Dreamtracks

Since 1988 I have written a series of works inspired by Kakadu National Park, in the north of Australia. Some of these works have melodic material in common, the contours of each line usually being transformed in some way, both within pieces and in successive pieces. I have come to regard these melodies as ‘songlines’ or ‘dreaming tracks’. These are names used to describe the labyrinth of invisible pathways that, according to Aboriginal belief, are created by the totemic ancestors of all species as they sing the world into existence.

Dream Tracks, then, sets out to summon up the spirit of a northern Australian landscape. The work is in four sections: Lontano; Molto sostenuto; Lontano; Estatico. The first section takes as its point of departure the contours of a Torres Strait Island children’s song. This serves as an introduction to the second section, which is based upon an Arnhem Land chant, Djilile, or ‘whistling-duck on a billabong’. The third section is an extension of the first, its melodic contours also appearing in the fourth section. In this final section, however, Djilile is ever-present, both in a much-transformed guise and in its original form. I have dedicated Dream Tracks to the Verdehr Trio.

These pieces were written for the Klarinettenduo of Cologne, David Smeyers and Beate Zelinsky. Whirligig, for clarinet in B flat, was composed in 1983, and Gorlywhorl, for clarinet in A, in 1984. The pieces are thematically related and are intended to be performed as a pair; they may, however, be played separately.

My love affair with the cor anglais started at a very early age. In fact the sound of the cor is one of my earliest musical memories. However much, much later was I introduced to the bass clarinet but I quickly fell victim to its charms.

bisous is slow, languorous, gorgeous and extremely self-indulgent just as all ‘kisses’ should be.