CSM 40: A Selection of Twentieth Century Australian Piano Music Disc 1
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Item Open Access Larry Sitsky: Fantasia No. 11 (1999), 'E', in three movements - Movement 3(1999) Composer: Larry Sitsky; Grafton-Greene, Michael"'E' is dedicated to Eve Wheeler, whose name contains only the one vowel. It is as close as Larry Sitsky (b. 1934) is ever likely to come to any sort of minimalism. The first movement is gently introvert and is a sort of meditation on the one pitch. The second is more violent in mood. The third is fairly sparse and loud, but gradually returns to the mood of the opening. The pitch 'e' is everywhere." -- Larry SitskyItem Open Access Larry Sitsky: Fantasia No. 11 (1999), 'E', in three movements - Movement 2(1999) Composer: Larry Sitsky; Grafton-Greene, Michael"'E' is dedicated to Eve Wheeler, whose name contains only the one vowel. It is as close as Larry Sitsky (b. 1934) is ever likely to come to any sort of minimalism. The first movement is gently introvert and is a sort of meditation on the one pitch. The second is more violent in mood. The third is fairly sparse and loud, but gradually returns to the mood of the opening. The pitch 'e' is everywhere." -- Larry SitskyItem Open Access Larry Sitsky: Fantasia No. 11 (1999), 'E', in three movements - Movement 1(1999) Composer: Larry Sitsky; Grafton-Greene, Michael"'E' is dedicated to Eve Wheeler, whose name contains only the one vowel. It is as close as Larry Sitsky (b. 1934) is ever likely to come to any sort of minimalism. The first movement is gently introvert and is a sort of meditation on the one pitch. The second is more violent in mood. The third is fairly sparse and loud, but gradually returns to the mood of the opening. The pitch 'e' is everywhere." -- Larry SitskyItem Open Access Margaret Sutherland: Six Profiles (1935) - 4. A Little Fussily(1935) Composer: Margaret Sutherland; Grafton-Greene, MichaelRecognised only belatedly during her lifetime, and almost universally admired after her death, Margaret Sutherland (1897-1984) had to struggle throughout her life for recognition as a composer. She fought with the musical establishment in her hometown of Melbourne, survived a difficult marriage, and had to grapple with ill-health, which eventually badly affected her eyesight and her ability to physically notate her own music. Sutherland's late scores are almost impossible to read, although thankfully they have now been transcribed and published. Although a fine pianist herself, there are not as many works for solo piano in Sutherland's oeuvre as one would have wished for. It is possible that she did not see herself as a soloist and therefore the finest works are rather more inward looking than vehicles for her own prowess. The output is diverse and changing, culminating in a very important set of pieces from mid-century and on. Going against the current of the time to produce soft and fluffy music for the piano, Sutherland's earliest published efforts are already lean and quite muscular, with a neo-classicist bent in both form and expression. The wonderfully evocative Six Profiles are very important stepping stones to Sutherland's late piano works, which are now highly cherished. The profiles are a set of contrasting pieces. Yet do they depict profiles of actual people? Are they purely musical profiles? We don't seem to know, but they are certainly a most effective set of miniatures. Most of them are but two pages in length. They contain within themselves great contrasts, and the performing indications are a fine descriptor of the contents, culminating in the last with quite savage intensity.Item Open Access Margaret Sutherland: Six Profiles (1935) - 3. Cool and Detached(1935) Composer: Margaret Sutherland; Grafton-Greene, MichaelRecognised only belatedly during her lifetime, and almost universally admired after her death, Margaret Sutherland (1897-1984) had to struggle throughout her life for recognition as a composer. She fought with the musical establishment in her hometown of Melbourne, survived a difficult marriage, and had to grapple with ill-health, which eventually badly affected her eyesight and her ability to physically notate her own music. Sutherland's late scores are almost impossible to read, although thankfully they have now been transcribed and published. Although a fine pianist herself, there are not as many works for solo piano in Sutherland's oeuvre as one would have wished for. It is possible that she did not see herself as a soloist and therefore the finest works are rather more inward looking than vehicles for her own prowess. The output is diverse and changing, culminating in a very important set of pieces from mid-century