Vocal Music

A colourful work which celebrates Christmas with a touch of humour. Part of Charles Anthony Silvestri’s ‘I Wonder’ series.

A Carol

Music Composed and Conducted by Joseph Twist
as part of the ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop 2013 with Richard Bellis

Recorded at Newman Scoring Stage 20th Century FOX by The Hollywood Studio Symphony, Los Angeles, CA. 

Demo Video Edited by Aaron Kenny

Many thanks to all of the amazing, generous people involved in the ASCAP Film and TV Workshop for the an invaluable opportunity.

"Mariachi Cartoon Chase" : Cartoon Chase Demo

Blackhole

A simple a cappella arrangement of Silent Night with lush jazz harmonies

Silent Night

For Orchestra
Commissioned by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra as part of the Australian Compsers' School, 2007

Fanfare For The Common Consumer

For Chamber Orchestra
Commissioned by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Brett Kelly, 2011.

I Dance Myself to Sleep (for Chamber Orchestra)

For Chamber Orchestra
Commissioned by the Australian Youth Orchestra Tutors Ensemble, 2007

The Zion Variations

For Orchestra
Commissioned by Orchestra Victoria for the Symphony Australia Composer Development Program, 2005. Conducted by Richard Mills.

Sinfonietta For A Sleepless Sunrise

Commissioned by The Choir of St James', Sydney. 2011.
Available on their CD "Metamorphosis"

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hombres-victoria-victoria!/id862780118?i=862780208

Hombres Victoria, Victoria! (from Three Motets After Victoria)

Commissioned by The Choir of St James', Sydney. 2011.
Available on their CD "Metamorphosis"

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/lamentation-of-jeremiah/id862780118?i=862780210

Metamorphosis

Lamentation of Jeremiah (from Three Motets After Victoria)

Commissioned by the Choir of St James' Sydney, 2011.
Available on their CD "Metamorphosis"

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/versa-est-in-luctum/id862780118?i=862780138

Versa Est In Luctum (from Three Motets After Victoria)

Commissioned and recorded by the Brisbane Chamber Choir, 2006.


Lament

Lament for Choir and Cello

Live performance by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as part of the "50 Fanfares Project".
Australia’s night sky is a unique and special view of of our galaxy. When we escape the light pollution of our cities, we can stare directly into the endless sparking wonders of the Milky Way, including Magellan and globular clusters only visible from the Southern Hemisphere. It’s a truly spiritual experience for me. What I find particularly fascinating is the way stars represent a kind of paradoxical mystery; we look to them with hope and wonder of the future as the Hubble and new Webb telescopes provide spectacular glimpses of an endless universe; and yet, in truth, they are lights from billions of years into the ancient past. Moreover, it is fascinating to think that these lights are far older than even this ancient land, providing inspiration to millennia of First Nations culture, just as they do today. 

I’m certainly not an expert on any of this - I don’t even own a telescope - but I enjoy seeking out and cherishing such experiences. In 2017 I paid far too much money for a trip to Nashville Tennessee to see a solar eclipse. Recently my boyfriend and I walked through the Rainbow Beach rainforest on a dark moonless night towards Carlo Sand Blow - one of many wonderful stargazing spots here in Queensland. Small clusters of stars shone brightly through the trees as we made our way gradually to the clearing where the night sky opened up to a multitude of sparkling lights. 

Aside from the wonder and mystery of it all, I was struck by how joyful the experience was. I’ve endeavoured to capture these feelings in “Ancient Lights, Mystic Sky.” This short orchestral fanfare is a celebration of Australia’s unique vantage point of our galaxy’s stars. Solo woodwind lines are woven into syncopated dance rhythms which develop into grand orchestral climaxes - a musical reflection of a few stars glimmering through the rainforest trees, leading to a cluster of bright lights, finally revealing the great expanse of the entire night sky. As the music calms, the sparkles continue with with harp, percussion and string harmonics, before a soaring legato melody in cellos and violas begins. This melody is from my choral work “On The Night Train”, a setting of a Henry Lawson poem which I believe captures the feelings of mystery and wonder described above.

“Have you seen the bush by moonlight, from the train, go running by? 
Here a patch of glassy water; there a glimpse of mystic sky? 
Have you heard the still voice calling — yet so warm, and yet so cold: 
"I'm the Mother-Bush that bore you! Come to me when you are old"?”

Ancient Lights, Mystic Sky (Live)

Dancing with Somebody is a musical celebration of the life, music and persona of diva sensation Whitney Houston, one of my favourite pop artists. Embedded subtly within the work’s thematic language are fragments of her hit tunes The Greatest Love of All and
I Wanna Dance With Somebody. This string quartet explores Whitney’s rise to stardom and glamour, her superstar talent and prowess, as well as her gradual decline from grace, her struggle with drugs and her eventual, tragic death. The overriding musical character of Dancing with Somebody is ironically jovial and buoyant. Despite this, the work juxtaposes light-hearted music with moments of eerie grotesqueness, culminating in an intense ‘dance macabre’ with allusions to heavy metal and dub-step. These musical juxtapositions might be considered as a reflection of society’s flippant, hedonistic obsession with tabloid scandal and rumour, overshadowing the celebrity’s raw talent, potential and humanity. Ultimately, Dancing with Somebody expresses my admiration of Whitney’s unforgettable voice, her enchanting persona, and the lasting impact of her legacy on millions of people around the world.

