Name: Squirrels In Hyde Park by Jessica Wells in 2017 Waves
Duration: 1 min 59 s
Description: Written for KARAK Percussion - two marimbas.

End of year playlist from Making Waves:  this is a marathon collection of all Soundcloud tracks featured in playlists this year.  Your holiday listening sorted!

2017 Waves

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

JENNA PRATT - Uneasy Echoes

Responsibility

A response to the lives lost in Paris, November 2015. The piece attempts to portray the confused but overwhelmingly energised inner workings of a young, fanaticised mind and give form to their misshapen and distorted reality.

Works by playwright Wole Soyinka influenced my choice of perspective when approaching this topic. 

… the shadowy one, the waiter-stalker, a youth
 Fed on dreams of sarabands of houris
 Doe-eyed virgins, wine and sweetmeats in the afterlife 
But to his paradise, a key - the plunging knife. 

an excerpt from Samarkand
by Wole Soyinka

The Fanatic or I Am Right You Are Dead

Commissioned by Samantha Wolf for International Women's Day 2016 concert: This Will Be Our Reply. First performed on 7th March 2016 by Tamara Kohler, Gemma Tomlinson, Aaron Klein, & Adam McMillan.

There is usually more complexity on the inside than what is initially seen.

"On the Inside" explores the many aspects of identity throughout a woman’s life, from growth to complexity, (as opposed to innocence to uselessness). It rejects the idea that women are to be seen as objects only, that a woman’s value lies in her physical attributes and functionality to another. 

Musically, this piece started with a single small motif that is heard about a third of the way in, which I then grew and developed continuously. Despite rejecting external ideals, aspects that might be perceived as "beauty" have been retained because, like all characteristics, beauty is not something to be ashamed of or feared.

On The Inside

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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**Also available on Apple Music, Bandcamp and most other streaming and download platforms

Pie Jesu

Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring

[text by Rhys Nixon, composed && performed by Dan Thorpe].

going wild here on the footpath

a dog looked at me, walked away

going to buy a dog off amazon after getting something to eat

send pictures of dogs to strangers

no one sends any back

windows fogged up 

cant see inside

 

what am i doing between tabs i’m not looking at

another day, another empty mail box

no we don’t want to subscribe to your newsletter

no we are happy with our bandwidth 

no we don’t care about your coupons

no this letter isn’t meant for us


been waiting outside way too long

yes, it’s exactly what it looks like, more than one train approaching

walk down the street in pajamas, will people even look 

they glance and mutter

they really do need to subscribe

looks like their bandwidth is low

probably uses coupons

 

walking on footpaths, broken rubbish bag

empty milk bottles rolling into gutters

think of picking them up

we don’t, look at the bus drive past

everyone waiting

 

i can use this, open a store, sell my ideas

watches don’t tell the time, coffee tastes like water

inbuilt spelling mistake maker

automatic Facebook liker

app that answers the door

service that compares all the dogs in your area

white noise dream catcher

 

if i tackled a police officer would people stop me

or will the police officer step aside

consider this while waiting for a coffee

consider this while you exit the train station

consider that the police officer 

didn’t look at you

 

i walked into traffic and all the cars stopped politely, 

the drivers weren't watching me

if you were waiting for me

i’m sorry about that

it must be the water

can i get a drink

 

i’ll look at a sad picture and not feel the need to cry

until someone says ‘wow that made me cry a lot’

we’ll walk to the bank

take all our money

throw it on the road

watch cars drive over it

pick it up and deposit it again

 

don’t worry about it, honestly, 

i’ll make sure to stand up straighter

and meet up with friends

we’ll be the friendliest people

on the end of our street

in our complex

in our combined bank account

linked to our insurance company

 

bury my face in funny videos

don’t want to know anymore

turn the volume down here so i wont be noticed

give up sleeping

stay up every day

everything feels blue

we won’t be photographed

Considerate

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)

What can we do, there's nothing to do,
about sickness and hunger and dying.
What can we do, there's nothing to do,
nothing but cursing and crying.

Find something to burn.
Let it go up in smoke.
burn your troubles away.

Sometimes it's witches or what will you choose?
Sometimes it's lunatics, shut them away.
It's blacks and it's women and often it's Jews.
We's all be quite happy if they'd go away.

Find something to burn.
Let it go up in smoke.
burn your troubles away.

The lyrics of Caryl Churchill from her play 'Vinegar Tom'. Performed and composed by ALPHAMALE (https://soundcloud.com/dad-dreams) and Marlene Claudine Radice. This piece premiered in COUP Canberra's 2016 production of Vinegar Tom.
http://www.agac.com.au/2016/12/the-musicians-of-vinegar-tom/

Cut Common interview with Hannah and Marlene: http://www.cutcommonmag.com/how-can-we-use-music-to-achieve-social-change/

Something To Burn

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

Written for KARAK Percussion - two marimbas. 

Squirrels In Hyde Park

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.


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Squirrels In Hyde Park

Jessica Wells

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