and on. Going against the current of the time to produce soft and fluffy music for the piano, Sutherland's earliest published efforts are already lean and quite muscular, with a neo-classicist bent in both form and expression. The wonderfully evocative Six Profiles are very important stepping stones to Sutherland's late piano works, which are now highly cherished. The profiles are a set of contrasting pieces. Yet do they depict profiles of actual people? Are they purely musical profiles? We don't seem to know, but they are certainly a most effective set of miniatures. Most of them are but two pages in length. They contain within themselves great contrasts, and the performing indications are a fine descriptor of the contents, culminating in the last with quite savage intensity.Item Open Access Margaret Sutherland: Six Profiles (1935) - 5. Quietly Flowing(1935) Composer: Margaret Sutherland; Grafton-Greene, MichaelRecognised only belatedly during her lifetime, and almost universally admired after her death, Margaret Sutherland (1897-1984) had to struggle throughout her life for recognition as a composer. She fought with the musical establishment in her hometown of Melbourne, survived a difficult marriage, and had to grapple with ill-health, which eventually badly affected her eyesight and her ability to physically notate her own music. Sutherland's late scores are almost impossible to read, although thankfully they have now been transcribed and published. Although a fine pianist herself, there are not as many works for solo piano in Sutherland's oeuvre as one would have wished for. It is possible that she did not see herself as a soloist and therefore the finest works are rather more inward looking than vehicles for her own prowess. The output is diverse and changing, culminating in a very important set of pieces from mid-century and on. Going against the current of the time to produce soft and fluffy music for the piano, Sutherland's earliest published efforts are already lean and quite muscular, with a neo-classicist bent in both form and expression. The wonderfully evocative Six Profiles are very important stepping stones to Sutherland's late piano works, which are now highly cherished. The profiles are a set of contrasting pieces. Yet do they depict profiles of actual people? Are they purely musical profiles? We don't seem to know, but they are certainly a most effective set of miniatures. Most of them are but two pages in length. They contain within themselves great contrasts, and the performing indications are a fine descriptor of the contents, culminating in the last with quite savage intensity.Item Open Access Margaret Sutherland: Six Profiles (1935) - 2. Expressively(1935) Composer: Margaret Sutherland; Grafton-Greene, MichaelRecognised only belatedly during her lifetime, and almost universally admired after her death, Margaret Sutherland (1897-1984) had to struggle throughout her life for recognition as a composer. She fought with the musical establishment in her hometown of Melbourne, survived a difficult marriage, and had to grapple with ill-health, which eventually badly affected her eyesight and her ability to physically notate her own music. Sutherland's late scores are almost impossible to read, although thankfully they have now been transcribed and published. Although a fine pianist herself, there are not as many works for solo piano in Sutherland's oeuvre as one would have wished for. It is possible that she did not see herself as a soloist and therefore the finest works are rather more inward looking than vehicles for her own prowess. The output is diverse and changing, culminating in a very important set of pieces from mid-century and on. Going against the current of the time to produce soft and fluffy music for the piano, Sutherland's earliest published efforts are already lean and quite muscular, with a neo-classicist bent in both form and expression. The wonderfully evocative Six Profiles are very important stepping stones to Sutherland's late piano works, which are now highly cherished. The profiles are a set of contrasting pieces. Yet do they depict profiles of actual people? Are they purely musical profiles? We don't seem to know, but they are certainly a most effective set of miniatures. Most of them are but two pages in length. They contain within themselves great contrasts, and the performing indications are a fine descriptor of the contents, culminating in the last with quite savage intensity.Item Open Access Moneta Eagles: Theme and Variations - Passacaglia (1948-49)Composer: Moneta Eagles; Grafton-Greene, MichaelThe title page implies that Moneta Eagles (b. 1924) wasn't certain whether she should call the work 'Theme and Variations' or 