A selection from our music and poetry collaborative CD - A Rain from the Shadows. A mesmerising and poignant reflection on human existence, the ten works on 'A Rain from the Shadows' were created over several years with the involvement of a number of acclaimed South Australian and international poets. As well as drawing inspiration from existing verse by US-based poet Gary Soto, SA’s Rob Walker and Iraqi- born/Adelaide-based Yahia Al-Samaway, Zephyr Quartet commissioned new poetry to be written in response to their own music - from such lauded Adelaide writers as Nicki Bloom and Mike Ladd, along with Tasmania’s Finegan Kruckemeyer. 

Combining bittersweet harmonies with soaring melodies and hypnotic rhythms, the new CD paints a confident and sensual picture of contemporary classical music in Australia today. Beautifully packaged with artwork by Barbara Coddington (Little Red Hen Studio) and an anthology booklet of all the poetry, A Rain from the Shadows is an enthralling sequence of musical and poetical commentaries on a myriad of life experiences.


Shearwaters - Belinda Gehlert

A Rain from the Shadows - Hilary Kleinig

Zephyr Quartet + voiceROM = zephyrROM

Zephyr Quartet & voiceROM join forces to create 'VoiceQuartet' this debut album of live strings, sampler wizardry, sensible drumming and very short songs. Here is a sample of the songs....

Falconwood Pinblock - Composed by Jarrad Payne & Dylan Marshall, Arr. by Jarrad Payne

Checkmate - Composed by Jarrad Payne & Dylan Marshall, Arr. by Belinda Gehlert

Peañuts - Composed by Jarrad Payne & Dylan Marshall, Arr. by Belinda Gehlert

Some of the commissions from our Electro Acoustic Projects 1 & 2.

This Is Not For You - Adam Page

A commission from Zephyr Quartet's Electro Acoustic Projects 2.

Program note by Fiona Hill
'This piece is an exploration of the concept of reincarnation through its overarching structure. The themes begin reversed and build to midway through the piece, here is the point of reincarnation where the themes enter in their true form. This represents the process of exploration and accumulation of knowledge up until the point of death; now the spirit may truly take flight and become itself.
Each half of the piece acts as a mirror to the other; each cycle/loop/melody is reversed bar by bar in the first half of the piece, thus the material is heard in its original form throughout the second. The reversed material centres around the tonality of C mixolydian, whilst the original material centres around the tonality of F Aeolian.  
The piece is a gradual building of texture through the use of loops (or repeated patterns/ostinati). This technique whilst familiar to the minimalist genre is also a technique used frequently in electronic dance music. Through the exploration of compositional process in conjunction with looping/ostinato, I hope to find a balance between ‘Western Art Music’ and ‘Popular music’.'

Reincarnate - Fiona Hill

End Game - Luke Harrald

A commissions from Zephyr Quartet's Electro Acoustic Project 2.
Zoë Barry writes:
Zoe Barry

'My piece is an accompanying piece to Dear Boy, written for the first Zephyr Electroacoustic Project. Dear Boy, inspired by a Bill Henson photograph,  was about a sensation of suspension, being contained in a state of stasis that could be fear or ecstacy. The new piece will be the release - diving, falling and spiralling upwards, to very dark depths and a sense of sublime flight. It features samples from a modern Iranian piece, an old knitting machine, sounds from a mellotron and accordion, and is inspired by Biber's Mystery Sonatas, a set of fifteen compositions based on the mysteries of the rosary from the 1670s. It has a strong sense of vertical, accent and descent, and is a continuation of a short piece I wrote for the Restless Dance Theatre production Safe From Harm.'

A Man Is Down - Zoë Barry

A commission from Zephyr Quartet's Electro Acoustic Project 1.

Program note by Zoë: 
'Dear Boy began as a response to a photo by Bill Henson, from his ‘Untitled 1970/80’ series. It shows a young boy suspended, floating, drowning or sleeping,
ecstatic or tortured, prepared for the good or the bad of surrender. It could be an x-ray, painting or photo, he could be a ghost or a memory. He is submerged and transcendent. I have used sounds from 1920s Turkey, 1990s America and 1600s Spain. The piece is dedicated to Jeremy Hartgen and his family.'

Dear Boy - Zoë Barry

A commission from Zephyr Quartet's Electro Acoustic Project.

Program note by Fiona:
'My piece for Zephyr’s WIRED project takes its inspiration from the poem ‘Spider’ by Australian/Iranian poet Granaz Moussavi. The electroacoustic component incorporates pre-recorded voice (of the poet), electronics and prepared piano which is played simultaneously with live strings. The piece explores three basic combinations of these facets- featured electroacoustics, featured strings and their combination.

About the poem:
Spider is the name of a big chapter in the Koran and the poem has some direct references to this. It is the dialogue between a female prisoner and the authorities whom she is resisting.
 
The last two verses of the poem say that 'The rope on my throat is like a border between the desert and singing' which in a symbolic way is what happens to people, in this case a woman, that resist against the Islamic authorities. In traditional Islamic culture singing is prohibited for singular female voices.

Spider - Fiona Hill

Zephyr Quartet is a bold and adventurous string quartet delighting in the exploration of diverse musics and collaborations.

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