Name: Two Portraits of One Subject - Paul Ballam-Cross by Campbell Ross in Solo Waves - April 2016
Duration: 9 min 20 s
Description: 'Two Portraits of One Subject' was written in 2012 at the request of Belgian classical guitarist Trui van Neck. The subject of the title is Robert Schumann. There are references throughout the work to both the man and the music - some more subtle than others.

This month we're following on from March's Small Ensemble Waves and zooming in even closer to the qualities particular to music for one instrument or performer. In solo works sometimes it is possible to perceive a heightened level of detail and purity of tone colour, as well as an increased closeness between performer and listener. The Solo Waves playlist invites you to savour the varying complexity and freedom that can result from one performer leading the music entirely rather than working as part of an ensemble.

Solo Waves - April 2016

Buenos Aires Soundtrack (2013).

Astillero:
Violín: Martijn van der Linden
Violonchelo:	Luciano Falcón
Bandoneón:	Mariano González Calo
Bandoneón:	Adolfo Trepiana
Contrabajo:	Federico Maiocchi
Piano: Julián Peralta

Orquesta de cuerdas:
Violines: 
Alejandro Schaikis
Katharina Deissler
Perla Flores
Carlos Morbidoni
Alicia Alonso
Pablo Borghi
Marcela Vigide
María Florencia Prieto

Violas: 
Félix Peroni
Gustavo Barahona
Laura Fregosini

Violonchelos:	
Ignacio Bartet
Emanuel Aguirrez

Producción: De Puerto Producciones.
Grabado en Estudios ION el 24 de agosto de 2012.
Ingeniero de grabación: Luciano Lucerna.
Masterizado en Estudio Mcl Records por Luciano Lucerna el 24 de junio de 2013.

Vander - Astillero con orquesta de cuerdas

The inspiration for Stratus Rising came to me in early 2010 when my family and I stayed at a friend’s house in the Victorian alpine town of Warburton. The house sits on the slope of a big crescent hill, and one early morning I walked out onto the porch and witnessed something truly sublime: the green hill was covered in wispy strands of white clouds slowly climbing their way up the slope to return back to the sky. Moments after seeing this magical sight I sat at my friend’s piano and began writing this composition, though it was not until April 2011 that I finished the work. What I have tried to create here is a piece of music which embodies the dynamic nature of this vision and that region, one which is at times sublimely peaceful against the backdrop of its still, low-lying clouds, and at others equally tumultuous when these very same clouds turn into powerful storms.

Stratus Rising (2011)

By My Side

'Two Portraits of One Subject' was written in 2012 at the request of Belgian classical guitarist Trui van Neck. The subject of the title is Robert Schumann. There are references throughout the work to both the man and the music - some more subtle than others.

Two Portraits of One Subject - Paul Ballam-Cross

Premiered by flutist, Guro Petterson at the Royal College of Music, London. 
Received it's Australian premiere by flutist, Kim Tan at the Melbourne Recital Centre.

WOLF, Mark - Hamaroy Troll (2010)

Recorded by Marshall McGuire
Muntu Walunga is a piece influenced by African mythology and the sounds of African thumb-pianos (mbiras - or “lamellaphones” to be precise!). These instruments produce a metallic percussive sound that has little resonance, and the music is typically fast and extremely rhythmic. In the piece the harp is asked to play using certain effects which imitate this sound, and the pitch material is based on six to eight-note cells (typical of the eight-note scales of the African mbiras). The pulse of the rhythmic sections is often in three which is also typical of mbira music.
From the book “African Mythology” by Jan Knappert, I learned that the Bakongo people of Zaire (central Africa) tell a myth of the creation of people:
Nzambi (God) first created Mahungu “Breath”, a human being who was both male and female, and so: Muntu Walunga “The Complete Person”. It had the shape of a palm-tree with two heads. Wooden statuettes show the tree with breasts on one side, with a woman’s head, and on the other side a bearded head, the two coming out of a spathe, like a spadix emerging from a sheaf of a palm-leaf. This double person lived a happy life since it knew no jealousy or hatred, no desire or want. One day Mahungu saw the tree called Muti Mpungu, the tree of the Supreme Being. Mahungu went up to the tree trying to embrace it, but the tree split Muhungu into two equal personalities, who were henceforth called “Lumbu” (Man) and Muzita (Woman). After this event they always wanted to be together and to embrace one another.

