Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Australian Composers

Australian Composers on Lost Chord Radio

It’s summer in Oz. This week on “The Lost Chord,” escape to the Land Down Under, for an hour of music from Australia.

Alfred Hill was born in Melbourne in 1870, but spent much of his early life in New Zealand. He studied abroad at the Leipzig Conservatory and played second violin in the Gewandhaus Orchestra, under then-kapellmeister Carl Reinecke. He also performed in concerts conducted by Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, and Max Bruch.

Over the course of his career, Hill founded, and/or pushed for, important institutions in both Australia and New Zealand, including one devoted to Maori studies. He composed more than 500 works, among them 12 symphonies, 8 operas, numerous concerti, a mass, 17 string quartets, two cantatas on Maori subjects, and 72 piano pieces. We’ll hear one of his brief-though-atmospheric tone pictures, “The Moon’s Golden Horn.”

Then we’ll turn to Peter Sculthorpe, who was born in Tasmania in 1929. Sculthorpe studied at the Melbourne Conservatorium. Following a period of post-graduate struggles, he won a scholarship to study with Egon Wellesz at Oxford University. Unfortunately, he had to abandon his doctoral studies when his father fell gravely ill. In 1963, Sculthorpe became a lecturer at the University of Sydney, where he remained, more or less, until his death in 2014.

He was one of Australia’s most-honored composers. Much of his music is concerned with Australia and its South Seas environs. The inspiration for many of his works over the decades was his admiration for, and affinity with, Australia’s indigenous cultures. Major philosophical concerns included conservation and the preservation of the environment.

We’ll listen to “Earth Cry,” an evocative piece from 1986. Scored for didgeridoo and orchestra, the work is a plea for balance, suggestive of the Aborigine mindset of living in accordance with natural law and the needs of the land.

Colin Brumby was born in Melbourne in 1933. Like Sculthorpe, he attended the Melbourne Conservatorium, before studying abroad – in his case, in Spain and London – then joined the staff of the music faculty at the University of Queensland. For a few years, he directed the Queensland Opera Company. He received his doctorate from the University of Melbourne, and then returned to Europe for further studies in Rome. In 1981, he received an Advance Australia Award for his services to music. He composed orchestral pieces, music for the stage, choral, chamber and instrumental works, until his death in 2018.

If you love the concertos of Sergei Rachmaninoff, you owe it to yourself to hear Brumby’s Piano Concerto No. 1, from 1984. The work is written in the grand romantic style for a former classmate of some 30 years earlier, the pianist Wendy Pomroy. The piece certainly is a throwback to an earlier age and an unremitting delight.

Slip another shrimp on the barbie, crack open a Foster’s, and join me for “Left Out Back,” neglected music from Australia, on “The Lost Chord,” now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – ALL NEW! – Saturday at 11:00 AM EST/8:00 AM PST

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST

Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

January 11, 2025
Australian Classical Music This Sunday

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” it’s summer in Oz. Escape to the Land Down Under, for an hour of music from Australia.

Alfred Hill was born in Melbourne in 1870, but spent much of his early life in New Zealand. He studied abroad at the Leipzig Conservatory and played second violin in the Gewandhaus Orchestra, under then-kapellmeister Carl Reinecke. He also performed in concerts conducted by Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, and Max Bruch.

Over the course of his career, Hill founded, and/or pushed for, important institutions in both Australia and New Zealand, including one devoted to Maori studies. He composed more than 500 works, among them 12 symphonies, 8 operas, numerous concerti, a mass, 17 string quartets, two cantatas on Maori subjects, and 72 piano pieces. We’ll hear one of his brief-though-atmospheric tone pictures, “The Moon’s Golden Horn.”

Then we’ll turn to Peter Sculthorpe, who was born in Tasmania in 1929. Sculthorpe studied at the Melbourne Conservatorium. Following a period of post-graduate struggles, he won a scholarship to study with Egon Wellesz at Oxford University. Unfortunately, he had to abandon his doctoral studies when his father fell gravely ill. In 1963, Sculthorpe became a lecturer at the University of Sydney, where he remained, more or less, until his death in 2014.

He was one of Australia’s most-honored composers. Much of his music is concerned with Australia and its South Seas environs. The inspiration for many of his works over the decades was his admiration for, and affinity with, Australia’s indigenous cultures. Major philosophical concerns included conservation and the preservation of the environment.

We’ll listen to “Earth Cry,” an evocative piece from 1986. Scored for didgeridoo and orchestra, the work is a plea for balance, suggestive of the Aborigine mindset of living in accordance with natural law and the needs of the land.

Colin Brumby was born in Melbourne in 1933. Like Sculthorpe, he attended the Melbourne Conservatorium, before studying abroad – in his case, in Spain and London – then joined the staff of the music faculty at the University of Queensland. For a few years, he directed the Queensland Opera Company. He received his doctorate from the University of Melbourne, and then returned to Europe for further studies in Rome. In 1981, he received an Advance Australia Award for his services to music. He composed orchestral pieces, music for the stage, choral, chamber and instrumental works, until his death in 2018.

