Sacred Music Waves (December 2019)

This piece was commissioned and performed by Sarah Curro in 2009. It is called "Letter to Balhannah" because it originated as a letter on manuscript paper to my friend Hannah (who also plays violin) from Balhannah, a town in the Adelaide Hills.

Letter to Balhannah

Paul Stanhope - Dawn Lament - Louise King (Cello)

Recording: Duncan Yardley, producer; Russell Thomson, sound engineer

Recorded in: Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre

Anne Cawrse's  ‘Ruby’ performed by Clare Fox | The ANAM Set

Text from Song of Songs 3:1-4
Commissioned and performed by the Adelaide Chamber Singers, directed by Carl Crossin, 2011

in lectulo meo per noctes (On my bed by night)
quaesivi quem diligit anima mea (I sought him whom my soul loves)
quaesivi illum et non inveni (I sought him, but found him not)

surgam et circuibo civitatem (I will rise now and go about the city)
per vicos et plateas (in the streets and in the squares)
quaeram quem diligit anima mea (I will seek him whom my soul loves)
quaesivi illum et non inveni (I sought him, but found him not)

invenerunt me vigiles (The watchmen found me)
qui custodiunt civitatem (as they went about in the city)
num quem dilexit anima mea vidistis (“Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”)

paululum cum pertransissem eos (Scarcely had I passed them)
inveni quem diligit anima mea (when I found him whom my soul loves)
tenui eum nec dimittam (I held him, and would not let him go)
donec introducam illum in domum matris meae (until I had brought him into my mother's house)
et in cubiculum genetricis meae (and into the chamber of her who conceived me)

in lectulo meo per noctes

This piece is named after the Slavonic sun deity. According to legend, Yarilo returns from the otherworld each year after Shrovetide to usher in springtime and provide a bountiful harvest. He is celebrated in the springtime through the midsummer, but as his life is connected to the agricultural cycle, he is “killed” at the end of summer, along with the harvest of the crops. This piece takes its source material from four traditional Russian folksongs. Beginning with darkness/winter, the piece moves progressively through the yearly agricultural cycle.

Premiered by Ariel Barnes at “Further East, Further West: Global Pilgrimage” concert of works for solo cello, Heritage Hall, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 29 June, 2007.

Sheet music for this piece is available through the Canadian Music Centre:

https://cmccanada.org/shop/60300/

Yarilo

Commissioned by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2004 for the Symphony Australia orchestras' education programs.
Recorded by the SSO, Colin Piper conducting.

Alegria

This is a piece I wrote in 2014 about the beauty and potential destruction of the Great Barrier Reef. 

Amazing Adelaide musicians playing in this recording are as follows... Violin 1: Hilary Bruer, Violin 2: Danielle Jaquillard, Viola: Natalie Maegraith, Piano: Robin Parkin, with myself playing cello. I hope you enjoy listening :) 

Lament For The Reef

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

Out Of The Depths

for SATB(divisi) Chorus with Soprano Solo
Commisioned by Mary and Paul Pollard for Musica Viva Australia and dedicated to Christopher.
For Stephen Layton and The Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 2015-16.

Hymn Of Ancient Lands, Choir of Trinity College Cambridge

Performance and recording by Michi Theurer, as part of the Circling the Waves project:  https://www.circlingthewaves.com/

Chrysalis (for solo violin)

"Exaudi" for solo cello and chamber choir, recorded with Musica Intima in 
Vancouver, B.C.

"Exaudi", Ariel Barnes w/Musica Intima, composed by Jocelyn Morlock

Echo
For every church I have called home

Alone in a church:
the echo of tradition.
The reverberation
of tears and hope,
forged and shed and consolidated
among friends,
among family.
Congregations elongated
by the leaking of time.

Purity of focus,
clarity of sound:
I breathe
and many others breathe with me.
I cloud the empty space,
the whole, full, rich space.
Add a new colour,
a new echo.

These walls –
they know things.
Confidential things.
Joyous things,
crying things,
empowering things;
screaming for justice things.
And they throw sound back at me.

The echo is only me
at first, but it grows,
and moments refract from jagged
directions.
Shards collide, collude –
meld, mould into something
indistinguishable but beautiful.

A disturbance
in the peace that is a church –
in the lie that is peace
in a church.
Both it and I, and my instrument,
bear scars.
Because we are only human:
it and I, and my instrument.
We echo,
but we are only human.

_____________________________________________
Composed and performed by Gabi Cadenhead
Poetry by Gabrielle Cadenhead
Recorded and mixed by Liam Mulligan
Premiered on Friday 11th May, 2018 at St Stephen's Uniting Church, as part of Konzertprojekt presents: Fluteprojekt
Performed at City Recital Hall's Extended Play New Music Festival in August 2018

Access the score here: https://goo.gl/forms/utFRlJAkzVenoStq2

Echo - Gabi Cadenhead

Composed and performed by David John Lang.
Recorded by Ray Thomas, February 2018.

Catcher Variations

Woodwind quartet (flute, oboe, clarinet, soprano saxophone), vibraphone and piano.

Flute: Melanie Walters
Oboe: Austin Zilm
Clarinet: Sam Webber
Soprano Saxophone: Sarah Byron
Vibraphone: Jack de la Lande
Piano: Martin Cheney (composer)

Recorded by Ray Thomas, October 26, 2018 as part of the Adelaide Wind Orchestra's 'Home of the Brave' concert in the Concordia College Chapel, Highgate, Adelaide SA.

Dissenting Views (for chamber ensemble) [live]

words by Jordie Albiston
arranged and sung by Gian Slater
mixed and mastered by Lachlan Carrick

about Red Dirt Hymns:  https://www.andrewford.net.au/composition/red-dirt-hymns/

Gone

When you go
over the water
under the sun
away from the world
& everyone
you are gone—

When you know
you are rowing
with only one oar
none of it matters
anymore
you are gone—

Going
going
gone—

When you go
through the spaces
toward the good trees
you feel yourself sinking
onto your knees
& you're gone—

When you know
it's the moment
everything ends
you throw yourself wide
into emptiness
you are gone—

Going
going
gone—

Red Dirt Hymns 1: Gone

Making Waves is a monthly series of curated playlists streaming one hour of quality, new composed music.  Founded in 2015, Making Waves shines a spotlight on the music of Australian composers. Fresh playlists are released on the first day of each month and older playlists are made available all year round via our archives; perfect for those with just a few minutes to explore one track or for hours perusing a myriad of diverse sound-worlds.


The project offers wider exposure to emerging composers, their music and the talented performers who champion it. We also provide an easy-to-access platform for listeners to sit back and enjoy a curated hour of exciting new music or explore our living composers more actively.  The playlist themes (and media through which they’re shared eg. Soundcloud, YouTube) evolve each month depending on the content received directly from our talented composers.

At its core Making Waves is a curated listening space. In 2016 we branched into producing our own content through a special project, Making Conversation, thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign. Making Conversation: Australian Composers Project is a series of podcasts and vodcasts presenting the human side of living Australian composers, released on popular audiovisual and social platforms mid-2017.
Composers Lisa Cheney (Melbourne) and Peggy Polias (Sydney) are curating this project.

 Listeners, we encourage you to explore current and past playlists and discover more about our featured composers. 

Composers, we encourage you to send us links to your streamable audio via our website. Visit: www.makingwavesnewmusic.com for more information.

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

Out Of The Depths

Anne Cawrse

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