Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Versions of this work

Select from the following versions of this work to view more detailed information:

- Soprano with chamber ensemble

- Trios: Flute, clarinet, violin

Products featuring this work

Format	Title	Version	AMC Library	Price
Score	Voice of the shades : playing score / Jennifer Fowler. 1 score (25p. -- A4 (portrait)) Australia : Universal, c1985. Library shelf no. 783.6654/FOW 1	Soprano with chamber ensemble	Available for loan	$POA
CD	Works of Jennifer Fowler. Transcriptions Disc 2 : pieces for voice(s) with instrumental ensemble. 1 CD Library shelf no. CD 2541	Soprano with chamber ensemble	Available for loan	Non-Commercial
CD	Works of Jennifer Fowler. Transcriptions Disc 3 : pieces for piano, and for instrumental ensembles. 1 CD Library shelf no. CD 2542	Trios: Flute, clarinet, violin	Available for loan	Non-Commercial

Work Overview

Voice of the Shades is scored for soprano, oboe or clarinet, and violin or alto flute. Alternatively, the piece can be performed on three instruments. The main argument is taken by the first two performers, with the third in a decorative, rather subservient role, until the middle of the piece, when it becomes an equal partner.

A musical technique has been forged for this piece: in that the choice of notes in any part of the piece, is carefully restricted, and each note may move to only one or two other notes (or in the most complex section, to 2 or 3 other notes). The choice of notes, however, changes gradually but continuously through the piece. The aim of the restrictions and limitations, is to achieve continuity and echoing, but without using exact repetition.

In devising the words and syllables sung, the composer has tried to create a parallel with the musical technique, in similarly limiting the number of vowels and consonants in use at any one time. The result is that only words here and there are recognisable English words, but enough syllables are reminiscent of real words to convey, perhaps, an echo of the legend of Orfeo, or the poem about the world beyond death: "Spelt from Sybil's Leaves" by Gerard Manley Hopkins.

Voice of the Shades was written in 1976\7 and has been performed at a number of international festivals: the I.S.C.M. World Music Days in Helsinki in 1978; the Asian Composers Festival in Hong Kong in 1981; the "Donne in Musica" in Rome, 1981; and the Huddersfield Festival of Contemporary Music, 1981.

Work Details

Year: 1977

Duration: 15-16 min.

Text by the composer.