If you love the concertos of Sergei Rachmaninoff, you owe it to yourself to hear Brumby’s Piano Concerto No. 1, from 1984. The work is written in the grand romantic style for a former classmate of some 30 years earlier, the pianist Wendy Pomroy. The piece certainly is a throwback to an earlier age and an unremitting delight.

Slip another shrimp on the barbie, crack open a Foster’s, and join me for “Left Out Back,” neglected music from Australia, this Sunday night at 10:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

January 16, 2022
Aussie Composers Brumby Hill & Beyond on WPRB

As the sun rises over the ‘roos, I hope you’ll join me for a morning of music from the Land Down Under. We’ll enjoy FIVE HOURS of music by Australian composers, including Colin Brumby, who died on January 3rd at the age of 84. Repertoire will range from a symphony by seminal antipodean composer Alfred Hill, influential in both Australia and New Zealand, to an experimental work by a creative artist of the current generation, Carl Vine. Also represented will be a Master of the Queen’s Music, a critic for the New York Herald Tribune, and a figure better known as a conductor, who had his career destroyed because of a lurid scandal involving both sex and witchcraft. If that’s not enough, I’ll also toss in a didgeridoo or two.

Join me as we travel Down Under, to remember the late Colin Brumby and explore the musical outback (from the perspective of the myopic West). It’s all music from Australia, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. I’ll be wrestling crocodiles and savage koalas, on Classic Ross Amico.

January 11, 2018
Australian Composers Brumby Sculthorpe Hill

G’day! This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” in honor of composer Colin Brumby, who died on January 3rd at the age of 84, we’ll travel once again to the Land Down Under for an hour of music from Australia.

Brumby was born in Melbourne in 1933. Like his internationally more recognized colleague, Peter Sculthorpe, he attended the Melbourne Conservatorium. He studied abroad in Spain and London, before joining the staff of the music faculty at the University of Queensland. There, he directed the Queensland Opera Company for a few years. He received his doctorate from the University of Melbourne, and then returned to the Continent for further studies in Rome. In 1981, Brumby received an Advance Australia Award for his services to music. He has written orchestral pieces, music for the stage, choral, chamber and instrumental works.

If you love the concertos of Sergei Rachmaninoff, you owe it to yourself to hear Brumby’s Piano Concerto No. 1, from 1984. The work is written in the grand romantic style for a former classmate of some 30 years earlier, the pianist Wendy Pomroy. The piece certainly is a throwback to an earlier age and an unremitting delight.

Naturally, we’ll also hear some of Sculthorpe’s music. Sculthorpe, born in Tasmania in 1929, also attended the Melbourne Conservatorium. Following a period of post-graduate struggles, he won a scholarship to study with Egon Wellesz at Oxford University. Unfortunately, he had to abandon the pursuit of his doctorate when his father became gravely ill. In 1963, Sculthorpe became a lecturer at the University of Sydney, where he remained, more or less, until his death in 2014.

He attained the status of one of Australia’s most-honored composers. Much of his music is concerned with Australia and its South Seas environs. The focus of many of his pieces over the decades reveals an admiration for, and affinity with, Australia’s indigenous cultures. Major philosophical concerns include conservation and the preservation of the environment.

We’ll listen to “Earth Cry,” an evocative piece from 1986. Scored for didgeridoo and orchestra, the work is a plea for balance, suggestive of the Aborigine mindset of living in accordance with natural law and the needs of the land.

The hour will open with music by Alfred Hill. Hill was born in Melbourne in 1870, but spent much of his early life in New Zealand. He studied abroad, at the Leipzig Conservatory, and played second violin in the Gewandhaus Orchestra, under then-Kapellmeister Carl Reinecke. He also performed in concerts conducted by Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Grieg and Max Bruch.

Throughout the course of his career, Hill founded and/or pushed for important institutions in both Australia and New Zealand, including one devoted to Maori studies. He composed more than 500 works, among them 12 symphonies, 8 operas, numerous concerti, a mass, 17 string quartets, two cantatas on Maori subjects, and 72 piano pieces. We’ll hear one of his brief though atmospheric tone pictures, titled “The Moon’s Golden Horn.”

Slip another shrimp on the barbie, crack open a Foster’s, and join me for “Left Out Back,” neglected music from Australia, this Sunday night at 10:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

January 7, 2018
Earth Day Sculthorpe’s “Earth Cry”

April 22 is Earth Day. Few composers have embraced environmental concerns quite as extensively as the Australian Peter Sculthorpe, many of whose works draw inspiration from the Australian outback, the bushland, Aboriginal elements, and the natural heritage of Oceania. Much of his music is tied up with the preservation of the environment and, more recently, concern over climate change.

Sculthorpe’s “Earth Cry” is a very good example. Here’s a fine performance, posted on YouTube, though it seems to lack the didgeridoo so prominent on the more recent Naxos recording.

Sculthorpe will turn 85 on April 29.

April 22, 2014

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