![]() ![]() ![]() Dedicated to John Williams, Nourlangie was commissioned by the Australian Chamber Orchestra, with assistance from the Performing Arts Board of the Australia Council. I might add that while writing this music, I often dreamed of a lost guitar in the sea, lying there since the time, in 1606, when a Spanish expedition led by Luis Vaz de Torres vainly sailed through waters to the north. Although the work does contain many bird-sounds, it is not intended to be a description of Nourlangie its concern is with my feelings about this powerful and serene place. The second motif, heard immediately after the first, is based upon a Torres Strait dance-song, and is later transformed into a long joyful melody. Later arranged for cello and orchestra Composed in 1997 for a memorial service in Los Angeles. Following an introduction, the first motif is heard at the outset in a chorale-like form. Premiered by John Williams, piano, and John Waltz, cello. In a single movement, the music of Nourlangie is made up of alternations and elaborations of two different motifs. It takes its name from an enormous rock monolith in the park. I have since written a number of works in which this fusion has been incorporated into my musical language. The music of these places, and of Kakadu itself, fused in my mind. ![]() Looking out across the great floodplains there, I could see the abandoned sites of early white settlement, the Arafura Sea, Torres Strait and, in my imagination, the islands of Indonesia. Peter Sculthorpe Nourlangie for solo guitar, strings and percussion (1989) In 1989, I made my first visit to Kakadu National Park, in the north of Australia. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |