Written in March 2024. Orchestra.
The Adoration of the Shepherds, Giorgione.

The Adoration Of The Shepherds

Australian composer, born 1960, married to Clare Maclean (New Zealand/Australian composer). The first extended series of paintings were by my father, Barry Carroll [more recently I have used other painters]. There is a wide variety of music here: recent compositions, pieces written in my thirties, student works, and pieces written in my teenage years. Its mostly based on Finale versions of my scores. There is a full list of my Soundcloud pieces at https://john-carroll-poems.com/soundcloud-recordings/

Soon after I started learning piano I began composing. At university I studied with Peter Sculthorpe (1978-81) [and earlier, with Martin Wesley-Smith, Moya Henderson and Eric Gross]. My style was modernist (In Terra Pax, Sonata for Two Pianos and Horn, Qui Tollis). After my studies I felt drawn to tonality. Many of my pieces were written during my thirties. My style is often tonal, sometimes using the structures of classical music, sometimes incorporating traditional melodies, aiming to express a sense of the timeless goodness in existence. I became a pastor. There was a twenty year exile from composition, during which time I started writing poetry. In December 2017 my wife showed me how to write Finale scores - here are the results! 

In 2018 I began composing again. Over 1630 new works have been written, each one canonic - using Plainsong, Jewish cantillation, Scottish pibrochs, Icelandic music, early transcriptions of Aboriginal music, Breton and Northumbrian melodies, Gaelic psalms, Irish and English tunes, Welsh folk songs, and my own melodies (Landscapes and Angels, and a extended series of works that accompany paintings) "joining our voice to a great communal voice that calls out across the centuries" (Ben Myers). Bruckner greatly influenced me when I was young. May I also create melodies that "arc from heaven" (Colin Davies). 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100025651981505
Poetry: https://john-carroll-poems.com/ 
Email: yomechad7@gmail.com
Thesis: https://john-carroll-poems.com/lament-and-homecoming-1/

The Adoration Of The Shepherds

John Carroll