy
- It is kind of an act of worship they who must work and invest experimentation, especially when a
or recognition - though not of time and energy in order to bring sympathetic virtuoso is available, as
anyone or anything in particular. my music to life and place it before for example in some of my
All of these reasons, and its audience. My
probably others, have been music must
appropriate in the past: each convince its
composition has its own performers before
constellation of motivations. There it can convince its
may be others in the future. audience. I aim to
communicate with
One thing that is clear is that audiences by
Australian composers cast their nets stating musical
very wide in terms of the ideas which
associations thallhey construct audiences may
around their pieces. This cannot be find to have some
unconnected with the character of relevance to their
the Australian PQPulace, and the own musical
perception of our society as a perceptions or
melting-pot; unity in diversity, requirements. If I
perhaps. am asked to write
music for a
Eric Gross specific occasion,
then I try to make
Virtually all of my music has it appropriate to
been composed for immediate live that happening and
performance or for recording if such an
purposes. A number of my "occasional"
compositions also resulted from my composition has
association, as conductor, with sufficient intrinsic
choral or orchestral organizations. I merit, it may
believe that my first duty as a perhaps survive
composer, in addition to and be given
maintaining professional and artistic further Eric Gross

mandolin, recorder or trombone have sounded (to me, at least) listening, and to communicate sonic
pieces; I also like to use unusual either pretentious or mind- ideas to others. Writing music is a
combinations whenever possible, as numbingly banal. I'd prefer not to cultural act. Writing music must
in my First Symphony where be thought of as either of these! have the purpose of communicating
within a large orchestra I use a So what can I say? I like to to a listener. Music is not a
harpsichord and three counter-tenors trust my instincts. New pieces come universal language. There is no
who are seated in the woodwind to me, not I to them. I try to see point in developing a syncretic style
section. (hear) what they consist of. I take - music cannot be all things to all
Perhaps the very elaboration of my time doing this, preferring to people. The listener is not the
their ideas has in some cases led to mull over a piece for months before enemy. Music means nothing and
writing anything down. When I therefore can mean anything. Music
an unwillingness or discomfort in is a cultural phenomenon. The
discussing their musical purpose. It have the shape of the whole piece
(instrumentation, duration, relative mystic has a vision to which reason
is not unreasonable to argue that is applied. The composer shares in
tempi, textures, dynamics) I make a
one's music is self-evident, or that plan of it with words, diagrams, the function of the mystic in the
one's intention is inarticulable, as it perhaps a few bits of musical sense of the "sonic" vision.
is imminantly manifest in the piece. notation. (All of this is without Or, as one of us once said:
This almost mystical stance is hearing any specific pitches.) I try
frequently advanced by our to stick to this plan, but usually
"As I see it, composing is. in
contributors; its antithesis the don't succeed. essence. the making manifest of a
pragmatic nuts-and-bolts approach, particular vision. an envisaged
I apply pitches. I've come to
likewise. I wonder how different believe that pitch is the single most
musical domain that is,for the
they really are? important feature of music (both my composer. unendurably absent
own music and the music I most from the expanding musical
Andrew Ford admire). I may work to a loose universe. This 'vision' is not just
harmonic plan and make it up as I of a particular piece. but o/a
Dear Ian and Chris, go; a couple of times recently I whole territory of musical
This is in response to your have plotted a very strict set of utterance of which the work in
request for statements from pitch charts and adhered to them hand is a specific instance. In
composers. rigidly. The pieces sound especially this context the act of creation
I hate all this. I like talking convincing (although I'm not letting takes on meanings which will
about music - indeed, I have said on which ones they are), but it's a
inevitably colour the product:
in print on more than one occasion dull way to work - like colouring
by numbers.
the composer becomes a
how vital it is that we talk about
cartographer. exploring and
music more than we do. As a You asked for 300 words, and
society we have tended in recent
mapping previously unrealized
I've written 400. Sorry, I'm not
times to regard music as charming sure how useful all this is. I look states of musical being. and a
and innocuous or offensively forward, however, to reading what shaman, manifesting these states
intrusive; at any rate, not something the others have written! partly or wholly transformed so
to be discussed in terms of its Cheers ... Andy. as to be assimilable by his/her
ideas. For all this, and audience. The attempt to share
notwithstanding my public
pontifications as University lecturer,
Raffaele this vision is. one hopes. an
investment of generosity of spirit
broadcaster and print journalist on a
whole range of other people's
Marcellino which will irradiate the resulting
artwork." [3]
music, I find it very hard to come
up with words to describe what I Manifesto
try to do in my own work. As a Music is a temporal sonic art.
Michael
composer, I pride myself on my
professionalism when it comes to
Memory is essential for music. A
composer is anyone with an idea to
Whiticker
delivering pieces on schedule; my be expressed through the medium
program notes, on the other hand, A response
.... of sounds and silences and who
are invariably late . actually carries out that expression 1. An aesthetic? WHY. HOW,
It may be that I am rather of the idea. It is the role of the and FOR WHOM do we compose?
superstitious (cute, even) about all composer to re-hear. Paul Klee 2. My natural response to a
this. I worry that the moment I can stated that the artist should lead the request for a "composer credo" for
verbally articulate my intentions and eye: the composer should "lead the Sounds Australian Journal is that
working methods - even to myself - ear". There are no absolutes in I would prefer readers to be
I may become too self-conscious in music. Writing music is a political listening to a piece of my music
my music. Self-consciousness is act, whether the composer is aware instead of considering what I might
something I try to avoid when I or not of the politics. The principal have to say about "my artistic
compose. I suppose I am also reasons for a composer to create beliefs". Which, in this case, would
aware that on the occasions when I music are to express an idea mean that you (the reader) would
have attempted to explain my aims, through sound, to have a point of be receiving a cassette recording of
my aesthetics, my techniques, I view, to show other ways of the music of the composers here

represented rather than a journal of him denying what to me seems to himself through his denials as I
their thoughts. But, by necessity, I natural for an artist: the acceptance am true (to myself) through my
speak and write about my music - of change in the world and personal acceptance of diversity.
and, I will admit, it gives me some growth and the effect this may have But if one agrees that music's
pleasure in doing so. Yet composers on one's work. Why should one
symbolic life and the intentions that
don't necessarily make good remain convinced of the sanctity of
one vision when that very vision
lie behind it can be discussed, then
writers, and I fear that by insisting
they espouse their artistic credo we may potentially hinder your growth one has the disconcerting problem of
are being lead potentially to a as an artist? (The savouring of defining one's terms and
misunderstanding of what they truly life's flavours and images, letting investigating the constellation of
want to say, which is to be found them find their place in one's work, thought that surrounds all symbol-
in their music. By insisting seems completely natural and making activity.
composers write and speak about honest to me. Insisting that there
"Language is not only a means
their work we are denying their can only be one way does seem a
music the opportunity to speak for little shortsighted.)
of communication and behaviour; it
them - something they would (in also imposes specific systemic and
Of course one way is no more
nearly all cases) prefer? structural constraints on the ways in
"right" than another. He is as true
What concerns me more
and more is that the fantasy
and the mystery are missing
if we attend a concert armed
with some knowledge of the
composer and their work.
= r-- I-
_.
xcupl.
I- -
-b. .. LVOKb~
-.f' r--
I
,-.1<1t ~~~'LL F . = ",,=
+J <.1f
Some would argue that they
never judge a work before - t -
l-
-
E t= - -~k I - f- I':"':: I-,-::1I~
r-- f- - 1-
= -=~-=:f-
-~-=- _ = -_=
-
having heard it - in which r= - - ,- ~ - ,- i - -
case they would not be co -
" ,~.:- -=< ~ .1= f-:- = -
concerned if I suggest they G ~(: ~Q e1 J
(e ' ~c- h J] Ito ) l~ p- c--
. - ~, n= =-, -=- -=- 1= - ~ - --'-
attend a concert with no
preparation for what they are J
( L.. ~ <. 6. ,- ''''
~= ;E. d
%I~
w, oJ. )
W
..... r +-L.
about to hear, and only after 1= F ' t=-'
the performance obtain a '? != ~
/
program note to learn .t I-!.
something about the

