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Digital Audio Album
30 Years / Hunter Singers.
Score
The Six Swans : SSATB Choir & Piano / music by Luke Byrne ; lyrics based on Grimms' adapted by the composer.
Library shelf no. 782.5542/BYR 7 [Available for loan]
Work Overview
Grimm's tales didn't feature prominently in
my childhood, and it was only quite recently that I came to them
via the Australian author and artist Shaun Tan. In his book 'The
Singing Bones' Tan does not simply illustrate or
re-tell the stories, but creates a single clay sculpture for each
story he chose, accompanied by a short excerpt of text, that
captures an essence of "Rapunzel", "Mother Holle" or "The
Turnip". To me this was the perfect model for a piece of music
inspired by Grimm's.
The Six Swans has a narrative device that is absolutely
magical: to save her six brothers a girl must sew shirts from
aster flowers ("aster" being derived from the Latin for "star")
over six years where she can't speak and she even gives birth in
that time! This in turn gave me the idea of using the names of
stars woven together in a musical montage to evoke the passing of
that time.
I also picked this story because it has a happy end, and my other
Grimm's are all rather dark or deathly. The essence I wanted to
capture of The Six Swans is the sense of anticipation of
the day when all will be well, symbolised by the swans flying
home.
Work Details
Year: 2019
Instrumentation: SSATB choir, piano.
Duration: 5 min.
Difficulty: Advanced — Virtuosic piano part
Commission note: Commissioned by Hunter Singers.. Commissioned by Hunter Singers for their 30th Birthday Concert
Performances of this work
17 Nov 19: Newcastle City Hall, NSW. Featuring Hunter Singers.
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