Muntu Walunga - solo harp

MultiSonics

Australia is a land of beautiful and unique birdsong.

From the familiar voices of bush and garden, to the secret song of the Redthroat; from a magical chorus of Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters, to a forest ringing with Bellbirds - This album is a journey around the continent, and a personal selection of our favourite songbirds.

'Favourite Australian birdsong'- album sample

CONCERTANTE
MODERN WORKS FOR GUITAR
Campbell Ross
Ariel Dirié
Gerardo Dirié

While New Zealand guitarist and composer Campbell Ross cites influences as varied as Claude Bolling, Manuel Ponce and  Benjamin Britten when discussing the works featured on CONCERTANTE, it is clear that his own distinctive style is manifested throughout the album. The first of CONCERTANTE’s Modern Works For Guitar opens with the three-movement Concertante for guitar, jazz trio and strings - a work that allows all of the album’s performers to be featured as soloists. Its kaleidoscopic first movement reveals elements of Latin, Blues, Jazz, and Classical genres that, when combined with the Spanish touches in the final movement, encompass the major musical styles that have influenced Ross over the past 30 years. The two sets of Variations on the album reflect his life-long admiration for the McCartney/Lennon oeuvre. While playing homage to “Norwegian Wood” and “World Without Love,” both pieces fall more to the improvisatory end of the compositional scale.

The second CD, which features works written by Gerardo and Ariel Dirié, is a disc filled with modern guitar works that have never before been recorded. Ross first presents a series of pieces written by Ariel Dirié, who passed in 2010, leaving behind a collection of works, some of which are light and some of which are dark, some playful and some serious. The final three works on the album form a triptych, Si un dia el Olvido (If one day oblivion...), which “gather different evocations of time.” The triptych’s final movement, echoes the closing track on the first CD, delicately brushing on Lennon and McCartney’s “World Without Love.”

CONCERTANTE reflects both the interpretive and written skills of Ross, who performs each piece with equal parts energy and sensitivity.

Concertante: Moderato

The first single - featuring vocalist Carly Bennet.

Hit and Miss

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.

Campbell Ross is a guitarist, composer and teacher who lives in Brisbane, Australia. He developed a passion for the guitar at an early age and almost immediately began writing for the instrument.

Raised in New Zealand, Campbell won the Christchurch Guitar Competition before embarking on tertiary study at the Wellington Conservatorium of Music under the tutelage of Matthew Marshall. After completing his Bachelors Degree in Performance he moved to Brisbane to continue his study under Julian Byzantine at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music Griffith University, completing a Masters in Performance.

While still a very active performer, Campbell is also a respected composer. His talent for composition has been formally recognised a number times including placing at the APRA Professional Development Awards and the New Zealand Classical Guitar Composition Competition. 

Campbell's most recent compositions have been fuelled by a desire to produce a fresh and invigorating style of music that challenges the more traditional perceptions of classical guitar, while extending the range of quality music emanating from the Asia-Pacific region.

Campbell is a highly sought after teacher in Brisbane having taught at both the Queensland Conservatorium at Griffith University and the School of Music at the University of Queensland. He is also a published author - his ever-increasing body of educational material for classroom guitar programs have been adopted by many schools across Australia.

Video and Audio recordings of many of his works can be found by visiting www.sounz.org.nz

Two Portraits of One Subject - Paul Ballam-Cross

Campbell Ross

Recent comments

Jesus Pasión la guitarra

Jesus Pasión la guitarra

Jesus Pasión la guitarra

Related tracks