Listen & tracks
1 of 38 tracks have a preview · 19 works · 72:49
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1 The kite Barry Conyngham 4:36
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2 The parcel Barry Conyngham 4:03
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3 The marriage Barry Conyngham 4:07
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4 The picture Barry Conyngham :31
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5 The flight Barry Conyngham 2:14
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6 The waltz Barry Conyngham 4:20
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7 The goal Barry Conyngham 3:31
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8 The hat Barry Conyngham 4:07
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9 D’Albertis Barry Conyngham 4:47
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10 The blame Barry Conyngham 4:04
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11 Geoffrey Barry Conyngham 1:54
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12 The explorer Barry Conyngham 4:21
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13 The course Barry Conyngham 4:04
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14 The plunder Barry Conyngham 6:00
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15 The undertaking Barry Conyngham 1:43
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16 Darwin Barry Conyngham 2:50
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17 The sunset Barry Conyngham 4:50
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18 The clergyman Barry Conyngham 5:15
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19 The shears Barry Conyngham 5:32
Inventor and explorer Lawrence Hargrave dreamt of being the first to achieve powered flight. His inner heroism, moral integrity and quirky, fascinating personality are brought to life in Fly.
The score is accessible and attractive, with carefully shaped orchestral and vocal lines. The package includes notes and a full libretto annotated for the listener.
Edited from the Victoria State Opera premiere season at the State Theatre, Victorian Arts Centre, in August 1984, the recording was shaped with the composer and librettist so that cuts still yield a continuous listening experience, with flowing transitions from scene to scene.
In the artist’s words
From the beginning, Murray Copland and I wished to pace the drama of the piece close to real life, to approach real speech rhythms. Not an original aim by any means — but it was also my desire to avoid the urgency and relentlessness of the declamatory style, and the barrenness of continuous recitative. I wished to capture some of the melodic freshness of the “popular” song, the dramatic impact of post-serial rhythmic fluidity, the formal security of the “set piece”.
The orchestra and the voice in Fly are often in a very free temporal relationship: the instruments pursuing a particular gesture or texture, the voice guided by the drama and the rhythm of the text suspended above it. Melody, with its magical ability to communicate and reverberate, is the genesis of all the linear elements of Fly.
Lawrence Hargrave’s story is anything but a silly one. Properly understood, his life was one of extraordinary inner heroism and moral integrity. Selective as this opera has obviously had to be in the number of specific incidents it could hope to dramatise, it does attempt to tell Hargrave’s story with truthfulness and clarity, and to imply a coherent interpretation of his sometimes quirky but always fascinating personality.
Every attempt has been made to make the opera self-explanatory — able to stand by itself, even for those who have never heard of Hargrave.
Reviews
... a musical triumph ... an assured and mature work that generates its own inner radiance.
It is clearly a major Australian opera. If we ever we have a native repertory, 'Fly' will be part of it.
Fly is certainly the most significant and ambitious home-grown opera to be premiered in this country for many years.
Artists
Barry Conyngham
composer
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.
Victoria State Opera Orchestra
orchestra
Murray Copland
libretto
Digital booklet
Digital booklet Notes, texts and credits — read online or download the PDF Download the PDFPerformers
- Victoria State Opera Orchestra · orchestra
- John Hopkins · conductor
- Anthony Roden · lawrence hargrave
- Margaret Haggart · maggie hargrave
- John Wood · luigi maria d’albertis
- Robert Korosy · clarence wilcox
- Malcolm Robertson · clergyman
- Val Mills · margaret
- Christine Ferraro · olive
Technical credits
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Producer
Paul Petran
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Recording Engineer
Lou Szabolics
Peter Thorp
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Mastering Engineer
Martin Wright
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Venue
Victorian Arts Centre
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Thanks to
Creative Australia
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Credit
Shaun Gurton
Details
- List price
- $25.00 AUD
- Total playing time
- 72 minutes 49 seconds
- Release date
- 1987
- Categories
- Australian, Classical, Vocal
- Musical work copyright
- © 1984 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
- Sound recording copyright
- ℗ 1987 Move Records
- Catalogue
- MD 3076
- EAN
- 9314574307627
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