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Work

Lyrebird: a performance : soprano with ensemble

by Stephen Adams (2012)

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The Australian Music Centre's catalogue does not include any recordings or sheet music of this work. This entry is for information purposes only.

Materials for this work may be lodged in our collection in the future. Until then, any enquiries should be made directly to the composer/sound artist or their agent.

Work Overview

Lyrebird: a performance draws on the sounds of the lyrebirds of the Jamison Valley, incorporating recordings I made there in January 2012. Lyrebirds are great mimics with a seemingly endless medley of borrowed songs from the birds of the Australian forest, interrupted by the curiously electronic sounds of their own species calls. They are ancient birds with something of the dinosaur in their movements. When not in full performance, dancing and singing with a mixture of private intensity and public display, they may be seen scratching about among the leaf matter, seemingly re-arranging their abode or searching for some special object. You are invited as a voyeur to a private/public display - a weaving together of the songs of a lyrebird of the Jamison Valleyand the lyrebird-like soundworld and borrowed tunes of our three human performers. And yes, mimicry and the morphing of familiar tunes and objects is very much a part of this game of cross-species polyphony, with an affectionate nod to Rodgers and Hammerstein (via John Coltrane), Joni Mitchell and George Crumb.

Work Details

Year: 2012

Instrumentation: Soprano, viola and percussion (3 toms, high timbale, hi-hat, ride, guiro, cowbell, plastic sleeve-holders, referee whistle, and self-selected 'matching' kitchen objects) plus domestic audio play-back system (ideally an iPod with FM transmitter playing through a transistor radio) for two fileld recording files (provided by the composer).

Duration: 10 min.

Difficulty: Advanced — 3 independent parts plus instruction (no score) with non-standard staging and unconventional singing and playing techniques.

Contents note:  Part I - ‘Preparation’ (private space) -- Part II - ‘Performance’ (public space) -- Part III - ‘Reflection’ (interior space – ‘the long tail’, with pun intended).  

Commission note: Commissioned by Chronology Arts.. Commissioned by Chronology Arts for the Lyrebird Project with Halcyon. Developed through a workshop process with soprano Alison Morgan, and later percussionist Joshua Hill and violist Luke Spicer.

First performance: by Alison Morgan, Joshua Hill, Luke Spicer — 11 Aug 12. Dickson Space, Newtown, Sydney, presented as part of Chronology Arts' Lyrebird Project

Three independent parts plus instruction sheet (no score). Duration is highly approximate based on performer decisions and open duration of performance prelude to notated music. Ideal for start of concert or as post-interval item, enabling start of piece to emerge naturally in context of audience arrivals and settling. Opportunity for creative staging and use of lighting (whether domestic lamps or professional lights, depending on size and nature of venue and on whole concert aesthetic). Unconventional singing and playing techniques. Not improvised, but a high degree of flexibility and indeterminacy of relationships interacting with cues and moments of synchronisation.

Subjects

Performances of this work

12 Aug 12: Dickson Space, Newtown, Sydney, presented as part of Chronology Arts' Lyrebird Project. Featuring Alison Morgan, Joshua Hill, Luke Spicer.

11 Aug 12: Dickson Space, Newtown, Sydney, presented as part of Chronology Arts' Lyrebird Project. Featuring Alison Morgan, Joshua Hill, Luke Spicer.

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