'Passacaglia'. In truth, it draws upon characteristics of both, yet is closer to the latter. The piece consists of an eight-bar theme, set out like a ground bass, followed by seven variations, which become increasingly more dense and dramatic, and which end in a grandiose reiteration of the opening idea. Eagles, after winning a number of prizes and commissions in the concert music world (including an important prize for her Sonatina for Piano), moved increasingly towards composing music for films. This student work is therefore an interesting indication of what might have been.Item Open Access Margaret Sutherland: Six Profiles (1935) - 1. With Animation(1935) Composer: Margaret Sutherland; Grafton-Greene, MichaelRecognised only belatedly during her lifetime, and almost universally admired after her death, Margaret Sutherland (1897-1984) had to struggle throughout her life for recognition as a composer. She fought with the musical establishment in her hometown of Melbourne, survived a difficult marriage, and had to grapple with ill-health, which eventually badly affected her eyesight and her ability to physically notate her own music. Sutherland's late scores are almost impossible to read, although thankfully they have now been transcribed and published. Although a fine pianist herself, there are not as many works for solo piano in Sutherland's oeuvre as one would have wished for. It is possible that she did not see herself as a soloist and therefore the finest works are rather more inward looking than vehicles for her own prowess. The output is diverse and changing, culminating in a very important set of pieces from mid-century and on. Going against the current of the time to produce soft and fluffy music for the piano, Sutherland's earliest published efforts are already lean and quite muscular, with a neo-classicist bent in both form and expression. The wonderfully evocative Six Profiles are very important stepping stones to Sutherland's late piano works, which are now highly cherished. The profiles are a set of contrasting pieces. Yet do they depict profiles of actual people? Are they purely musical profiles? We don't seem to know, but they are certainly a most effective set of miniatures. Most of them are but two pages in length. They contain within themselves great contrasts, and the performing indications are a fine descriptor of the contents, culminating in the last with quite savage intensity.Item Open Access Margaret Sutherland: Six Profiles (1935) - 6. Rhythmically(1935) Composer: Margaret Sutherland; Grafton-Greene, MichaelRecognised only belatedly during her lifetime, and almost universally admired after her death, Margaret Sutherland (1897-1984) had to struggle throughout her life for recognition as a composer. She fought with the musical establishment in her hometown of Melbourne, survived a difficult marriage, and had to grapple with ill-health, which eventually badly affected her eyesight and her ability to physically notate her own music. Sutherland's late scores are almost impossible to read, although thankfully they have now been transcribed and published. Although a fine pianist herself, there are not as many works for solo piano in Sutherland's oeuvre as one would have wished for. It is possible that she did not see herself as a soloist and therefore the finest works are rather more inward looking than vehicles for her own prowess. The output is diverse and changing, culminating in a very important set of pieces from mid-century and on. Going against the current of the time to produce soft and fluffy music for the piano, Sutherland's earliest published efforts are already lean and quite muscular, with a neo-classicist bent in both form and expression. The wonderfully evocative Six Profiles are very important stepping stones to Sutherland's late piano works, which are now highly cherished. The profiles are a set of contrasting pieces. Yet do they depict profiles of actual people? Are they purely musical profiles? We don't seem to know, but they are certainly a most effective set of miniatures. Most of them are but two pages in length. They contain within themselves great contrasts, and the performing indications are a fine descriptor of the contents, culminating in the last with quite savage intensity.Item Open Access Dulcie Holland: The Lake (1940)(1940) Composer: Dulcie Holland; Grafton-Greene, MichaelDulcie Holland's three-page miniature is a serene sound painting in a late-romantic style, with a tinge of what was understood as impressionism in Australia prior to World War II.Item Open Access Mirrie Hill: Three Aboriginal Dances (1950) - 2. The Kinkarunkara Women(1950) Composer: Mirrie Hill; Grafton-Greene, MichaelMirrie Hill (1892-1986) hailed