Listen & tracks
7 works · 59:29
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1 Spring Johanna Selleck 14:00
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2 Summer Johanna Selleck 10:40
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3 Shakuhachi cadenza Johanna Selleck 3:12
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4 Autumn Johanna Selleck 9:41
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5 Winter Johanna Selleck 7:36
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6 Interlude Johanna Selleck 5:27
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7 Finale Johanna Selleck 8:53
Becoming draws on two Japanese poetic forms – haiku and renga. The brief, vivid images at the heart of haiku reach past language, sharing feelings and perceptions that travel across cultures. The cycle sets haiku in French, English and Tibetan, by poets from tenth-century Japan through to contemporary Australia, and follows the linked-stanza design of renga.
Four seasonal sections and a finale move from a universal image of nature toward a more personal view. Together the poems suggest cycles of birth, death and renewal. Len Vorster commissioned the work for the 2006 Port Fairy Spring Music Festival; the complete cycle was premiered at the Castlemaine Festival in 2007.
Reviews
This unique hour-long setting of haiku and renga poetry accompanied by string quartet and shakuhachi continues a more than 50-year tradition of Japanese influence on Australian composition. With Becoming, Johanna Selleck takes it to a new level. She has set seven Japanese poets from the tenth to the twentieth century as well as four Australian haiku poets (including herself). Another dimension to the project is the translation of the selected poems not only from Japanese into English, but also from English into Tibetan and English into French. The three singers (soprano, bass and countertenor) share the vocal assignments across the movements. “Spring” begins instrumentally with string tremolo and arpeggiated chord textures which dissolve into slow melodies with intense harmonic underpinnings, reminiscent of Peter Sculthorpe’s string quartet writing. This sets the mood for a dreamy “Mackerel sky” haiku setting which revs up on the line “awakens music”. The second poem, “Rain dances” is accompanied by a rain-like pizzicato-dominated texture. As an introduction to the third poem, “Hira-hira to” (“A single butterfly”), an expressive traditional-sounding shakuhachi solo is introduced accompanied by ethereal tremolo strings. A feature of the vocal setting that follows is the extreme vibrato that soprano Merlyn Quaife uses to paint the line “kaze ni nagarete” (“fluttering and drifting”). The movement closes with a calm but mysterious (and at times, spooky), setting of “Déborde du haut” (“Spilling at the rim”) which depicts images of water in sunlight. The end is articulated by a single stroke of what sounds like tingsha (Tibetan cymbals). The “Summer” movement, like “Spring”, as well as “Autumn”, “Winter” and “Finale”, involves settings of four poems, this selection by Shiki, Natsume Söseki, Bostok and Jack de Vidas. The musical treatment is more passionate than the opening movement with dramatic solos and duets scored for Dean Sky-Lucas (countertenor) and Jerzy Kozlowski (bass). There is a depiction of the intensity of summer through images of rain, heat, love and birdsong. The string quartet and shakuhachi writing is deftly integrated with the melodic lines of the singers. For me, Becoming is a model for how to set miniature poetic forms like haiku. A big shout-out, also, to Junko Azukawa, whose exquisite ink paintings greatly enhance the visual presentation of the CD. Highly recommended.
Artists
Johanna Selleck
conductor
Johanna Selleck is a composer, musicologist, and flautist. She holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne, where she is an honorary fellow. Her compositions have been performed by internationally renowned artists across Australia, Europe, the USA, Asia, and the Middle East.
Digital booklet
Digital booklet Notes, texts and credits — read online or download the PDF Download the PDFStream now
Performers
- Merlyn Quaife · soprano
- Dean Sky-Lucas · countertenor
- Jerzy Kozlowski · bass
- Adam Simmons · shakuhachi
- Lynette Rayner · violin
- Zachary Johnston · violin
- Barbara Hornung · viola
- Caerwen Martin · cello
- Johanna Selleck · conductor
Technical credits
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Editing Engineer
Vaughan McAlley
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Mastering Engineer
Martin Wright
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Venue
Move Records Studio
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Credit
Junko Azukawa
Details
- List price
- $25.00 AUD
- Total playing time
- 59 minutes 29 seconds
- Release date
- 11 Apr 2022
- Categories
- Classical, Cross-cultural
- Musical work copyright
- © 2013 Johanna Selleck
- Sound recording copyright
- ℗ 2022 Move Records
- Catalogue
- MCD 629
- EAN
- 9314574062922
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