composer and their piece ...
(s) ....
-~ :.o<o.
. ;-
- ,
(that is, if the composer
cares to supply that 1-' - = f - ,~
if
information ...). -
t-.-
" = =
I don't think that I'm I J r
alone as a composer in
believing that my best music
l r)
has a certain magical quality
about it, something that my
words could never capture. I 'i')
would even like to believe Po _
that it enriches the life of a \' - )

listener who gives him!
herself to it. Is that then my
credo? Lt IQ ~
Or is this? ... f-i=: ; ,i - (r' <c, ..
,
3. I recently heard a .J W. '\
composer being interviewed u r
0
on the ABC saying that he f,
must be true to his vision. ' M
He insisted that he couldn't [,"Ill

J
consider the thought of f
composing in any way or
-. . .
..,
style foreign to his vision .t. b=l=- t""i
even though the temptation -
rr. u ~ {,
was constantly before him. ..s I:r- 1\ I
He seemed to consider
his conviction a good thing, c '" -1- t
as though there was

. '-- c-.:l -:1-
something sanctified about it.
At the time I felt sorry for

which we perceive and act

upon the world and each Ar.T UP ~ for- Char I es [(oller 1 5 - fur t pad E::?r Ipl ani st
other".
:;! mJI r, IN " PETTI! r{ IIYTH~ts, WIlli MntiN1ING ENDTlilH .
- Anthony Wilden : System f:1i. n "F rm"n ~;/SYS l t:M. VOIC-:E , HJ Ii CIJMFIJrnABI E -WARREN BURT
and Structure. iii 1 (\vI, nniiDI ES PIlCH INr'I ErT T nN~i 11F nln 1 Orl l I NF .
.,
'.
Thomas --""
Reiner to con - quer AIDS.
Fragments for Chris' and

lan's Emotional
Geography of Australian
Composition It cou ld a f - ford the Gulf w~" can - not a f-for-d
(with reference to clearly-

stated artistic beliefs,
credos, manifestos,
concise enunciations of
compositional purpose,
and other imaginary
landscapes)
"'Why do you compose?'
is a dinner-party question ..."
can-not af-for-d an in-fec--tioLl5 di s-eas--es-- re-search hos-pi-tal ..
{Jorg Todzy, private
conversation, 1991.}
"Words (the mechanism to ~~
whereby others know what i::fu-.
.J
you think better than you SFZ
do) are vulnerable to
b..ili
~~"
~ ~; !I
distraction ... " {Chris Mann, Ilo i:'~ -- . . 7,.ij
Listening - the aesthetics of " n' It:
___ . , ~ . ~~ n'
~
V
not knowing, 1991.} .......
- T.. C2.n
~ to bUlld s,-!b-rr:2..r -.1flE'S. THEY J wi 11 beep
"The appeal of Clear
Thought - or what is
frequently conceived of clear
thought, plain speech and
pragmatism - is not new, but
it is, in the current climate,
acquiring a new and
insidious currency. This
trend, it seems to me, is
related to the question of DEATH o---ver UP'
bureaucratic thinking." 8-9 Mar-ch'7 1992
(Lesley Stem, from a paper
delivered at the Ideas for
Australia Conference in
Melbourne, February 1992.} 1991.} LogicoPhilosophicus. }
"In its urgency to become " ... if the sky was paper and all
sound, in its haste to come into the of the seas of the world were ink, I Warren Burt
world, to make itself manifest, could not describe to you my
music by its nature tends to make sufferings, and all I see around me. Some relevant quotes and
manifestos superfluous. The path it I'm saying goodbye to everyone thoughts
takes is never expected, required, and weep ... " (Chaim, a 14 year old - "As a social phenomenon,
prescribed. Music ignores Polish peasant boy. From a music is, first and foremost,
theoretical correctives, and dissolves collection of letters written by behaviour, the behaviour of
dogma whenever it wishes." (Hans members of the European resistance individuals and groups of people in
Werner Henze, Music and Politics, prior to their execution. Set to a variety of environmental
1982.} music in Luigi Nono's 11 Canto circumstances, all the characteristics
"Because of the disposable Sospeso.} of which bear on the meaning of
nature of our society, music has "What we cannot speak about the music in question." -B. Boretz
lost its currency." (Harrison we must pass over in silence," - "Music making is too precious
Birtwistle, The Age, 18 May (Ludwig Wi.ttgenstein, Tractatus a resource to be squandered in a

quest for authority." -B. Boretz

- All music is ethnic. All music
is tribaL All musics have hidden
agendas. All musics have social
briefs. All musics reinforce/predict
social/political structures. (How
complicit are you?)
- Personal opinion may be fun.
It may even produce good art. But
"taste" may be counterproductive to
doing "work".
- "What if we replaced every
'either/or' statement with a 'bothj
and' statement?" -K. Gaburo
- "Are you criticising the piece
because it wasn't the piece you
wanted to hear, or are you
criticising the piece you heard?" -R.
Paredes
- "Music (art) as a discipline of
self-alteration as well as a means of
self-expression." -J. Cage
- In a time of language
plurality, art is commonly
incomprehensible. [More clear,
simple explanations, please!]
- The observer creates the work
of art. [So that the work of art they
create might come within coo-ee of
the work of art you created!]
- "To make life easier" is not
necessarily part of an artist's job
description. ("Being paid" to break
the rules .)
- "Social responsibility arises
through love. (Love = mutual
acceptance - the opposite of love is
not hate, but indifference.) When
you love, you feel (and act)
responsibly. This is the beginning
of society. Therefore, anything that
interferes with the free flow of love
- like competition - is inherently
anti-social." -R. Maturana
- "The creative act consists not
only in the stipulation and
formation of concrete structures, but
in responsible maintenance of them.
Furthermore, such structures
demand of us the necessity to
create and maintain environmental
systems within which they can
function properly." -K. Gaburo
- Are you composing your
context or is your context
composing you?
- Art music makers of the
world! You want your music to
transform society? Then transform
youselves! Be an example to the
world with loving and generous
lives, and the rest will follow.

