Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Work Overview

This work was lovingly commissioned by Marigold Southey as a gift for her sister, Neilma Gantner. Certainly it was written with much love. It is fitting that it was commissioned especially for the 2010 Four Winds Festival, for performance by my friends Genevieve Lacey and members of the Flinders Quartet. The work is dedicated to Neilma. It is a tribute to her from my heart.

I chose to write the solo part for tenor recorder, for me the most expressive of the instruments of the recorder family. A Song for Neilma begins quietly, with suggestions of the musical material that follows. This consists of a long melody mostly for recorder, accompanied by Balinese-like figurations in the second violin. I often use such figurations in pieces that suggest Australia's coastal waters, as this does. The first violin and viola add counterpoints to the melody and the cello part is punctuated by sounds of seagulls. Following a statement of the melody by the first violin, the recorder brings the music to its close.

Work Details

Year: 2010

Instrumentation: Tenor recorder, 2 violins, viola, cello.

Duration: 5 min.

Difficulty: Advanced

Dedication note: Dedicated to Neilma Gantner

Commission note: Commissioned by Marigold Southey.

First performance: by Genevieve Lacey, Flinders Quartet — 4 Apr 10. Four Winds Festival, Four Winds Amphitheatre, Bermagui