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Work

Songs of sea and sky

by Peter Sculthorpe (1987)

Score Sample

View a sample of the score of this work
This sample is from the Violin with string orchestra version of this work

Audio Sample

Performance by Nigel Westlake, David Bollard from the CD Songs of sea & sky

This sample is of the Clarinet with piano version of this work

Versions of this work

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

- Clarinet with piano

- Didjeridu with string orchestra

- Saxophone with piano

- Violin with string orchestra

- Flute with piano

Products featuring this work

Format Title Version AMC Library Price  

Digital Audio

Songs of sea and sky / Peter Sculthorpe ; performed by Nigel Westlake, David Bollard

Clarinet with piano Not for loan $3.59 Add to cart

CD

Flute perspectives / Derek Jones, Leigh Harrold.

Flute with piano Not for loan $22.73 Add to cart

CD

Peter Sculthorpe : a retrospective collection of some favourite Sculthorpe works

Flute with piano Not for loan $22.73 Add to cart

Score & Part

Songs of sea and sky : for clarinet and piano / Peter Sculthorpe

Clarinet with piano Available for loan $20.91 Add to cart

Score

Songs of sea and sky : for strings and optional didjeridu / Peter Sculthorpe.

Didjeridu with string orchestra Available for loan $57.27 Add to cart

Score & Part

Songs of sea and sky : for soprano saxophone and piano / Peter Sculthorpe.

Saxophone with piano Available for loan $60.00 Add to cart

Score

Songs of sea and sky : for solo violin, strings and optional didjeridu / Peter Sculthorpe

Violin with string orchestra Available for loan $78.18 Add to cart

Score

Songs of sea and sky : for flute and piano / Peter Sculthorpe.

Flute with piano Available for loan $35.45 Add to cart

CD

Peter Sculthorpe, 1929-2014 : the ABC recordings.

Didjeridu with string orchestra Not for loan $POA  

CD

Songs of sea and sky / Peter Sculthorpe.

Didjeridu with string orchestra Available for loan $POA  

CD

Songs of sea & sky : Australian music for clarinet and piano / Nigel Westlake, David Bollard.

Clarinet with piano Available for loan Out of Stock  

CD

The art of the didgeridoo : music for didgeridoo and orchestra / by Peter Sculthorpe, Ross Edwards, Sean O'Boyle, William Barton, Matthew Hindson.

Didjeridu with string orchestra Not for loan Out of Print  

CD

Peter Sculthorpe.

Violin with string orchestra Available for loan Non-Commercial  

CD

Chamber works / Peter Sculthorpe.

Flute with piano Available for loan Non-Commercial  

CD

Flute Australia. Volume two / Geoffrey Collins, flute, David Miller, piano.

Flute with piano Available for loan Out of Print  

Work Overview

Songs of Sea and Sky was inspired by a traditional dance song from Saibai, an island just south of Papua New Guinea, in Torres Strait. The song was collected on Saibai by Jeremy Beckett in May 1961.

Although some traditional Torres Strait music still survives in its original form, most of that heard today is strongly influenced by the religious music introduced by missionaries in the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, its themes are still predominantly of sea voyages, flights of birds and changes in sea and sky.

The work is in one continuous movement consisting of seven parts : Prelude, a somewhat dramatic saxophone solo; Saibai, a reworking of the traditional melody; Interlude, a second solo; Mission Hymn, a variation of Saibai; Dance Song, a rhythmic section based upon the material presented in the Prelude and Interlude; Lament, a second variation of Saibai; and Postlude, a brief coda. Following the climax, at the end of the Dance Song, the emotional content of the music culminates in the Lament. Here, the music yearns for the years before white settlement.

Work Details

Year: 1987

Duration: 16 min.

Analysis

Resonate article: Ecstatic Dances - Soundstream and OzAsia Festival by Aleksandr Tsiboulski

Subjects

Performances of this work

22 Aug 21: featuring Kyle Little, Steel City Strings.

3 Nov 2019: at Celebrating 90 Years of Peter Sculthorpe (Launceston Church Grammar School).

30 Aug 2017: at ANAM Recital: Mitchell Jones (South Melbourne Town Hall). Featuring Mitchell Jones, Aidan Boase.

14 Apr 2016: at Australian Voices: Peter Sculthorpe (Melbourne Recital Centre). Featuring Paul Dean.

22 Sep 2012: at Australia Ensemble @ UNSW (Sir John Clancy Auditorium). Featuring Australia Ensemble.

15 Oct 87: Sprague Memorial Hall, Yale University, USA. Featuring Irma Vallecillo, Richard Stoltzman.

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