- "Greed, anger, ignorance; interesting music, but these things hard to imagine life without it -
drink deep those poisoned wines depend utterly on the character of perhaps it's an addiction that could
and lie drunk and in darkness, the sound, they must follow the only be substituted by an equal vice
unknowing. Make riches your direction it bids, and they are in some other creative area.
dream, your dream's an iron cage. inactive until I become enchanted On a technical level, I enjoy the
Bitterness is cause of bitterness. with the sound in the first place. It nuts and bolts of musical craft, be
Give it up or dwell within that is this, a feeling, a love, for the they pitches, rhythms, sound
dream. You better wake up soon - sound and an attention to the samples, synthesizer parameter-
wake up and go home." -Shih-te direction it suggests, that I believe tweaking, or whatever. Composing
- (And personally? I like to precurses good music. or "assembling" sound-works (in
make, and to help others make, any genre) is a natural progression
music and art which conforms to no Stephen Bento" from an interest in sound-elements.
known models so that we, together, I have been involved in music
For me, there seem to be
might have some things to help us as a performer and teacher, and
various levels of compositional
change our minds.) although I enjoy wearing different
purpose active simultaneously.
These range along a continuum "hats" (essential in any case for the
Neil Currie from the subconscious (universal / well-rounded musician) I find
composition the most exciting area
To me, framing the
of music - and after all,
question as an
the possibilities are
enunciation of
infinite.
compositional purpose is
off-centre. My purpose as Even the mystical
composer has in general stance can be subjected
emerged retroactively. to a certain scrutiny; as
For me, it has been more Roland Barthes observed:
a matter of being llWhat is characteristic of
attracted to a sound, and myth? To transform
then only subsequently meaning into form" .
the empirical discovery, Which could be advanced
over the years, as to
which experimentations
as a description o/the
have produced compositional activity.
satisfactory extensions
and variations of the Mary
sound.
In my opinion it is Mageau
important for a young As believed in old
composer to spend more China the composer knits
time simply attempting to heaven to earth with
discover who he or she threads of sound.
is, aesthetically - and no
I believe that my
delusion please, no
music must:
matter whom you wish to
impress - than it is to 1. Express rather than
learn to pretend that impress.
serious art music must be 2. Explore my
95% intellectual. intuitive feeling for the
To me, the process of wholeness of things.
composition will always 3. Communicate some
entail, at its core, an spiritual or artistic
instinctual animal's (my) Mary Mageau meaning.
passive response to 4. Convey my
sound, my subsequent memory of creative disposition) through the personal message through a
the sound, and my modification of more conscious and musically continually developing craft.
it, whether intuitive or calculated. specific levels of sound exploration There is a place for the music
The notion of setting forth armed and manipulation, and along (or is of each and everyone, as Henry
only with a set of procedures, prior it down to?) the concerns of where David Thoreau so passionately
to the experience of falling under and how to land my next declared:
the spell of a sound, is to me, commission. "If a man (or woman) does not
phony. I produce relatively few works, keep pace with his companions,
I accept that I can devise yet I identify strongly with the perhaps it is because he hears a
techniques, either from creative side of my personality. I different drummer. Let him step to
improvisation or from numerical have been composing regularly for the music which he hears however
procedures, that may produce over 10 years, and I now find it measured or far away."

sophisticated version of theobvious connection here is with

Colin Bright cultural cringe. music incorporating a text. The
1) I do not consciously think about subject matter simply must be
To put it another way, I do not
style in terms of fashionable (or about NOW either topically or
100k for cultural guidance from
not) technique, but I consider it psychologically.
the "savage tribes" of Europe or Social-realism,
of utmost importance to develop Britain. musically, implies the non-
a personal style which has a relevance of past cultural styles
Nevertheless, my music is
larger and more important brief, in their original context.
"informed" by external influences
guided by a social-realist (Personally, I like minor triads,
including daedalism, exotericism,
perspective, that is ultimately an but to use them in a functional
Australian aboriginal music,harmonic way is not culturally
attempt to define the culture of some S-E Asian music and some
which I am a part. relevant now.)
African music. Add to this
Insofar as stylistic technique is 3) There are a couple of challenges
intuition and the multi-stylistic
concerned, I find the total consequence is perhaps some that are not new but are
adoption of other cultural models personal style. nevertheless still challenges. The
too sycophantic for my liking, instrumentation of almost all
2) Art must be of its time to be
and ultimately just a more ensembles that a composer might
socially relevant. The most
write for is a limitation directly
inherited from a
European acoustic
tradition. Imagine
Chromatalea trying to get a
for f lute/alto flute , clarinet inA / bass clarinet, violin/viola and v',oloncello performance of a
piece for say, half an
orchestra
(2,2,2,2,3,2,2,1,
H-q~dn Reeder hp,pno, 4pc,8,7;6,5,4)
I plus 4 synthesizers, 4
5 4 saxes, 4 guitars,
8 fen 5" 4 )=",,50
r.\ electric guitar,
NV I
" didjeridu, bagpipe,
I' U1'_ i t
1'P
flu" . 1'P blues harp, and 4
Bass c\aYinei
,)
, ,-IV... r1 r:'I
II.H.
VII
- .. - .. - .... - - .... '" female
Fat chance!
-
voices. (+PA).
c,"sc.
,I y
HY fPl< 1'P Sometimes too, I
fC ... ~ Q'
m 't-;:I_P W ~
think that if an
Viola
1'P
... instrument is not able
to be played outdoors
=<1
Violoncello
m
,I N
';'v ":. W
,.
r:'I
'F
(W)lIr(O .t"
, ,
(and/or amplified)
then it is more or less -.
useless.
A simpler, but
more subtle challenge
is to write a melody,
say for voice, that is
truly melody and not
4 2. a line impelled by
4
4 ... :- NY harmony. To retrieve
I' iIDJ:
...'./ (01"1111 "".
":':~V
;d '>-- -
..; .' '''IN
_{'
r--;:~
loll-'ll
~. NV
-----.
R' " lJl. --==
l' 1'<'
melody from the vice
of functional harmony
is no small matter!
L.:di'
[4]
1'1' ' "''p''' _<1
ord.
.v,;_ MV .,... .... " .; -==

1'n .
Haydn
I
,I
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(w) ~~c.~ --,..- ---.".
n
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" . }~ Reeder
~
ont MY
.1 v . I
NY (:r~r,r. Q'''h~;-
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Why do I compose
~~ .T'- --' .... the way I do?
For me, in
NV:: non v;br., vt.I = vibr.norrtl., MV= lfl.oUo 'lib ..,
1:.1 :. tAIl '~I)no , ~cl -= wood t hair ~ bow $t =- SI.4I tCH~o, .!ap::. .f~ul pOMI .
conunon with many
~ ~ 1 tOI\f. lower I ~ =! ~O"t hi9h~r I ~ = 1" t-ol\e lowtr,":: ~ ~one 10wu, II =! +01'\& hi9~fr I ~ =! ton. nightr composers, the act of
l) \oOund, 0' wriHcn
Copyright 1973 b':j Ha~dh Reeder composition is an
adventure of
exploration and
expansion of my

