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

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)

Composition by Thomas Bryla
Arrangement by Dave Panichi
Performed by the Danish Radio Big Band 10.1.2014
Winner of the 2014 DPA Jazz Competition

Pentatonique

'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

JENNA PRATT - Uneasy Echoes

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

Ryan Walsh - Orchestration Reel - 2016

Composed by Gabriel Fauré.

Organ: Robin Jordan
1st Violin: Hui Nguyen Bui
2nd Violin: Ewan Harvey
Viola: Ella Brinch
Cello: Andy Hines
Double Bass: Andy Meisel

Produced by John Lewis at Flat Rock Studios, Naremburn NSW.

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Pie Jesu

Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring

Upbeat final movement to Jandamarra Sing to the Country, performed by Gondwana Choirs and Sydney Symphony Orchestra cond. Brett Weymark.

This is Our Home (From Jandamarra Sing for the Country)

Australian David Sudmalis' gorgeous contribution to the upcoming V/A compilation via Mélodies Souterraines.

Pre-order: https://melodiessouterraines.bandcamp.com

Info: https://www.xlr8r.com/news/2018/04/premiere-hear-a-gorgeous-new-track-from-australias-david-sudmalis/

@david-sudmalis
@melodiessouterraines

Info

Premiere: David Sudmalis - Aquamarine

“Sati” in Sanskrit language refers to “mindfulness” in the Buddhist sense. In the fast-paced world we live in there has been a global recognition for the need to achieve some inner peace and calm with pastimes such as meditation, positive thinking and even colouring books, which have brought to our attention the need to shut out the commotion and negative stressful thoughts that hamper our wellbeing.

The piece is quite pretty and peaceful in it’s opening moments, a contemplative and gentle mood where the mind is focused. We are beginning our journey of mindfulness. The material develops into more strident and emotional statements of melody – especially from the violin, which is leading the music into an escalated “sturm and drang” middle section where the piano’s repetitive motifs are countered with an attempt in the left hand to bring back the melody and return to peace again. The violin echoes the melodies presented but introduces more material of a more disturbed nature in trills and sul pont tremolos that cause tension. Negative thoughts are often difficult to escape!

The piece then slows down into an attempt at bring back the more contemplative material with repeated notes in the piano’s left hand, and the high grace-note octaves from the opening of the piece echo the opening character. However this attempt at bringing the mind back to stillness is not working as the melancholy repeated notes and the sojourn into a bittersweet passage in a minor key are representative of a sad memory entering the mind and then causing a major disruption, a flashback that triggers a tumultuous ascent into an emotional outpouring, quelled only when the piano again brings back the high melodic fragments and triplet quavers that signify that peace is achievable if we can only quiet the mind and focus on the positive.

Another attempt is made by the violin to join the piano in it’s reverie but again it brings the material back to an angrier state with a strong tremolo on low G#. It seems that negative emotions are winning over in this battle, and the violin represents the fluctuating nature of thoughts: we move quickly between sweetness and sadness, floating along with the piano and then railing against it.

After a stop and a pause, the piano takes control with a very strong statement of triumphant ascending triads which symbolizes the mind throwing off the negative emotions it has been subjected to, and with a passionate force brings both players back to the peacefulness heard in the opening moments of the piece.

Performed by Kyla Matsuura-Miller (violin) and Adam McMillan (piano)

Second movement:
https://soundcloud.com/jessica-wells-5/satya-violin-and-piano

Sati - Violin And Piano

An excerpt from the live recording of Kodama's premiere by the Orange Symphony Orchestra. This excerpt depicts fourth tree, represented by the percussion section, marked as the West Kodama - the dusk of transformation. 

Photo of Byng St in Orange by Megan Duckworth (@megsjaned on Instagram)

About Kodama:
Kodama (木霊) refers to a tree sprit in Japanese mythology. Over the course of history these personifications have changed from a singular God of the forest, to something akin to Greek dryads, to the pixie or goblin-like creatures made famous in the West by Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke.

When David Shaw commissioned me to write this work for the Orange Symphony, I wanted to write something that reminded me of home, of the Orange I grew up in. I remember three things vividly: brisk winds, colourful everchanging trees, and deep-rooted communities.

This piece draws upon my deep love of mythology and fantasy. The world begins barren and empty, with the only hints of changing being the Kodama melody echoing through the winds. Each family of instrument sprouts its own tree in turn; North – Heavenly & Ethereal, East – A dawn chorus of birds, South – Energetic & Vibrant, and West – The dusk of transformation. These trees grow together to become a single forest, a single diverse community, before we are blown away on yet another wind…

Credits:
Composer - Cameron Lam
Performed by Orange Symphony Orchestra, 
Concertmaster: Lorraine Moxey
Conducted by Ben MacPherson OAM
Recorded by James Buchanan

Kodama (Tree Soul): [Live Excerpt] - performed by Orange Symphony Orchestra

Seascapes by Jessica Wells
Featuring Australian Operatic Soprano Jacqueline Dark, this three movement work was written especially for Lyn Fuller to perform on the National Carillon (bell tower) which will be recorded in 2020. (current carillon sound is a sample).
Commissioned by the National Capital Authority this piece was premiered in Barcelona and will have more performances in 2020 in Canberra and Philedelphia.
There are three movements to this work:
Seascapes
1 Coral City
2 Atlantis
3 Monsoon Gyre

Seascapes - 3 Monsoon Gyre

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.

Muntu Walunga - solo harp

Jessica Wells

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