Clarinet and shakuhachi impro

Song of Shining Eyes was commissioned by the Dreambox Collective for ‘Coming to Our Senses’ as part of its 2021 season, with both music and poetry by me. Its first performance was given by Sydney based soprano Victoria Bromberger. Due to Sydney being in covid lockdown at the time, the event was a virtual online one. In the interests of program diversity, Chloe Chung created a video that was viewed as Miss Bromberger’s rendering was heard.

As well as fulfilling the brief of engaging with the event theme, it is dedicated to my partner, whose shining eyes inspired its title.

The development of this song entailed tumult and disappointment. Rather than go into that,  I will share the response of the dedicatee. In response to the work being much reduced in scope from its initial conception, she said “so it was meant to be longer; and now it’s shorter. But, it’s the quality, not the quantity that is important”. And so, it is. Somehow a process of erosion has resulted in a short, much more direct expression of love and gratitude than originally imagined, a simple Song of Shining Eyes.

Song Of Shining Eyes

Sprouts Sium!Sh..._春芽_for flute, clarinet in Bb, percussions, violin, viola, and cello (2021-22)

The House of Dust is a piece for three B flat clarinets originally commissioned by Ensemble Offspring in 1998. This is a recording of a live performance by the University of Western Australia Contemporary Music Ensemble,  recorded the following year for its New Music Week, Perth. 

The title reflects an ongoing parallel interest, comparative religious studies and is the evocative name given to the bleak vision of the afterlife in The Epic of Gilgamesh. The image of a grey, colourless house of dust to which all progressed in the afterlife, regardless of status or accomplishment where they dwelled half aware, ghostly shells forever trapped  resonated at the time for various reasons. Of all my student-day compositions, this is perhaps the most prescient of future directions and with which I am most pleased. It is is a very challenging work for both groups that performed it, working with microtones, independent rhythmic layers, very quiet extreme upper register work that needs to be projected within an emotive, expressive framework.

The House of Dust

Concerto Grosso No. 1* by Pavle Cajic.
In three movements. 

*Hopefully more coming!

Pf: Amanda Chen (vln), Dominic Azzi (vln), Rachel Siu (cello), Voces Caelestium string orchestra** conducted by Pavle Cajic.

Premiered at Voces Caelestium's Standing with Ukraine Charity Concert which raised money for UNICEF's Ukraine Emergency Appeal.

Recorded by Conan Tran (www.red-studios.com.au)

This piece was inspired by two forms of music I was getting very interested in at the beginning of 2021 – baroque concerti and tango! I loved the sense of community I felt in small chambery concerto grosso ensembles, and the sense of playfulness of combining more ‘modern’ sound effects and techniques with baroque forms and tonality. My modern techniques involve a quarter-tonal unifying motif, some tango-inspired percussive effects, and generally a lot of chromaticism mixed in with modal-adjacent harmony.

**Violin 1: Yeonhee Kim, Nan Heo, Chrissia Monica
Violin 2: Daniel Parkee, James Guo, Shirley Shen, Aileen Lim
Viola: Andrea Ng, David Tocknell
Cello: Luda Tees, Salang Kim, Lauren Olofsson, Jean Lee
Double Bass: Elsen Price

Concerto Grosso

...as the reflection of green ripples in the water..._水中绿影_for violin and cello (2022)

Burn before me burn burn – improvised poem

Bones before me – 
dried wooden corpse
the once majestic 
rosewood – 

but – 

sound is alive
and springs forth
with joy – 

ashen – 

burn
burn
sing 
live

through me
through me

through 

me

live –

Bones Before Me Burn Burn - improvised poetry and music

https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/barkl-michael

Michael Barkl 'Two Pieces for Flute Alone' Laura Chislett - flute, piece 1

unity.projections[001=>2]  - for accordion and cello (2020)
/live recording/

Branko Džinović (accordion)
Aleksandar Latković (cello)

Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra Hall
10 March 2020

unity.projections[001=>2]  - for accordion and cello (2020)

I created this improvised piece after hearing of the passing of Figo, a dog (I am convinced he was a dingo!) who came to stay with Martha and her family in Bandung after he was saved from a 'dog-meat' market in Bandung, West Jakarta. Such an awful practice, and Figo was clearly traumatized by the experience - he was suspicious of strangers, particularly human males, something I experienced firsthand. But he lived a long, long life and it's sad to see him pass on. The accompanying photo captures his personality, as it came to express itself towards his end!

Vale Figo

I try to write rich, intense, rewarding, expressive music reflecting my various music theory and performance interests as well as love of nature, literature and my explorations in aesthetics and East Asian culture and spirituality.

I am a composer, percussionist and co-artistic director of the composer-performer collective Sideband as well as member of the experimental improvisation project 'Mind on Fire'. I began serious musical studies with a focus on xylophone and percussion, later developing an interest in composition, and improvisation. I also have a strong interest in non-Western music, and have undertaken study in Javanese Gamelan and Tabla, as well as studying jazz, resulting in a broad and highly individual compositional and performance style.
I have written for a wide range of music ensembles, from symphony orchestra to solo piano, with a my focus being chamber music incorporating voice and improvisation-based music in which I perform on vibraphone. My focus is on experimentation with rhythmic and formal elements, and microtonal harmony as well as incorporating developments in atonal theory. 
My music has been commissioned or performed by a range of ensembles and soloists, including Daniel Herscovitch, Luminescence, Sideband, the Song Company, Ensemble Offspring, members of Elision, Western Australia Symphony Orchestra New Music Ensemble under Roger Smalley, Australian Piano Quartet, Kerry Yong, Jihyeon Lim, conductor Barry Webb, and the Sydney Conservatorium Percussion Ensemble. A number of works have been recorded for broadcast by the ABC.
As a percussionist I have performed in a variety of ensembles, with a focus on participating in performances of his own music. Recently, the focus has increasingly been on performing, as a member of Sideband and in Mind on Fire, an improvisation-based project with my brother, Sam Gill.

I taught composition and music theory for fifteen years at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (2000 to 2015), and occasionally engaged in casual lecturing up to 2020.
Further information about my ideas can be found in my writings, such as: www.sideband.com.au/zen-music-gill.html
www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/article/…-on-fire
www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/article/…uestions


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Song Of Shining Eyes

Brad Gill Music

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