CSM 18: McSullea/Harvey Music for Flute Piano and Computer-Generated Sounds by Humble, Pollard, Walker, Yu, Banks, Worrall & Burt
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/1885/733722803
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Item Open Access Mark Pollard: Under Simple Stars (1989)(Canberra School of Music, Australian National University, 1989) Composer: Mark Pollard; McSullea, Mardi; Harvey, Michael Kieran; Grafton-Greene, Michael"This work was commissioned by Mardi McSullea in 1989 with assistance from the Australia Council. The title was inspired by star-gazing, and for the composer seems to describe aptly the fascinating interaction of complexity and beauty that exists in natural phenomena. Under Simple Stars attempts to capture aspects of this interaction through an exploration of musical abstractions and the natural beauty of the alto flute. The opening evocative breath and bent sounds gradually move to definite notes, and then a melody. Performance enhancement is used through the addition of digital reverb to provide a constant sense of depth. Performer and technology interact to form a soundscape." -- Mark PollardItem Open Access Julian Yu: Scintillation III for Flute and Piano (1987)(Canberra School of Music, Australian National University, 1987) Composer: Julian Yu; McSullea, Mardi; Harvey, Michael Kieran; Grafton-Greene, Michael"Scintillation is a series of three pieces written in 1987. The first is for solo piano, the second for piano and metallic percussion, and this, the third, is for flute and piano, with the flute developing the melodic aspects of the work. The music is based on a mode characterised by perfect-fourth and minor-second intervals, which are responsible for the strong pentatonic flavour. The title refers to the brightness of the metallic instruments for which the piece was originally conceived, and also to the flowery nature of the music. The Chinese character for scintillation is made up of two parts, themselves meaning fire and joy (or music)." -- Julian YuItem Open Access Warren Burt: Remembering Griffes (1989, rev. 1992)(Canberra School of Music, Australian National University, 1989) Composer: Warren Burt; McSullea, Mardi; Harvey, Michael Kieran; Grafton-Greene, Michael"Late in 1989,1 made some sounds on my synthesiser that played two tones at a time, tuned to the pure intervals of the harmonic series. I then began to experiment with playing these two tones in different scales. I got the best results - lots of interesting microtonal intervals and beating sounds - when I used a scale of 17 tones per octave. At this point, I imagined a flute over these sounds. My fascination with the music of the pioneer American modernist composer Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884-1920) led me to wonder how his type of melodies would go with my microtonal sounds. Using the computer, I made a tape of my sounds. Eventually, I improvised a flute part that used and varied both original materials and the opening theme from Griffes Poem for Flute and Orchestra, which I then notated. In performance, the flautist plays the notated part, while I play the computer. The two parts, flute and computer, have different characteristics, are in different tunings, and progress at different speeds; I think they sit well together." -- Warren BurtItem Open Access Allan Walker: Six Scenes for Flute and Piano (1992)(Canberra School of Music, Australian National University, 1992) Composer: Allan Walker; McSullea, Mardi; Harvey, Michael Kieran; Grafton-Greene, Michael"The origin of Six Scenes is a collection of pieces for clarinet and piano. This new form for flute and piano invited changes to the original pieces, so some were extended, and most demanded substantial recomposition in order to maintain convincing harmonies, melodic shapes and a balanced sound. The pieces are very simple - essentially composition studies - each briefly exploring a different musical idea. The common thread is the same source pitch material (an ordered twelve-tone collection) which tends to create recurring melodic and harmonic patterns. The Scenes are: i) a recitative; ii) an embellished, shared line; iii) an aphorism; iv) gradually changing pitch fields defined by notes in fixed registers; v) a texture of four elements: staccato chords, rapid ornamentation, and two melodies; and vi). a dance which vaporises." -- Allan WalkerItem Open Access Don Banks: Three Episodes for Flute and Piano (1964)(Canberra School of Music, Australian National University, 1964) Composer: Don Banks; McSullea, Mardi; Harvey, Michael Kieran; Grafton-Greene, Michael"These pieces were written in London for the Australian expatriate flautist Douglas Whittiker. The writing in each of the Episodes is highly gestural, with small rhythmically-charged motives shifting between the two players. The challenges of working independently-motivated freedoms and intricate ensemble co-ordination runs through the three pieces. The influence of jazz, Bankss own latent humour and imagination (particularly for colour) and the focussed play of rhythmic elements makes for chamber music of power and subtlety." -- Mardi McSulleaItem Open Access David Worrall: Air (1993)(Canberra School of Music, Australian National University, 1993) Composer: David Worrall; McSullea, Mardi; Harvey, Michael Kieran; Grafton-Greene, Michael"Air was commissioned by Mardi McSullea with assistance from the Australia Council. The piece is in two movements, opening with an Alap, a prelude movement for solo flute in which the musical materials (from key-clicks and other noises to multiphonics) of the work are gradually exposed. It is played with a sense of drama and intensity. The flute is amplified with some reverberation. The second movement is an improvisation for live flute and computer-controlled streams of sampled and transformed flute sounds. In preparation for performance, the flautist and electronicist plan the improvisation within the guidelines given. They select one or more subsets of samples, and prepare separate disks accordingly." -- David WorrallItem Open Access Keith Humble: Sonata for Flute and Piano (1990)(Canberra School of Music, Australian National University, 1990) Composer: Keith Humble; McSullea, Mardi; Harvey, Michael Kieran; Grafton-Greene, Michael"The Sonata, commissioned by 2MBS-FM in Sydney, is dedicated to the expatriate Australian flautist John Wion. Mardi McSullea gave the first performance of the Sonata at the Canberra School of Music in 1992. The Sonata displays a continuation of musical processes that I first exploited in my string quartet, Four All Seasons, and is in four movements, the third concluding with an extended cadenza. Companion compositions include my fourth Piano Sonata, the Sonata for Trombone and Piano and the Eight Bagatelles for Piano." -- Keith HumbleItem Open Access Anthology of Austraian Music on Disc: CSM: 18 McSullea/Harvey Music for Flute Piano and Computer-Generated Sounds by Humble, Pollard, Walker, Yu, Banks, Worrall & Burt(Canberra School of Music, Australian National University) Campbell, Peter