Flute Perspectives, Vol. 1
Flautist Derek Jones and pianist Leigh Harrold present this anthology of contemporary Australian flute music, from Sculthorpe’s Torres Strait cycle to solo and duo works by leading local composers.
Barry Conyngham composer
Brian Brown composer
Derek Jones composer
Anne Boyd composer
Mark Pollard composer
Phyllis Batchelor composer
Some of the finest names in Australian composition are represented here: Peter Sculthorpe, Barry Conyngham, Brian Brown, Anne Boyd, Mark Pollard, Phyllis Batchelor, and Derek Jones himself.
The programme opens with Sculthorpe’s Torres Strait–inspired Songs of Sea and Sky, then moves through solo works by Conyngham, Brown, Jones and Pollard, Boyd’s meditative Goldfish through Summer Rain, and Batchelor’s three-movement Sonata for flute and piano.
Songs of Sea and Sky was inspired by a traditional dance song from Saibai, an island just south of Papua New Guinea, in Torres Strait. The song was collected on Saibai by Jeremy Beckett in May 1961. Much of the surviving music of Torres Strait is concerned with the sea voyages, flights of birds and changes in sea and sky. Some of the music has been influenced by hymns introduced by missionaries in the 19th century. This work, then, is in one continuous movement consisting of six parts; a somewhat dramatic flute solo; Saibai, an introductory reworking of the traditional dance song; a second solo, suggested by a flute melody from the eastern Torres Strait; Mission Hymn, a variation of Saibai; a dance-like section shared by flute and piano; and Wei, a variation of the dance song, an affirmation of oneness of sea and sky.
Artists
Derek Jones
Derek Jones has enjoyed an extensive performing career throughout Australia, Europe, the USA and Asia. Solo appearances include the Melbourne Symphony, the Australian Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the last of these taking him to Carnegie Hall, New York.
Leigh Harrold
Leigh has performed extensively throughout Europe, North America, Africa and Australia as both soloist and chamber musician, including concerts at Australia House in London, the Royal Academy of Music, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Harare International Festival of Arts, and concerto engagements with many Australian orchestras.
Audio previews
Tracks
- Flute solo :52
- Saibai 4:01
- Second flute solo 2:33
- Mission hymn 3:16
- Dance-like 2:22
- Wei 3:17
- Flute (2001) Barry Conyngham 4:35
- Lily's Garden Brian Brown 4:57
- Stillness Derek Jones 5:48
- Goldfish through Summer Rain (1979) Anne Boyd 4:44
- Under Simple Stars (1989) Mark Pollard 13:59
- Molto Allegro 4:03
- Adagio 6:30
- Vivace 3:28
Songs of Sea and Sky Peter Sculthorpe
Sonata (1972) Phyllis Batchelor
Performers
- Derek Jones · flute, alto flute, temple bell, drone
- Leigh Harrold · tracks 2, 4–6, 10, 12–14
Composers
Phyllis Batchelor
Phyllis Batchelor (1915–1999) was an Australian composer, pianist and teacher whose own works featured regularly in her ABC broadcasts from the 1930s onward.
Anne Boyd
Anne Boyd enjoys a distinguished career as a composer and music educator. A graduate of the University of Sydney (BA Hons in Music, 1967) and the University of York (PhD in composition, 1972), she has shaped Australian musical life through both her writing and her teaching.
Brian Brown
Brian Brown (1933–2013) was an Australian jazz saxophonist, flautist, composer and educator whose original music helped define a local improvising voice. From the 1950s he led his own ensembles and later founded improvisation studies at the Victorian College of the Arts.
Barry Conyngham
Barry Conyngham, born in Sydney, has received numerous awards and fellowships for composition, among them Churchill, Harkness, Australia Council and Senior Fulbright grants. He holds an ARIA, two Sounds Australian Critics Awards and two Maggs Awards.
Mark Pollard
Australian composer Mark Clement Pollard has an eclectic style that draws on improvisation, jazz, pop, minimalism and the indigenous musics of South-East Asia.
Peter Sculthorpe
Peter Sculthorpe (1929–2014) was a Tasmanian-born composer whose orchestral and chamber music drew the Australian landscape, neighbouring Asian traditions and Indigenous materials into a clear, personal language. He wrote extensively for strings, piano and voice.
Contributors
Cover design
Benjamin Thomas
Benjamin Thomas is a graphic designer and illustrator whose cover artwork, illustration and design appear on many Move Records releases.
Landscape photographs
Martin Wright
Recording engineer and director of Move Records, Martin Wright has well over fifty years’ experience in the industry and has been widely recognised for the calibre of his recordings.
Where to listen
Flute Perspectives, Vol. 1 is available for streaming through Spotify and Apple Music. It can also be purchased through the iTunes Music Store.
Flute Perspectives, Vol. 1 is available as a CD. It can be purchased online through Buywell Music or the Australian Music Centre which both offer online ordering.
Product details
- Catalogue number
- MD 3406
- List price
- $25.00 AUD
- Total playing time
- 64 minutes 25 seconds
- Recording Engineer
- Martin Wright
Vaughan McAlley - Editing Engineer
- Martin Wright
Vaughan McAlley - Venue
- Move Records Studio
- Thanks to
- Faculty of the VCA and Melbourne Conservatorium of Music
- Credit
- Benjamin Thomas
Martin Wright - Release date
- 1 Mar 2016
- Musical work
copyright - © 2016 Move Records
- Sound recording
copyright - ℗ 2016 Move Records
- Categories
- Australian, Classical
- Genre
- Contemporary Classical
- Barcode
- EAN 9314574340624
Related recordings
Flute Perspectives, Vol. 4
Derek Jones’s fourth Flute Perspectives volume gathers contemporary Australian flute music with Jerry Wong and Joshua Hyde. Sonatas, solos and electronics chart lyric landscape, multiphonic colour and modernist drive.
Flute Perspectives, Vol. 3
The third release in Derek Jones’s series, Flute Perspectives 3 continues to convey the synergy of Australia’s varied classical flute repertoire, with newly commissioned works, some recorded here for the first time.
Flute Perspectives, Vol. 2
Derek Jones (flute) and Cameron Roberts (piano) present a programme of Australian works by Anne Boyd, Stuart Greenbaum, Rohan Phillips, Mark Pollard and Richard Meale.
Spirit Wind
Flautist Derek Jones presents seven free-flowing improvisations inspired by a universal spirit shared across musical cultures, layering flute lines over synthesiser soundscapes, drones and deep gamelan-like bells.