from a Jewish family of European background. Her household, and therefore upbringing, was saturated with the great German masters. In this regard it is curious that later in her life - partly thanks to C. P. Mountford (an early anthropologist) and also to her husband's interest in Maori music of New Zealand - Hill in turn became fascinated by Australian Aboriginal music, especially music from Arnhem Land. Could it be that a member of one persecuted minority was drawn to that of another similarly disadvantaged group of people? Certainly she seemed not to be drawn to the idea of founding a typically Australian school of composition. As Hill herself observed: I think the feeling of most of us is that we prefer to be without a label. It's the old story that people have an idea that nothing good can come out of our own country. They hear 'Australian music' and switch off the radio. Guite apart from that, we're not writing in any Australian idiom or in any Australian tradition, so why [the] label? Put our music with the other if it's good it will be accepted and if it's bad - well, it still shouldn't be labelled Australian. Elsewhere, Hill also made clear that apart from attempting to get some rhythmic ideas notated accurately, it was impossible to notate in Western tunings and in equal temperament the inflections of Aboriginal music that she heard on tapes apparently supplied to her by Mountford. Nevertheless, the Three Aboriginal Dances for solo piano successfully capture some elements of Indigenous Australian music, albeit on the piano. It is interesting in this regard that at the head of the score the composer writes 'composed and arranged by Mirrie Hill. Although harmonised in a conventional Western fashion, there are effective and affecting moments, such the opening of the first piece (marked moderato), the suggestion of tribal dance in the second (allegro), and the painting of the vast expanse of the bush in the last (largo).Item Open Access Mirrie Hill: Three Aboriginal Dances (1950) - 3. Nalda Of The Echo(1950) Composer: Mirrie Hill; Grafton-Greene, MichaelMirrie Hill (1892-1986) hailed from a Jewish family of European background. Her household, and therefore upbringing, was saturated with the great German masters. In this regard it is curious that later in her life - partly thanks to C. P. Mountford (an early anthropologist) and also to her husband's interest in Maori music of New Zealand - Hill in turn became fascinated by Australian Aboriginal music, especially music from Arnhem Land. Could it be that a member of one persecuted minority was drawn to that of another similarly disadvantaged group of people? Certainly she seemed not to be drawn to the idea of founding a typically Australian school of composition. As Hill herself observed: I think the feeling of most of us is that we prefer to be without a label. It's the old story that people have an idea that nothing good can come out of our own country. They hear 'Australian music' and switch off the radio. Guite apart from that, we're not writing in any Australian idiom or in any Australian tradition, so why [the] label? Put our music with the other if it's good it will be accepted and if it's bad - well, it still shouldn't be labelled Australian. Elsewhere, Hill also made clear that apart from attempting to get some rhythmic ideas notated accurately, it was impossible to notate in Western tunings and in equal temperament the inflections of Aboriginal music that she heard on tapes apparently supplied to her by Mountford. Nevertheless, the Three Aboriginal Dances for solo piano successfully capture some elements of Indigenous Australian music, albeit on the piano. It is interesting in this regard that at the head of the score the composer writes 'composed and arranged by Mirrie Hill. Although harmonised in a conventional Western fashion, there are effective and affecting moments, such the opening of the first piece (marked moderato), the suggestion of tribal dance in the second (allegro), and the painting of the vast expanse of the bush in the last (largo).Item Open Access Mirrie Hill: Three Aboriginal Dances (1950) - 1. Brolga (The Dancer)(1950) Composer: Mirrie Hill; Grafton-Greene, MichaelMirrie Hill (1892-1986) hailed from a Jewish family of European background. Her household, and therefore upbringing, was saturated with the great German masters. In this regard it is curious that later in her life - partly thanks to C. P. Mountford (an early anthropologist) and also to her husband's interest in Maori music of New Zealand - Hill in turn became fascinated by Australian Aboriginal music, especially music from Arnhem Land. Could it be that a member of one persecuted minority was drawn to that of another