knowledge and imagination. The extending the scope of our nostalgic moods of my music. Yet I
finished work is therefore an humanity, has created areas of do write music not only to
invitation to the audience to inner freedom that we can, and do, communicate with those of this
experience the results of those inhabit, however circumscribed current age, but to engage, through
processes, but of course the our outer conditions may be. time itself, with future generations
audience cannot take part in all of Poetry is in its proper nature the as well.
the joys and tribulations of my language of the soul; its proper Although my compositional
adventure. function is to create for US images language does not follow, and
Since I am aiming to express of an inner order all share, to open resists being defined in reference
myself and to produce a work into every present those secret to, any particular trend within
which has a distinctive and clear doors, those ways in; to consecrate contemporary music, some of my
"personality", I am always looking and redeemfor every generation compositions do, on occasion, enter
for, inventing and using different some parcel of the surrounding into more cerebral or abstract
compositional techniques, but of waste." manifestations. A Different Time,
course some techniques recur. Some (Kathleen Raine - The Inner A Different Place (for violin and
of them, such as isorhythm, derive Journey of the Poet) piano) and Processional and
from earlier times in musical Epilogue (for alto recorder and
history but in such a case I am Stephen Cronin vibraphone) both make use of
borrowing a technique and not a aleatoric techniques, for instance.
language or style. Composers who Thanks for the invite to submit Nevertheless, much of my oeuvre
adopt a previously developed a personal credo for Sounds can be referred to loosely as either
language or style tend to miss out Australian Journal. Unfortunately "romantic", "impressionistic", or
on, have lost or never had interest I'll decline the offer. I fmd it "serial".
in the adventure described above. difficult to write and talk about my
My language has developed
music and tend to agree with Mick
Smetanin that I'd prefer to let the
Ron Nagorcka
since the days when I decided to
music stand alone. The problem Jacques Barzun once declared:
take a leaf from Boulez's book and
with that stance is that my style is "/ happen to think. that only in
write music as if none had been
constantly undergoing change and a music have truly new directions
written before and work with
personal stylistic statement very beenfound. And these are two and
limited materials: the result of this
quickly becomes outdated. Best of only two: electronic music and the
was Chromatalea for small
luck for the project in any case. 43-tone works of Harry Partch."
ensemble. Being able to control the
material and produce a piece which I have no idea, really, whether
was thoroughly worked out yet was Robert AI/worth he's right, but these are certainly
all heard and which found favour To me, music must convey the areas I find myself exploring
with performers and audiences something about life, or create a and re-exploring, especially as
heralded a new phase in my career. poetic mood. My recent developments in electronics
Within my works there are areas of music draws its
complexity - for instance, at about inspiration mostly
two-thirds of the way into my piece from the sacred
Coalescence I and II for piano and aspects of Roman
tape there is an explosion as four Catholicism, from
strata of material enter at once - certain traditions of
but I would not be happy producing past eras in Western
pieces that consist entirely of civilization, and from
overloading the listener with classic works of
information in an unremitting literature that
fashion. fascinate me: usually
literature about
Nigel Butterley colourful people in
the history of art and
I'd rather not try and write a
religion.
statement; I've tried before but
never know what to say that My music is
doesn't sound pretentious. I'd rather nearly always a very
redirect the effort towards writing personal reminiscing
music. utterance, particularly
of my love for
If you want to include me you places which have a
could use the following quote, special significance
which says things far better than I to me. And I am
could. delighted, even at
"Poetry and the other arts, by times surprised, when
building for the soul invisible other listeners can
sanctuaries and regions of immerse themselves
contemplation, by exploring and entirely in the Ron Nagorcka

make serious study of Partch's rosellas, which always seem to straight lines of a vast factory,
system much quicker and easier. have something new to say. And in churning out ecological poison for
I do a lot of sampling - mostly the distance I can hear the consumption by urban populations
of the sounds that surround me in chainsaws of APPM as yet another kept ignorant by the manipulations
the exquisite Tasmanian forest in hillside of biodiversity is clearfelled of greed.
which I'm privileged enough to live for processing at the existing Under such circumstances, let
- with an instrument more and more Wesley Vale pulp mill. alone the threat of global
permanently tuned to Partch's 43- So the rape continues. Armageddon, music can only
tone scale. Apart from the rich new Tasmanian Aboriginal people once continue to strive to be magical - to
harmonic world it offers, it helps cremated their dead in the hollow retain its powers of transcendence
me relate my music to birdsongs bottoms of giant trees, thus sending and transformation, and to avoid the
which certainly involve more than their spirits up into those corruptions and soullessness that
12 tones per octave. Some of the magnificent heights. Now, the last tempt our delicate compositional
similarities I've found may be of these trees is under threat by egos.
serendipitous, but at least with legislation giving land rights not to The sort of magic that I seek, I
Partch's system I can invoke a Aboriginal people, but to large cannot find in a city. It is always
harmonic scheme that makes some forestry companies. so tangible in rainforests and
sense out of the communication of What a frontier culture we still deserts where I know my spirit is
intelligences which, after all, share have. Crass marketeering and alive. And in the end - whenever
a different reality to our own. pretentious imitative institutions that may be - I can only hope that
Even as I write, I'm being continue to tum the intricacies of a the last of our kind, at their last
entertained by a flock of green thousand Dreamings into the sunset, will sing rather than curse
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their luck and the folly of their that probably aren't even there. at least some of it come back at me
ancestors ... Until they find them. through the technology then I know
For music is a requirement of I'm not mad. And I am not wrong.
Where then is God in all this?
the soul. And I'm certainly not dead.
(Now that heaven is closed.)
"What I affirm", George Steiner If I could travel back to one of
We can't just stand by fiddling
the past centuries and have just one
recently wrote, "is the intuition that while the Stephen Hawkings and
old fashioned wish then it would be
where God's presence is not longer the Paul Davies move Him into a
to come back in one hundred years
a tenable supposition, and where neighbouring universe.
from now when all the arrogance of
His absence is no longer afelt, The nature of God and of the nineteenth century prejudices
indeed overwhelming weight, certain human spiritual needs should be the have been stomped into the dust
dimensions of thought and creativity domain of theologians and that clings to the flutes and the
are no longer al/ainable". Erich philosophers. Not scientists. Trouble violins in the disused museums and
Jantsch, in the Self-Organising is the theologians seem to have all the dead trees in the "music"
Universe defined God as "evolution planted their collective head in the archives.
quagmire of human rights and other
... not the creator, but the mind of And my wish would be to just
socio-economic red herrings of no
the universe" . cosmic consequence whatever while
attend one afternoon concert of art
music.
the philosophers have sold the
Ian Fredericks whole meta-physical farm to What a time that will be!
science. How the sounds will fly and the
One composes because that's
If ever humanity needed music will weave a time-space
what one does. Just as one
spiritual guidance it's now. thread of psychic intrigue no longer
breathes. There is no reason. But
constrained by corporeal gesture but
"Why compose with computers?" And there is none.
free at last to explore the reaches
(Now there's an insanity!) Because there is no spiritual of modern spiritual yearnings. God
I think some must. Even though language which has sufficiently is, after all, alive and well and
it's actively discouraged. developed the grammatical living in hyper-space.
I believe that the tools constructs and the syntax powerful
Why try and make computers
(technology) of a society are enough to express the
make music?
manifestations in "the real physical intellectualism behind the intuitions
from the depths of the modern Some must.
universe" of the state of intellectual
development of that society. If art psyche.
has any function in our society then The Pandora's box is well and
Stephen
I believe it is to exploit the
intellectual tools provided by the
truly opened and no amount of
scratching around in the remnants
Whittington
contemporary technology to develop of failed cultures is going to release
objects of meaning whereby we even one meandering photon to Aphorisms from the
may express the spiritual illuminate the modern spiritual composer's notebooks
perceptions which lie just beyond dilemma. (Our super-massive black Style'S stale. Substance stands.
the reaches of our knowledge and hole can lick their rainbow serpent
our understanding of our "real" Abolish hier(higher)archies. Let
any day of the week. And it's not
physical universe. a hundred net(note)works bloom.
even supernatural.)
And my! How that knowledge . Dismantle (mental) prisons.
Why compose with computers?
and understanding has increased in Take music out of the
the latter half of the twentieth Fact is I like it! It is the hardest University / into the Universe.
century. thing I have ever tried to do. (And
I've tried some!) The constant Reject the straight Ji(n)e of
And my! How it has changed history.
things. changing of hats from engineer to
computer programmer to scientist to Forget the music industry and
The days of catching falling listen to the music in this tree.
artist tends towards a little
stars and chasing rainbows across
confusion at times. Material matters. Technique's
the sky are gone forever.
And trying to conjure up a immaterial.
Now is the time for chasing pions
across the time-space continuum. perceptual image of a universe Weare each at the centre of the
Or black stars through five billion driven by quantum effects and Universe and the only direction is
galaxies. chaotic dynamos stretches the oul.
intellect and the imagination into Don't pose: compose. .
Or a quark.
the abyss and beyond the reaches
Now our dreams are to hunt a of ordinary sanity. Trying to turn Sound (truth) is truth (sound).
tachyon through a time warp. such imaginings into "real physical Sound (truth) is always radical.
Or anti-matter into the abyss. objects" using the primitive Music defines what we are. Ask
Or bend light. computational tools available at an (Ab)original.
Or photograph the singularity. present is a neuron burning Say (mean) what you mean
And some spend quiet moments exercise. Bu~ as long as I can sit (say). Life's too short for anything
of reflection searching for electrons back at the end of the day and hear else.

