Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Image: Stephen Adams  

This March, on ABC Classic FM, we present a very special series of historical programs on the music and life of composer, improviser and experimenter David Ahern. The month’s broadcasts also feature an intriguing all-Australian Sunday Live debut from the Leichardt Espresso Chorus and many other Australian concert works across the schedule of concert, studio and disc-based programs.

And if you visit our website’s classic/amp, you can listen to audio-on-demand of key works in David Ahern’s career as well as many other works by Australian composers of the past and of today.

New Music Up Late

Saturday 7 March 10.30pm – After Ahern… the rise and fall of an innovator part 1
Tonight we begin our month-long focus on the music of composer, experimenter and improviser David Ahern. We feature the broadcast premiere of veteran ABC producer Andrew McLennan’s new 3-part feature series, Down For The Count: Episodes in the Musical Life of David Ahern, alongside the music of contemporary artists whose work resonates with his legacy.

Saturday 14 March 10.30pm – After Ahern… the rise and fall of an innovator part 2

Saturday 21 March 10.30pm – After Ahern… the rise and fall of an innovator part 3

Saturday 28 March 10.30pm – After Ahern… the rise and fall of an innovator part 4
Tonight we wrap up our month-long Ahern special with more music from Ahern and related Australian musical innovators.

Sunday Live

Direct broadcast from the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, Penrith, New South Wales. Concert-goers in the greater Western Sydney area are welcome. Please be seated by 2.50pm as the performance begins promptly at 3pm. Entry is free.

Sunday 22 March 3.00pm – Leichhardt Espresso Chorus/Michelle Leonard: 'Love, Lust and Longing. Songs for Edward and Bella'. An all-Australian program inspired by writer Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight. Sally Whitwell – She walks in beauty; The song of the wandering Aengus; Dan Walker – Excerpts from Seven Deadly Sins; Marco Creazzo – Ave Maria; Elena Kats-Chernin – Longing

Sunday 29 March 3.00pm – Elana Stone Quartet
Incl. Elana Stone – Seaplane; Everybody's doing it

In Performance

Wednesday 11 March 8pm – Huntington Estate Music Festival 2008
Goldner String Quartet and others.
Incl. Paul Stanhope – String Quartet No 1

Thursday 12 March 7.30pm – Australian String Quartet Season Opener
Incl. Nigel Westlake – High Tension Wires (String Quartet No.1)

Wednesday 18 March 8pm – Huntington Estate Music Festival 2008
Goldner String Quartet and others.
Incl. Peter Sculthorpe – String Quartet No 16

Friday 27 March 8pm – Adelaide Symphony Orchestra Season Opener
Feng Ning, violin; Arvo Volmer, conductor.
Incl. Nigel Westlake – Shimmering Blue

Saturday 28 March 8pm – Australia Ensemble 2009 Season Opener
Paul McMahon, tenor.
Incl. Brett Dean – Winter Songs

Monday 30 March 8pm – Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
Feng Ning, violin; Sebastian Lang-Lessing, conductor.
Incl. Peter Sculthorpe – My Country Childhood

Weekend Life

Sunday 1 March 12.05pm – Royal Australian Navy Band: A Navy Salute
Direct broadcast from the Eugene Goossens Hall, ABC Ultimo Centre, Sydney.
Incl. Lieutenant Matthew Klohs – Ships with No Name; Lieutenant Commander Phillip Anderson – Proud Echo; Beat to Quarters; When Courage Abounds

Saturday Session

Saturday 14 March 3pm – Jane Rosenson, harp; Kirsten Williams, violin
Incl. Nigel Westlake – Antarctica: 'Beneath the Midnight Sun'

Saturday 21 March 3pm – Matthew Kam, piano
Incl. Carl Vine – Piano Sonata No 1

Saturday 28 March 3pm – Arundo Reed Quintet: Leanne Glover, oboe; Alex Miller, clarinet; Katherine Smith, clarinet; Matthew Styles, saxophone; Jane Kircher, bassoon
Incl. John Polglase – The Moon over the Day (Variations on a theme of Thomas Tallis)

Rising Stars

Sunday 1 March 9.05am – Australian Youth Orchestra on Tour, 2007
Australian Youth Orchestra/Lawrence Foster. Recorded in Berlin courtesy of Deutschland Radio.
Incl. James Ledger – Habits of Creatures

At Home

Australian music from disc with Julian Day, Saturdays at 7.05pm

Saturday 7 March
George Dreyfus – Rush; Colin Bright – Red Earth; Peter Sculthorpe – Mangrove (William Barton, didjeridu); Clare Maclean – Hope There Is; Sean Rigney – The Garden of Forked Paths
Saturday 14 March
Matthew Hindson – Little Chrissietina’s Magic Fantasy; Richard Meale – Clouds Now And Then; Damian Barbeler – To Rise; Ross Edwards – Piano Trio; Anne Boyd – Angklung
Saturday 21 March
David Stanhope – Little Ripper March; Graeme Koehne – Powerhouse (Rhumba for Orchestra); Paul Stanhope – The Arch Window; Stephen Adams – Sydney Dreaming; Carl Vine – Café Concertino
Saturday 28 March
Stephen Leek – Ngana; Gerard Brophy – Concerto in Blue; Liza Lim – Weaver-of-fictions; Robert Davidson – Junction Road

Afternoons

Substantial Australian works on weekday afternoons this month:
Wednesday 4 March 1.05pm
Incl. Peter Sculthorpe – Quamby (Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra/Richard Mills); plus Left Bank Waltz & Little Serenade

Wednesday 11 March 1.05pm
Incl. Philip Bračanin – Guitar Concerto

Monday 16 March after 3pm
Incl. trad arr. Percy Grainger – Shenandoah; Near Woodstock Town; Graeme Koehne – Once Around the Sun

Friday 20 March 3pm
Incl. Percy Grainger – Bridal Lullaby Ramble; George Palmer – Ruritanian Dances

Monday 16 March after 3pm
Incl. Nigel Sabin – Inner-City Counterpoint

Your Requests

Saturday 7 March 10.05am
Today’s program includes several Australian repertoire requests: Miriam Hyde – Piano Concerto No 1 in E flat minor (composer at piano); Linda Phillips – Cradle Song; Sea Child; Percy Grainger – The Lads of Wamphrey March

Up Late

Up Late with Simon Healy, this month from 10.30pm on weekdays, features a number of works, including some substantial Australian heritage works.

Monday 16 March
Incl. Arthur Benjamin – Le Tombeau de Ravel (1958)

Tuesday 17 March
Incl. George Marshall-Hall – Phantasy for Horn and Orchestra (1905)

Thursday 19 March
Incl. John Carmichael – Bravura Waltzes

Monday 23 March
Incl. Alfred Hill – String Quartet No 6 in G (The Kids) (1927)

Tuesday 24 March
Incl. Eugene Goossens – Kaleidoscope, Op 18

Monday 31 March
Incl. Alfred Hill – String Quartet No 4 in C minor (1916)