Sacred and Profane

'On Earth as in Heaven' is a song cycle in 3 parts composed for the remarkable Australian choir, Adelaide Chamber Singers. The three movements are:
1. When the Heart (text by Michael Leunig)
2. I Am Not Yours (text by Sara Teasdale)
3. God Help Us / There Will Be Rest (text by Michael Leunig and Sara Teasdale)
Commissioned by Adelaide Chamber Singers Supporters Fund. Conducted by Christie Anderson. Audio recording by Disk Edits.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk3qlVMqTNo

On Earth as in Heaven

'Imperfect Fourth' (2004) performed here by Zephyr Quartet with Alex Tsiboulski, guitar.
Recorded live in 2004 at The Jade Monkey, Adelaide, South Australia.

Imperfect Fourth

'Love is Born' is the 6th movement (of 7) from my Requiem, composed in 2019 for SATB vocal quartet and organ. The text for this movement, as for the rest of the Requiem, combines the traditional
Latin Requiem Mass text with excerpts from Michael Leunig's 'The Prayer Tree'. For 'Love is Born', the Leunig poem from which the movement gets its name is combined with the Latin 'Lux Aeterna'.

This arrangement for wind orchestra was made upon the request of my good friend and colleague David John Lang, as a 'palate cleanser' for the Adelaide Wind Orchestra's April 2021 concert 'Leunig's Prayer Book'.

Love is born 
With a dark and troubled face,
When hope is dead 
And in the most unlikely place
Love is born.
Love is always born.

-Michael Leunig
from The Prayer Tree

Lux æterna luceat eis, Domine:
Cum Sanctis tuis in æternum:
quia pius es.

(Let everlasting light shine upon them, Lord,
with thy saints for ever,
for Thou art merciful.)

-from the Requiem Mass

Recorded by Ray Thomas, April 16th 2021, St. Peter's Girls Art Centre, Adelaide.

Love Is Born

Premiere performance of 'Prayer to the Spirit of the New Year' by Anne Cawrse. Setting of the poem by Bobbi Sykes (1943-2010).
Karina Bailey (Soprano) and Yundi Yuan (Piano) for The Firm New Music, Elder Hall, Adelaide, September 13th 2021.
Recorded by Ray Thomas.

Prayer To The Spirit Of The New Year

'Last First-Light', performed at the 2022 Coriole Music Festival, McLaren Vale South Australia.
A duet for Soprano and Tenor with Piano accompaniment setting text by Peter Goldsworthy.
This work was commissioned by the Chœur Philharmonique International, Paris, with additional financial support from the Australian National Commission for UNESCO.

Please contact the composer for further details.

Coriole 1

Last First-Light

Ruby is a piece for solo clarinet, inspired by a person who was special in the life of the performer, who died unexpectedly at 19 after becoming suddenly sick in April 2021. The music aims to capture and express her unique character, and the way that she brought pleasure and happiness to all who knew her. The piece also draws inspiration from her artwork, in particular, images of the unique and beautiful Blue Mountains area in which she lived.

This work was commissioned by the Australian national Academy of Music (ANAM) as part of the ANAM Set, with funding assistance from the Australian Government RISE Fund.
Performer: Clare Fox
Producer: Duncan Yardley
Engineer: Russell Thomson

Ruby

Sunburst for Wind Orchestra (2022)
Performed by the Adelaide Wind Orchestra, conducted by Bryan Griffiths.
Recorded at St Peters Girls, Stonyfell, Adelaide, South Australia on April 2nd 2023.
Recording engineer Ray Thomas.

Score available from https://mattklohs.com/products/grade-3-5-sunburst

Sunburst

unfurl - duo for oboe and viola.
Live performance by Josh Oates (oboe) and Martin Alexander (viola) for the ReClassified Festival, North Adelaide Baptist Church November 6th 2022.
Score available via the Australian Music Centre https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/product/unfurl-for-oboe-and-viola-escore

unfurl

3rd movement from 'The Nightingale and The Rose' - a ballet suite based on the short story by Oscar Wilde.
Performed by the Elder Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide, 2004. Conducted by Keith Crellin

The Nightingale's Song

A set of 6 short studies for solo piano. Loosely based upon Bartok's 'Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm'.
Performed by Leigh Harrold, 25th June 2012 at Pilgrim Church Adelaide, as part of the Firm concert series.

Study 1 Nightshade

Performed by Leigh Harrold, Pilgrim Church, Adelaide, 2005.
A work inspired by Beethoven's mammoth 32nd (and final) Piano Sonata, Op. 111.

Leigh Harrold - The Firm 2005

Introduction, Theme and Variations

Commissioned and Performed by the Adelaide Chamber Singers, St. Peter's Cathedral, Adelaide 2006.

Song Of Amergin

Pilgrim Psalms #1
Setting of Psalm 130
Performed by the Adelaide Chamber Singers, 2009

Out Of The Depths

Work for Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon,
Performed by Trio d'anche Suave, 2008

Unknown Album (5/09/2008 4:55:27 PM)

Lullabies and Crooked Dances

Four songs to poems by Anna Akhmatova
Performed by Kate Macfarlane (Soprano), Robert Macfarlane (Tenor), Jamie Cock (Piano) at The Firm, Adelaide Uni, December 2016. Recorded by Ray Thomas

Not Weeks, Not Months

Excerpt from 'Sacred and Profane' for Symphony Orchestra
Performed by the Elder Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra, April 2017
Conducted by Luke Dollman.
Recorded live in Elder Hall, Adelaide, by Ray Thomas.