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Ross Edwards which is present in everything I

write, however exotic the trappings.
interstices of the sounds of
contact arising from
Over the years, I've instinctively And since, for me, the act of configurations of flesh,
developed two very different but composition has come to represent breath, wood, metal, hair ...
complementary styles of a ritualistic search for the life-force and to compose the
composition. One of these, underlying our sterile, materialistic behaviour of sounds into
characteristically austere and society, I'm particularly interested constellations of actions and
hermetic, is often called my sacred in communicating as vividly and energies.
style because of its alignment with directly as I can. the labyrinth :
certain oriental traditions of music "It's only when all one knows of as a structural model for the
designed to promote spiritual life is abstracted and used as an multiplication of possibilities
meditation. It thus accords with my underlying statement of significant and as a non-narrative mode
belief that art music today should patterning that you have what is of thinking in which several
be potentially useful outside the perspectives might co-exist;
both beautiful and permanent" -
concert hall. also, for the sense of
Samuel R. Delany, in Nova. mystery embodied in its
The other style (which has come
to be known as my maninya style) "quest" motif, e.g.: rites of
is ostensibly hybrid, drawing on a Liza Lim passage, ceremonies of ritual
variety of non-Western influences. death and rebirth.
Characterized by rhythmic buoyancy Some recurrent themes that noise :impure and unstable sounds
and obsessive, chant-like repetition, occupy my compositional acting unpredictably; sounds
it seeks to reintroduce corporeal thinking usually rejected or
energy and a sense of levity into the performer: marginalised by the ear, by
"serious" music. It naturally invites the physicality of training, by convention as
choreography. performance is central to the "noise"; that- which is on the
These seemingly antithetical way I approach composition. edge of inarticulacy or
styles are linked by the fact that in Pitches, rhythms etc. are incoherence is the area of
each, the internal proportions of never thought of in purely sound-making that much of
compositions - i.e., the relative abstract terms:. that is, they my work is concerned with.
lengths of rhythmic, phrase and cannot be transposed away
periodic structures - have been
profoundly influenced by my direct
from the relationships that
exist between the musician's
Carl Vine
perception of the sounds and body and instrument. Hence, A great deal of my
patterns of nature, especially those close collaborative composition~ time has been spent
of insects. relationships with particular rejecting a background in the pure
By thus grounding my work in performers are essential to mathematics of music: series,
the natural environment, specifically my compositional process. systems, set theory, permutations,
that of my own native seaboard More and more, my music is self-composing electronic systems
terrain of central New South Wales, an act of observation, and so on. Viewing composition as
I've evolved a highly subjective seeking to examine and communication at the deepest
method of topographical symbolism "hear" ever more finely the subliminal level, my intention is to
300
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Excerpt from Carl Vine:s Piano Sonata. Chester Music

My working approach to
commit no mark to paper or
waveform to recording tape in
Claudio Pompili composition is based upon the
which I do not fervently (and, with My music is concerned with the Italian artisan tradition. I prefer to
fortune, passionately) believe. world of ideas: not necessarily work on a routine basis with simple
Without being overly romantic, academic (in a derogatory sense) musical (intervallic) materials. I
religious or transcendent, I am but in the broader, humanistic have a preference for polyphonic
committed to conveying as much of sense. In many instances, the ideas lines or "horizontal" music and
myself as possible in my music. may be related to literature or the rarely for the harmonic or "vertical"
visual arts in any of their forms. domain. My polyphony exhibits a
The ramifications of this
Paraphrasing an 11 th century dramatic lyrical quality which for
standpoint are manifold. The
Chinese poet, music presents the me has analogies in sculpture
techniques and materials of the
thing in order to convey the feeling. (Hellenistic, Michelangelo and
work are always secondary to the
It should be precise about the thing Bernini) and the Italian Futurists'
message. The "message" is non-
and reticent about the feeling. The "lines of force". The sounds and
verbal, non-specific and non-
end result - the music, i.e., the gestures of my music are imbued
programmatic, but constitutes that
notes on paper - is concerned with by the energies of Rock and Roll
part of my mind that is worth
essentially two aspects: spiritual! and, at one and the same time, the
conveying to others. The process of
inner and temporal/outer. microcosmic sound-world of the
composition then involves finding
classical guitar. The influences of
suitable methods to unleash, order The latter is about the physical
and reveal these "aspects of mind".
musique concrete, electronic, and
world and usually addresses aspects computer musics further colour and
Recently this process has involved of the performer or performance inform my instrumental music.
the use of transparently Romantic linked to the physical sound of the
devices (19th century harmony, piece, and may concern rhythm,
monodic melody etc., etc.), but this pitch, or type of movement
Elena Kats-
is not part of my aesthetic, only the
method I found to best suit the
(disjunct, conjunct, contrapuntal,
etc.). In the physical domain, I am
Chernin,
process at the time. particularly concerned with the . I do not answer the question, I
The most difficult work I have relationship between composer and question the answers ...
written was the first using simple performer. Like real and dynamic Rather than answering the
melody accompanied by evident relationships, my music pulls and question, I am questioning the
triadic harmony (Love Song tugs and stresses the relationship answers. Before I start a piece, I
(1986. I knew the work would between myself and the like to eliminate all the "cliches"
receive scorn from die-hard commissioner/performer. Oftentimes, which are naturally implanted in my
contemporary audiences (which it I gruel over the notes or musical mind (due to outside influences,
did), and that others would regard shapes that I write because I music I have heard, etc.). If there is
the work as evidence of the gradually become aware of the a certain "cliche" I find that I like
ultimate sell-out (which they did). I demands (ostensibly technical, but in particular, I have to be quite
persevered because this particular with spiritual or emotional vigilant in questioning its purpose.
language was the only direct implications) that I write into the For instance, the repeated use of a
conduit to my musical thought in music. C-minor chord in my most recent
those months of 1986. Although I In the inward mode, I strive to piece Totschki (Dots) for oboe and
am now moving away from such express in music the ineffable - clarinet - in what way does this
transparent harmonic-melodic birth, death, love. The link between interest me? It is like a loved
devices, the process remains the the inner and outer worlds, and at person - it is this one and no other.
same, and whatever techniques I the basis of my music, is the There has to be a passion for the
find that best enunciate my musical primordial sexual energy and life- material and its possibilities of
mind-patterns will be evident in my force: this driving force underpins transformation.
future work. the act of creation. The initial stage of my
125 Con anima (72)
SLd.
,,,,
Lu
p cresc.
Excerpt from Claudio Pompili's Lo spazio stellato si riflette in suoni ... (1990) for baroque flute
and percussion.

compositional process involves

making relevant choices of sound
material that exists and vibrates in
the environment around me thence
using, changing and varying these
sounds in such a way as to create
new sound structures rather than
having an immediate conscious aim
to invent new material.
Various aspects of my personal
environment and life also contribute
to my compositional processes. -
Firstly, the music of composers
\ who have influenced me most:
Brahms, Schoenberg and
I Lachenmann. Also the people in my
personal musical life: the
performers I write for. -Another
aspect is the way I live and grow
through life experience, reflecting
different phases, opinions and
emotional states. -Yet another
aspect is the work I am involved
in. During the last six years, I have
regularly composed for theatre
productions. This tliiles the ear to a
certain sort of perception which
occurs after having had an
experience that has in some way
made a deep impression on me.
These perceptions may be small but
very important to me when
composing for understanding the
development of a sound: its growth.
For example, once during work on
music for a dance project, I
recorded the sound of a flute blown
with great speed of breath across
the mouthpiece in a repeated
ostinato pattern. Played back
pianissimo in the performing space,
it sounded like a breath; at its
loudest it sounded like a whip-
crack, thereby taking on a very
threatening character. That the
sound of a humming bee can
become the roar of an army tank,
the cry of a baby transforms to
become the moo of a cow
(depending on the speed and
dynamic level of the recording) is
~\I
certainly not new. But it is not to
\
( be discarded: a change in
perception occurs.
cpm The fact that as a composer, I
.I (
must have the ability to be flexible
in response to changing
environments around me is
~ extremely imponant. It has to do
with the constant challenging of the
validity or worth of one's
,
\
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'V
c:Q
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I
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contribution in a larger sense and
the continuous examining of one's
consciousness [BewuBtsein].
Everything and everyone around us

embrace the new One of my main concerns is to

and not to stay develop a language which is
within the safety of flexible enough to allow movement.
the known: to go I don't want to be constrained by a
further, I have to language which is unrelentingly
actively take a step complex or unrelentingly simple,
and if this brings but to build in a bias which allows
positive changes in travel from one thing to another
me, then a very and back again, while retaining an
small portion of the inner consistency. I have always
world changes been interested in the process of
accordingly. getting from one thing to another.
My aim is to convey a sense of
Jennifer direction in music which is guided
by a kind of logic - an evolving
Fowler logic in which one cannot foresee
the next step until it arrives, since
To be a there are always lots of possibilities
composer today is open for the next step, yet which
to be acutely self- will have a sound of inevitability
conscious about when it does arrive. It is necessary
every aspect of to keep an awareness of the real
one's craft. Not for time in which music takes place -
us a spontaneous the pacing and timing of events is
outpouring of notes crucial.
within an accepted I like to think that much of my
tradition. We must music can be played by "ordinary"
be aware of the performers, not necessarily by
work of others: an virtuosos who specialize in
uneasy, half- contemporary music. However, it is
Elena KatsChernin
reluctant sensitivity difficult to reach "ordinary"
to the myriad performers and "ordinary" listeners.
changes constantly - sometimes in directions in which everyone else is Not many people are prepared to
positive, sometimes in negative moving. We are forced to assess step off the edge of the known and
directions. Personally, I try to our own context. familiar. Yet, as a composer, one
LINE SPUN WITH STARS
1.
f1.
-
p
-::s: 'tr:""_
f1.

--------------------------------------
that the essence of their commentators' exposes - a
compositional danger we foresaw when initiating
method lies in the project. As Jorg Todzy
determining a reportedly remarked (Reiner above)
balance between "'Why do you compose?" is a
conscious
commitment and
dinner-party question .. ,'.' I hope we
triggered reflex and managed to avoid asking so crass a
resolving the question. but certainly none of the
conflict that arises responses were dinner-party
from this creative answers.
interplay.
Perhaps the Anne Boyd
most courageous
answer to our The Boyd capsule
request is that of A young child in outback
Anne Boyd. who Australia in the '50s; my only
says simply What I conservatoire was the bush. A self-
taught recorder player and avid
am is Why. We
listener to Mr Melody Man on the
chose to end with ABC Children's Hour. In Sydney
this and Edward during the '60s, a young Australian
Cowie's apropos composer passionately committed to
comparison between music and its creation - by
composers' self- everyone. Need for Identity. Sudden
disclosures and discovery of the EUropean and
Helen Gifford. Photo - Therese Radio
has to venture off the edge. Every

human mind is biased towards AS I CROSSED A BRIDGE OF DREAMS
travelling along known paths in Anne Boyd
known directions. Somehow one !,I.l' nt u .J . blt
must stimulate the imagination into S"I"'"'''' I ~@"~II~/:~~~"'_U'l:J:~~~~~-~-~
making a step - seeing a vision -
having something to say. Then one
A li I! I
can communicate the sense of
excitement!
Helen Gifford
For me, composition functions BliSS 1
: m
best as a form of speculative
invention, where a flux of
objective/subjective considerations P f'~~~ ..
interact to form sounds that are

intuitively engineered. Mental III
JJ I /U~" 'l'lbI
m
strategies on their own are not All. ~
sufficient but focussing on craft v ~ .,.

"Q b..
serves to unlock instinctual
responses. Whatever the approach,
intellectual effort, philosophy held, m ., m
'" ~~~t~/l:;~!; x.hr
state of the art, it is unlikely to be 13ass 2
comprehensively applied as from m IU
the instant of first decision to the

continuing moment-by-moment
choices other forces are unwittingly
brought into play. Genetic u,
disposition, psychic energy, habit p I"'ic~nz.a \'jbr
Alto 3
and bias all combine to modify
initial calculations and so override '"
j.) I"'t:lE .I ~ .b,
deliberate intent. Greater rational Tenur 3
control may block these reactions
but could also cancel out the
inspirational subliminal co- on on
ordinative thought processes. I find

American avant-garde, of John the sun. Refinement. Begin again. (1980). Don'o Kim, a Korean-born
Cage, in particular. Marshall Music must be beautiful. It must Australian: the writer as catalyst.
McLuhan, the world as a "global also serve a social purpose. The politics of Love defined as "do
village". All musical traditions are Psychology: music changes states of your work well with your
equally valid. Australia consciousness. Ethics. Tuning of neighbour". At home overseas with
geographically, part of Asia. ourselves with others and with the the pragmatic Chinese in the noise
European tradition, marginalised, world of which we are a part: and bustle of flong Kong. The birth
lacked vitality. Grainger and meditation. Spirituality. Roger of my daughter, Helen. Now
Sculthorpe "Look to Asia". Life- Woodward: the performer as connected with the World and with
long love affair with gagaku, catalyst. Angklung (1974) for solo a Loving and Forgiving God. Joy
Javanese and Balinese game/an and piano. Articulated silence. The stronger than Pain. Little urge to
John Cage's Silence. World musical ghost of Debussy. Again in As I compose until the tragic necessity
consciousness; inheritance not Crossed a Bridge of Dreams of inscribing the martyrdom of the
appropriation. The Fall of Icarus (1975) for unaccompanied voices. Chinese students in Tiananrnen
(1966), which followed Messiaen, From pure timbre, melody and Square: Black Sun for orchestra.
replaced by The Voice of the rhythm, discovered afresh in the The San Francisco Bay Area
Phoenix (1971), the outsider's innocence and pain of a Vietnamese Women's Philharmonic: Feminism.
discovery of gagaku; the sun rises war orphan, My Name is Tian Musical women and women in
in the East; my personal style (1979), and in 16th century Korean music. 1990, return to Australia.
begins. Beware, flying too close to concubines' poetry Cycle of Love Recherche du temps perdu. A
Composer again. Nostalgia.
Mortality. Deconstruction
124. and Reconstruction.
XX: Integration. Music is
DIVISIONS 0.' DOLPHINS.
FULL ENSEMBLE .
everyone's birthright. Art is
(Clarinet take Dass: (Jule tllke Alto) doing everything as well as
you can. Works, not
. ~~ masterworks. Keep going .
Creativity is Discovery - the
-
{" ~ s- l r I I II r
-,. - .
y 'III future is unknown. The
creative spiral turns and
.. ""---'-"
~
~~
. <::Z::I l:::f ~J"
turns again.
.A.
Edward
Cowie
{" .~S--'
When a composer is
asked to write something
~; ~;~I!-'
"-"
!i '-7--'
about his or her music, the
first problem which comes
----=
{ " o nalu m!. / ' AIiSS . / ---;=---. ~.
to mind is that the words
will seem like the posturing
of a fan. Or worse, the
nat ,....- --...

