Fire in the heavens sets a text by the early 20th-century Australian poet Christopher Brennan, describing the oppressive power of the noonday sun in the Australian bush. The language is distinguished by great vividness and energy, qualities I have tried to reflect in my setting, which is comparably extreme in its use of word-painting. The choir is divided into three throughout, but with occasional further divisions, creating at times the effect of three different choirs. The most unusual feature of the piece is its exploration of consonant sounds, both percussive and sustained, as equal partners with the vowels in creating musical and expressive effects. The high level of intensity throughout the work perhaps partly reflects the circumstances of its composition, in an unusually cold and snowy Boston winter - while at the same time Sydney was ringed by bushfires.

Elliott Gyger (born 1968) - Fire in the Heavens (8-part version)

From Monteverdi's fourth book of madrigals.

That little bird which sings
So sweetly
And gaily flies
Now from the fir to the beechtree
And now from the beech to the myrtle,
If he had a human mind,
Would say: I burn with love, I burn with love!
But in his heart he burns indeed
And calls to his beloved
Who replies to him:
I too am burning with love!
How fortunate you are,
Sweet little loving bird!

Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1607) - Quel augellin che canta

Giandrea Pauletta's setting of the Agnus Dei (2012).

Giandrea Pauletta - Agnus Dei

Victoria's stunning setting of Psalm 137 for 8 voices.

By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept: when we remembered thee, O Sion.
As for our harps, we hanged them up: upon the trees that are therein.
For they that led us away captive required of us then a song, and melody in our heaviness:
Sing us one of the songs of Sion.
How shall we sing the Lord's song: in a strange land?

Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548–1611) - Super flumina Babilonis

The celebrated Irish folksong in Percy Grainger's inimitable arrangement.

The Consort of Melbourne

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