Sacred And Profane Excerpt 1

Sacred And Profane Excerpt 2

Sacred And Profane Excerpt 3

'Spring Songs' is a short song cycle based on poems by American lyric poet Sara Teasdale (1884-1933).
Premiere performance by Kate Macfarlane (Soprano) and Michael Ierace (Piano), at Elder Hall, Adelaide on November 6th 2017. Recorded by Ray Thomas.
Composed for The Firm New Music series, 2017.
1. Paris in Spring
2. The Look (2:28)
3. Spring Torrents (4:03)
4. Nightfall (6:37)

Spring Songs

On Earth As In Heaven

God Help Us / There Will Be Rest

I Am Not Yours

When The Heart

'Imperfect Fourth' (2004) performed here by Zephyr Quartet with Alex Tsiboulski, guitar.
Recorded in 2008, ABC Studio 520, Adelaide, South Australia.

Imperfect Fourth - 3rd Movt.

Imperfect Fourth - 2nd Movt.

Imperfect Fourth - 1st Movt.

'Chanson' from the song cycle 'A Woman's Song' by Anne Cawrse.
Text by Purnette du Guillet (1520-1545)
Performed by Bethany Hill (Soprano) and Mark Sandon (Piano).
Recorded by Ray Thomas for The Firm New Music at Elder Hall, Adelaide 2018.

Chanson

A short work for Solo Piano, inspired by the painting 'The Red Buoy' by Paul Signac.
Performed by Michael Ierace at Elder Hall, Adelaide, South Australia, on December 3rd 2018 as part of The Firm New Music.
Recorded by Ray Thomas.

The Red Buoy

Excerpts from 'Skin Metal Wood' - Concerto for Percussion and Wind Orchestra by Anne Cawrse.
Soloist: Jamie Adam
With the Adelaide Wind Orchestra, Conducted by Veronica Boulton.
Premiere performance on December 1st, 2018 at Elder Hall, Adelaide, South Australia.
Recorded by Ray Thomas.

Skin Metal Wood Excerpt Movt 3 AWO

Skin Metal Wood Excerpt Movt 2 AWO

Skin Metal Wood Movt 1 AWO

'Musaic' by Anne Cawrse
Performed members of the Elder Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra.
Conducted by Luke Dollman
Elder Hall, Adelaide, April 6th, 2019
Recording by Ray Thomas

Commissioned by the Cybec Foundation for the 2007 Cybec 21st Century Australian Composers Program and premiered by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 2008, 'Musaic' was a finalist for Orchestral Work of the Year in the APRA/AMC Art Music Awards of 2008. This performance by students of Adelaide's Elder Conservatorium marks its second performance.

Score available at https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/workversion/cawrse-anne-musaic/23184

Musaic

'Rossetti Songs' is a set of four songs for female vocal trio. The text is taken from poems by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894). Composed in 2005, this set of songs was commissioned by the eve vocal trio.

Performers in all tracks are eve vocal trio: Greta Bradman (Soprano), Emma Horwood (Soprano) and Christie Anderson (Mezzo Soprano). 
'Echo' and 'When I Am Dead' -  from the CD release 'muse' (2005)
'Remember Me' and 'Song' - live recording from The Firm New Chamber Music concert series; Pilgrim Church, Adelaide 2005.

Echo

Performed by Clemens Leske on October 2013, at Elder Hall, Adelaide South Australia. Presented for The Firm New Music.
Recorded by Ray Thomas.

This work was inspired by the characters and events in Stephen Orr's wonderful novel 'Time's Long Ruin'. It was written as a brainstorming exercise in preparation for beginning work on my opera, 'Innocence', a story about grief, love, family and ambiguous loss.

Time's Long Ruin

3rd Movement from 'A Woman's Song' for Soprano and String Quartet
Performed by Emma Horwood and Zephyr Quartet.
Text by Emily Bronte

Zephyr Quartet and Emma Horwood

A Woman's Song- Stanzas

2nd Movement from 'A Woman's Song' for Soprano and String Quartet
Performed by Emma Horwood and Zephyr Quartet.
Text by Amy Levy.

A Woman's Song- June

1st Movement from 'A Woman's Song' for Soprano and String Quartet
Performed by Emma Horwood and Zephyr Quartet.

A Woman's Song- Chanson

Bethany Hill (Soprano) and Jamie Cock (Piano) perform 'Flame and Shadow' at Elder Hall, Adelaide, South Australia on September 16th 2019 for The Firm New Music.

Original version composed for Soprano, Clarinet, Violin and Piano in early 2019, and premiered by Greta Bradman and Plexus for the Women in Music Festival, March 2019. This is the premiere of this arrangement for Soprano and Piano.

Recorded by Ray Thomas.

Flame And Shadow

This work was composed in response to Beethoven’s ‘Waldstein’ Sonata, Op. 53, and the work which was once destined to be the Sonata’s middle movement, the Andante Favori, WoO 57.

Premiered by Michael Ierace for The Firm New Music, at Elder Hall, Adelaide on December 14th 2020. Recorded by Ray Thomas.

as flower, as fire

Anne Cawrse is a composer of solo, chamber, orchestral and choral music, based in Adelaide, South Australia. Her works have been performed by Orchestras (Adelaide, Melbourne and Tasmanian Symphonies; Adelaide Wind Orchestra) Chamber Ensembles (Zephyr Quartet, Australian String Quartet, Plexus Trio) Choirs (Adelaide Chamber Singers) and soloists (Greta Bradman, Kate Macfarlane, Alex Tsiboulski, Robert Macfarlane, Michael Ierace) throughout Australia.
For commissioning and performance inquiries, contact Anne at annecawrse@gmail.com

Anne Cawrse

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