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Sheet Music: ScoreIllawarra music : for orchestra / John Peterson.by John Peterson (2000)
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Product details
"Illawarra" is an aboriginal word meaning, "high place near the
sea".
Illawarra Music is a musical homage to the geographical
area in New South Wales where I spent much of my youth. The
"Illawarra" is a long, narrow coastal plain, with the Pacific
Ocean on one side and the mountains of the Great Dividing Range
on the other, which lies just south of Sydney. While
Illawarra Music follows no strict programmatic concept
it does try to give a sense of place, a vivid identity, to this
area that has been called one of the most beautiful in
Australia.
The music is in three sections. The first and last sections are
typical of my work in that they couple relentless rhythmic
ostinati with melodies that can be either quite long and sinuous,
as in the first movement, or constructed out of short repetitive
fragments, as in the second and third movements. The use of
additive rhythms (10/8, 7/8, and 13/8) at quite fast tempi
propels the outer sections of the work along, reflecting not only
the energy and vitality of the people of the Illawarra, but also
referring to the impact the steel and mining inustries have had
on this area throughout its history.
The central section of Illawarra Music was inspired by
the presence of the Pacific Ocean and of Lake Illawarra, a large
body of water that sits at the very heart of the region. The
music is a nocturne, and is associated with the visual image of
the moonlight reflected in the waters, and of the night-time
gradually
becoming day as the sun rises. The music at the beginning of this
section is very quiet, scored only for harp, piano and keyboard
percussion, and gently ebbs and flows, making use of repetitive
melodic cells that are grouped in five-bar phrases. As the music
progresses, it continues to build, slowly but inexorably, adding
more and more instruments to the texture, growing subtly louder
and louder until it reaches a climax representing the full rays
of the morning sun being reflected in the waters of the lake and
the ocean. The five-bar phrasing is used deliberately to
represent the five islands that lie just off the coast of Port
Kembla, the main industrial city of the Illawarra.
Illawarra Music was selected as a semi-finalist entry in
Masterprize 2001, an international competition for new symphonic
music administered jointly by the BBC Music Magazine and the
London Symphony Orchestra. It was subsequently recorded by the
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra for radio broadcasts in the United
Kingdom, Europe, the United States, and Australia.
Published by: Wirripang [979 0 720140 31 5] — 1 score (62p. -- A3 (portrait))
Difficulty: Advanced
Duration: 16 mins, 30 sec.
Includes programme notes.
Typeset edition.
ISMN: 979 0 720140 31 5
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