i/
li' IT~ su.l poUL ~
ravings of a critic! This
looks terrible in print, but I
suppose a composer who is
working well must be a fan
~.-------
\ 01
'---- 1----'
'" ~ 6::" of his/her own music, and
_ gUss --......
most definitely a critic of it
:
. as well ...
area.
- pizzo i""TI '11~~ t.. A few years ago, I could
y.
<-. --,
J - ~'" .~. ~
J
and probably would have
written as though it was
automatiCally my divine
right as an artist to be
This whole movement is to be played from ppp 10 fff and back 10 PPP. like one long surge of energy, which
galbers force to a big climax, then ebbs away again. However, each minim of malerial is 10 be played as a
considered a good one.
separate uni~ wi!h a tiny gap between each, except !hal !hese gaps muSI gradually close 10 continuous Popularity and excellence
movement atlbe very fastesl pace possible ! are not synonymous with
Begin in a disjointed way- and slowly, but accelerate rapidly.
Do NOT decelerate as !he music gels quieter!!!!!
each other! Good music is
Remember that this is an evocation of the appearan ce of a scb ool of dolpb lns a t play, effective music and that's
wblcb approacb fr om a distance, and tben move away again, Into Ihe dl s ... nc e .. ... all there is to say about it. I
Tbe FLUTE will delermine the moment of beginning and ending.
can't write music driven by
PLAY FOR ABOUT 2 MINlTfES! facile and quasi-African or
Balinese pulses; I can't
A page from Edward Cowie's '48.

write music which sits in E-flat reflects on that kaleidoscope of Humanity far into the future, well
major for five minutes, and which possibility. No "knee-jerk" here ... beyond the isolated and frozen
pours out melodies which sound for just the truth. I'll go along my own instants of a single restricted, more
all the world like attenuated path with all the hesitancy and fear commercially-oriented or
Schubert or Sibelius; (imagine how I always have, and wait for the Age fashionable artistic event that
hard that is!); and I cannot write of Aquarius to be born. It's impinges upon only a large, but
music which is without discourse common to find a composer talking fixed, group of people at a
and argument. about the most recent work as the particular place?
All of my music is derived from favourite, and this is the case with We do hope that this
a contemplation of the forces of me. A page from my new '48 [5] "topographical survey", then, will at
nature, either as they appear in the accompanies this statement ... it's least serve as a starting point in the
raw, or when processed through the the best I can offer at the moment fight against isolation, disconnection
written word, or the works of Fine as an homage to the land which and misunderstanding on the local
Artists. Andrew Ford has been a gave the music its impetus and composerly front. And that many
relentless critic of what he calls my shape ... will also realize that, although there
Romantic tendencies, as though the are myriad musical paths to the
spirit of romanticism is time-bound Editorial Holy Grail, for the true Artist,
to an earlier age. The romantic arguments about exterior
movement was born of a will to Epilogue.' On compositional things do not
test the mind with the senses, and fundamentally matter: whatever
vice versa. My music is concerned Audiences and their stylistic front, somebody,
with the abrasion and conflict always, will be moved and uplifted
which is the result of a collision Musical Style by their eloquence. For everything
between my sensual makeup and that rises must converge ...
"The more people you reach in any
my intellect. Thus, the music is
mass media form, the less you will
often complex and heavily woven
together, not by hard-edged pulse or
be able to say per unit. If you're Endnotes
talking to 3 people, you will affect
simple counterpoint, but by a l. We indeed found the process of
history just as much as if you talk
consideration of the significance of compiling a fair schedule of
to 3 million or 30 million people.
harmonic regions (including key people to approach for this
By the time you're talking to 30
centres), and a constant search for project to be really difficult,
million people, you will say things
analogues with the voices of Gaia. gi ven word maxima and the
like 'We've got to balance the
Favourite composers of mine are budget!'." - Norman Mailer's sheer number of Australian
Janacek, Sibelius, Berg, Debussy theory on mass communications. composers; Unfortunately,
and Ravel ... maybe this reveals a therefore, only a limited number
lot more about me than words! I'm Surprisingly, very few of composers could be included
tired of the post modernist composers herein broached the in the end - 34 to be precise.
simplicity ... it's too simple ... and contentious issue of audiences - or, Whilst we deeply regret the
ultimately fails to test the deeper more specifically, the relationship necessity of omitting many
needs of a sensate musical public. (if any) between contemporary significant musicians, we feel
I've been an Australian composer musics and contemporary audiences, that the final selected group is
since 1988, and I'm proud of it. as seen from the composer's still somehow representative of
Australia offers me an enormous perspective. Irrespective of the truth the diverse creativity of
palette of possibility in inspirational - or otherwise - of the above rather Australia's composers. (It must
terms, and there is never enough mischievous quotation, it is our also be admitted that our own
time to feel in control of what it view that, at least as far as access ignorance to some extent
offers the creative mind. to audiences is concerned, musical mitigated against any form of
Historically, composers are prone to style is truly a non-issue, a comprehensivity: for example,
sniping at each other, often due to superficial red herring. during the course of our
insecurity born of the difficulties Are not both the qualitative research, it became increasingly
encountered in the survival of the aspects of an audience's response clear that our coverage of
will to compose. A good deal of and the quantity of people reached composers working outside of
Australian music moves me, but conceptually equivalent in value? the Sydney/Melboume axis was
most of this is music from Surely engaging and deeply insufficient. For this we
composers who are seldom, if ever, affecting a solitary human being sincerely apologize, and we
played here. through exposure to a work of Art hope that this lacuna can be
Thank God, there are a few with is as great a cause for celebration addressed by future editorial
a conscience about their work. by the Artist as the mass work emanating from
Sculthorpe spoke to me before entertainment or amusement of a elsewhere.) Anyhow, our
Christmas last year about his quest larger public body? Won't as many taxonomy of criteria for
for more cerebral music. Maybe it's people be touched ultimately by the invitation and exclusion can be
a sign of the times ... who can tell. transcending "Arrows of Time and summarized, briefly, as follows
Nature challenges me with its Space" which allow a difficult (in no particular order): locale;
multiplicity of forms and dynamics, Artwork's message to emanate ethnicity (racial and musical);
and I try to write music which outwards geographically and reach gender; style and genre;