I Dance Myself To Sleep

Dancing With Somebody

I Dance Myself to Sleep explores the general idea of sleep, but more specifically it relates to a perplexing recurring dream that involves the central ‘female companion’ characters from some of my favourite childhood movies like Superman, the Indiana Jones films and the Star Wars saga. Representing this is a repeated, romantic melody – a ‘love theme’ written at the age of twelve (photographed on back page of this booklet) in homage to the enchanting love themes in film scores by John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith and Max Steiner. However, this recurring dream developed over several years, becoming less whimsical and naive, allegorically suggesting a loss of innocence. This is represented musically in my work by the juxtaposition of sweeping romanticism and haunting musical gestures. The simple melody is played in contexts made bittersweet by complex jazz-based harmonic language that shrouds and taints the unadorned melody. I Dance Myself to Sleep was written for pianist Sally Whitwell and later adapted for orchestra for a commission from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. 

I Dance Myself to Sleep

I Dance Myself To Sleep (Piano)

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

or the National Youth Choir of Australia, 2012
with financial assistance from the Music Board of the Australia Council for the Arts
Words from:
"A Song of Hope" by Odgeroo of the trip Noonuccal,
from My People

One Voice

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How Shall We Sing In A Strange Land? Adelaide Chamber Singers

On The Night Train sets the scene of a train dashing through the Australian bush at dusk, as described by Henry Lawson’s graceful poetry.The emptiness of the Australian outback is represented by long, sustained pitches in the opening and closing sections of the work, above which a simple, folk-like melody is sung. This melody is also used throughout a rhythmic contrasting section where the singers create the impression of a moving train with “scat-like” nonsense syllables and whispered vocal effects.

Soar

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On the Night Train

Commissioned  and performed by by the National Youth Choir of Australia, directed by Graeme Morton.
SSAATB choir, Medium — modal / chromatic harmonic language but with clear voice leading. Text by Mary Frye (public domain)

In Memoriam

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Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep

Based on a Hungarian Folk text, written 2003,  performed by Chanticleer, San Fransisco, USA.

Wandering

Jubilate Deo is an engaging, rhythmic vocal work which sets a celebratory sacred text with syncopated rhythms and pentatonic modal writing inspired by world music from Africa and Latin America.
Performed by LA Choral Lab, 2016, directed by Michael Alfera

Sonic Visions

Jubilate Deo, LA Choral Lab

"Where charity and love are, God is there." A commemoration of Jesus Christ for Holy Thursday, for me, the Ubi Caritas has a few significant dimensions; the warmth of Christ's love, the adoration and mystery of the holy spirit, and the idea of an 'inclusive, universal' celebration.

Luminescence

Ubi Caritas

This challenging work for treble voices and conga (or djembe) is inspired by various styles of world music, particularly the syncopated rhythms of samba music. The melodic and harmonic language is based pentatonic and mixolydian modes, adopted throughout etherial, aleotoric textures and energetic syncopated homophony throughout the piece.

Joe's Compositions

Benedicto - Sydney Children's Choir

Legends & Dreams

Rain Dream, Sydney Children's Choir

Peace At The Last (Choir, Orchestra)

My 8 part madrigal Weep O Mine Eyes, inspired by the original renaissance madrigal settings, as well as the music of Gesualdo with a pinch of Bill Evans, was performed live by the amazing singers of The Golden Bridge in Los Angeles, California, directed by Suzi Digby. The piece was also performed by Voces8 for their Composition Competition in 2017. Words such as "to swell so high that I may drown me in you" are rich with imagery; a phrase that is as powerful as it is ironic, describing both love and death simultaneously in one beautiful sentence. My "reflection" setting of the original madrigal text is as much about grief as it is about the sensual and the sublime, maybe even a touch salacious...

Weep O Mine Eyes

Suitable for younger children, this peaceful song explores our dreams and gives an opportunity for individual children to participate in the action! This work engages young singers with simple melodies as well as musical games to as part of each movement, involving the young singers in the composition creatively.

Goodnight (Easy Songs and Games) with strings

Salvator Mundi (Saviour of the World) is a setting of a Latin sacred text which deals quite specifically with the redemption of the sins of man through the crucifixion of Christ. The work contrasts the ethereal with the dramatic by juxtaposing simple, luminous harmonies against rich, intense dissonance, thereby capturing the penitence and devotion of the text.

Salvator Mundi

Suitable for younger children, this peaceful song explores our dreams and gives an opportunity for individual children to participate in the action!

Goodnight (Easy Songs and Games)

Great Minds highlights and juxtaposes the opinions and ideas of great minds from the 21st century. Short statements from selected luminary figures are set as lyrics in this four movement song cycle, which explores various contrasting styles of music throughout. These musical ‘portraits’ explore the character and personalities of some important figures. It celebrates advances in the fields of science, technology, politics, and business by highlighting the achievements of such individuals as Stephen Hawking, Steve Jobs, Nelson Mandela, concluding the work with words by Australian James Kendall.

Nelson Mandela (Great Minds)

composer/arranger. Created music for the likes of Moby, The Wiggles, Missy Higgins, Kate Miller-Heidke, The Idea of North, Chanticleer, Voces8,  and Disney Animated Series "Bluey".

Joseph Twist

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