similarly disadvantaged group of people? Certainly she seemed not to be drawn to the idea of founding a typically Australian school of composition. As Hill herself observed: I think the feeling of most of us is that we prefer to be without a label. It's the old story that people have an idea that nothing good can come out of our own country. They hear 'Australian music' and switch off the radio. Guite apart from that, we're not writing in any Australian idiom or in any Australian tradition, so why [the] label? Put our music with the other if it's good it will be accepted and if it's bad - well, it still shouldn't be labelled Australian. Elsewhere, Hill also made clear that apart from attempting to get some rhythmic ideas notated accurately, it was impossible to notate in Western tunings and in equal temperament the inflections of Aboriginal music that she heard on tapes apparently supplied to her by Mountford. Nevertheless, the Three Aboriginal Dances for solo piano successfully capture some elements of Indigenous Australian music, albeit on the piano. It is interesting in this regard that at the head of the score the composer writes 'composed and arranged by Mirrie Hill. Although harmonised in a conventional Western fashion, there are effective and affecting moments, such the opening of the first piece (marked moderato), the suggestion of tribal dance in the second (allegro), and the painting of the vast expanse of the bush in the last (largo).Item Open Access Dulcie Holland: Sonata (1952) - 3. Vivo(1952) Composer: Dulcie Holland; Grafton-Greene, MichaelDulcie Holland (b. 1913) herself premiered this fine work on ABC radio. It belies the image and reputation of the composer as a writer of light-weight miniatures, generally catering for the educational market and for young pianists. It is true that Holland's output is generally skewed in that direction, and it is therefore all the more pity that the traits displayed in the sonata (especially the dash and drama of the last movement) appear not to have surfaced in other piano music. Holland's approach to the piano is lyrical and mostly gentle, and her compositional approach is strongly tonal and formally well within the bounds of classical sonata form in the accepted sense.Item Open Access Miriam Hyde: Andante Tranquillo, From Concerto No. 2 In C# Minor (1934-35)Composer: Miriam Hyde; Grafton-Greene, MichaelMiriam Hyde (b. 1913) here follows a tradition established during the nineteenth century, which was to allow piano concerto movements, especially the slow movements, to be lifted out of context and performed as solo pieces. Some of these nineteenth century arrangers also included indications as to which sections of the orchestra were playing at given moments, a practice that Hyde has followed in her transcription. The result is a warm, richly textured piece that sounds well on its own. Concerto was written in 1934-1935 in London, and was first performed by Miriam Hyde with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Constant Lambert - a most auspicious occasion for the young composer.Item Open Access Dulcie Holland: Sonata (1952) - 1. Brooding - Rather Slow - Alegretto(1952) Composer: Dulcie Holland; Grafton-Greene, Michael"Dulcie Holland (b. 1913) herself premiered this fine work on ABC radio. It belies the image and reputation of the composer as a writer of light-weight miniatures, generally catering for the educational market and for young pianists. It is true that Holland's output is generally skewed in that direction, and it is therefore all the more pity that the traits displayed in the sonata (especially the dash and drama of the last movement) appear not to have surfaced in other piano music. Holland�s approach to the piano is lyrical and mostly gentle, and her compositional approach is strongly tonal and formally well within the bounds of classical sonata form in the accepted sense."Item Open Access Dulcie Holland: Sonata (1952) - 2. Andante - Molto Mosso(1952) Composer: Dulcie Holland; Grafton-Greene, MichaelDulcie Holland (b. 1913) herself premiered this fine work on ABC radio. It belies the image and reputation of the composer as a writer of light-weight miniatures, generally catering for the educational market and for young pianists. It is true that Holland's output is generally skewed in that direction, and it is therefore all the more pity that the traits displayed in the sonata (especially the dash and drama of the last movement) appear not to have surfaced in other piano music. Holland's approach to the piano is lyrical and mostly gentle, and her compositional approach is strongly tonal and formally well within the bounds of classical sonata form in the accepted sense.Item Open Access