preferred acoustic medium fact, each successive either a particle or a

(electronic or traditional); age / cosmological model has waveform - a vibration -
degree of establishment, and (eventually) filtered through to according to how it is
exposure to date. (In relation to the populace as a general observed. Slightly later,
these last criteria, we tended to "paradigm shift" that alters our SchrOdinger (thence
be partial towards those collective psyche, that changes Heisenberg and Dirac)
[established] composers who the very way we think. formalized Quantum
have appeared in print only Newtonian Gravity (cf. the Mechanics, wherein the
infrequently - if ever - so that hierarchical pitCh-gravity of motion of an electron about
many well-known over-60 Classical tonality), Quantum the atomic nucleus is
composers, for instance, were Mechanics, Relativity (cf. described in terms of
excluded due to their already Schoenberg's dodecaphonic - standing waves, somewhat
widespread familiarity; similarly, and cabbalistic - system of like those in a vibrating
many composers from the pitCh-relativity) and the more body emitting sound.
emerging yet-to-become- recent Chaos Theory have even d) Neils Bohr's theory of
established under-30 generation, changed, progressively, the atomic energy levels (or
including those who are still meaning of "science" itself. So, "quantum shells") accords
students, are also absent herein.) whilst we do live in a Chaotic/ perfectly well with the above
If anybody out there wishes to Einsteinian/Quantum Universe, wave mechanics model. It is
complain about our list, Ann Carr-Boyd's point here is actually a close microcosmic
declaring that it could have been validated by the reality of analogue of the Platonic/
much more equitable, etc., all Newtonian mechanics in the Pythagorean cosmography
we can say is ... try making one tangible, day-to-day world of postulated 2500 years
yourself! human existence. (See also previously: The Music of
Christopher Small: Music * the Spheres, in which the
For the record, the following
Society * Education, John Universe is visualised as a
composers declined our
Calder, London, [2nd Edition] hierarchy of vibrating strata.
invitation because of work
1980.)
commitments, or other reasons: e) Genesis 1: "And God said ... "
Brenton Broadstock, Gerard 3. Chris Dench: 'Sulle Scale della {the creative fiat - a
Brophy, Moya Henderson, Fenice: Postscript', Perspectives vibration}; John 1:1: "In the
Bozidar Kos, Richard Vella, of New Music Vo1.29 No.2 beginning was the Word ... "
Nigel WesUake and Gillian p.lOl, Summer 1991. {the Greek original for
Whitehead. (However ... Barry Marcellino's concluding "Word" is logos = purpose,
Conyngham, Stuart Hille, triumvirate of "composer", meaning, intellect, mind,
Graeme Koehne, Roger Smalley "mystic" and "vision" can be word - purposeful causative
and Caroline Wilkins did not elaborated still further, if one vibration) .
respond at all.) Our "reserves commences with the observation 1) Music manifests itself
list" comprised: Ros Bandt, that a "mystic" is somebody physically as purposeful
Ross Bolleter, Philip Bracanin, who affirms the unity of vibration: composers are
Roger Dean, Grahame Dudley, microcosm and macrocosm - a therefore imaging reality.
Malcolm Fox, Roger Frampton, vision of the "pattern that
Martin Friedel, Les Gilbert, 4. Interestingly enough, Colin
connects" ... Consider the Bright's compositional
Graham Hair, Sarah Hopkins, following facts:
Mark Isaacs, Gordon Kerry, philosophy is, on the surface,
Alan Lamb, Michael Lonsdale, a) In 1965, the American almost diametrically opposed to
David Lumsdaine, Richard physicists Arno Penzias and my own [Ian Shanahan]: Bright
Meale, Richard Mills, Colin Robert Woodrow Wilson emphasizes the importance of
Offord, Trevor Pearce, Vincent discovered uniform exotericism and sociological
Plush, Mark Pollard, Peter background electromagnetic relevance for his music; I prefer
Rankine, Peter Schaefer, Greg radiation - a vibration - the esoteric and hence the
Schiemer, Larry Sitsky, Caroline throughout the Universe, dealing with "universals"
Szeto, Benjamin Thorn, Cathie believed to be an energy through my music (which, like
Travers, Phil Treloar, Martin halo-remnant of the Big myth as well, then attains - with
Wesley-Smith and Julian Yu. Bang origin of the Universe. luck! - a certain utility or
Perhaps someone else might like appropriateness, and thus
b) Hindus assert that OM is the relevance, to modern society).
to repeat our exercise with those primal vibration of the
left out this time? Yet somehow, I feel that we
Universe. nevertheless achieve the same
2. Ann Carr-Boyd's allusion to c) In 1924, Louis-Victor de artistic goals in the end.
sonic "gravitational attraction" is Broglie suggested his theory 5. 48 short movements for ten
characteristically Newtonian: of "wave-partiCle duality". instruments and voice, in
scientific theories have certainly Put succinctly, it states that collaboration with the Australian
impacted upon musical thought, everything in the Universe, painter John Coburn, each
even if only at a subconscious including seemingly solid exploring TWICE the 24 key
level in this composer's case. In matter, can be regarded as regions! 0

Ed. Ian Shanahan &amp; Chris Dench - Sounds Australian No.34 (Winter 1992) - An Emotional Geography of Australian Composition OCR

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1st F!:}(:'r, 18 /\rgy~z St

CONTENTS Tile Rocks, (IlSW

Tei: (C'~: ) ;~~? ' ~0T1- :;;:: (02) 241 2373

T()(l FrsD ;'::.1i~1!:: 0r: (1300) (351 834

AN EMOTIONAL GEOGRAPHY OF AUSTRALIAN COMPOSITION

BEST POSSIBLE MUSIC BROADCASTER

MUSIC PUBLICATION REVIEW

COVER ILLUSTRATION: Rocco Fazzari .

Introduction Both of us, however, do (David Worrall) and/or

PAGE 8 SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN, WINTER 1992

A "~~~ "';'" ~r bkbi_:l ?!-~p ff 4' >"'p 'Pod.. 'e""pr .. . - 3

SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN; WINTER 1992 PAGE 9

tend to be blown about

PAGE 10 SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN, WINTER 1992

SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN, WINTER 1992 PAGE 11

:;. :; + :t~ ; ,.,

PAGE 12 SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN, WINTER 1992

SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN, WINTER 1992 PAGE 13

performances. I have used some of

PAGE 14 SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN, WINTER 1992

SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN, WINTER 1992 PAGE 15

something about the

that it enriches the life of a \' - )

He insisted that he couldn't [,"Ill

as though there was

PAGE 16 SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN, WINTER 1992

which we perceive and act

Reiner to con - quer AIDS.

Fragments for Chris' and

(with reference to clearly-

SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN, WINTER 1992 PAGE 17

quest for authority." -B. Boretz

PAGE 18 SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN, WINTER 1992

SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN, WINTER 1992 PAGE 19

sophisticated version of theobvious connection here is with

.v,;_ MV .,... .... " .; -==

PAGE 20 SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN, WINTER 1992

SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN, WINTER 1992 PAGE 21

~-~~:~- - .i ~- !- ~- -.:.~ "

PAGE 22 SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN, WINTER 1992

SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN, WINTER 1992 PAGE 23

VOODOO CHILD ('89)

""h'KDI xp~ "up u"0<6'6p~I'~.''''

~Ot6 ,/, ~. i,pus i<OCKXU'Tl>C', Tp.pO~ U

PAGE 24 SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN, WINTER 1992

Ross Edwards which is present in everything I

SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN, WINTER 1992 PAGE 25

125 Con anima (72)

PAGE 26 SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN, WINTER 1992

compositional process involves

SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN, WINTER 1992 PAGE 27

embrace the new One of my main concerns is to

LINE SPUN WITH STARS

PAGE 28 SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN, WINTER 1992

has to venture off the edge. Every

interact to form sounds that are

sufficient but focussing on craft v ~ .,.

the instant of first decision to the

SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN, WINTER 1992 PAGE 29

nat ,....- --...

A page from Edward Cowie's '48.

SOUNDS AUSTRALIAN, WINTER 1992 PAGE 31

preferred acoustic medium fact, each successive either a particle or a

Ed. Ian Shanahan & Chris Dench - Sounds Australian No.34 (Winter 1992) - An Emotional Geography of Australian Composition OCR

Ed. Ian Shanahan & Chris Dench - Sounds Australian No.34 (Winter 1992) - An Emotional Geography of Australian Composition OCR