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Work Overview
When the Australian Chamber Orchestra first asked me to compose this piece to celebrate Richard Tognetti's 20 years at the helm, I immediately heard a kind of sparkling music: high-pitched spiccato dots glittering in relief against slowly drifting harmonics.
This sound never went away, but I added to it a conceit learned from Berg's Violin Concerto. Just before the end of that piece there is a magical passage in which the soloist alone begins to play a deeply lyrical plaint. It is not long before one, then two violins from the orchestra are inspired to join in. Next, the entire first violin section finds itself pulled into the action, then the second violins and finally the violas, all playing in one big unison. It is as though the solo violin has bewitched the other players, bending them effortlessly to its will.
The title Bright Shiners comes from that mysterious counting song 'Green Grow the Rushes O' with its arcane imagery of the two 'lily-white boys', six 'proud walkers' and eight 'April rainers'. There are plenty of theories about the meaning of these references and also the identity of the nine 'bright shiners', but none that bears much scrutiny. I have no idea what the bright shiners are or were, but I've known the song since I was a small boy on the back seat of the family car and, 40-odd years later, the phrase nicely summed up the sparkling music I was imagining.
Work Details
Year: 2009
Instrumentation: Violin, string orchestra.
Duration: 6 min.
Difficulty: Advanced
Dedication note: Dedicated to Richard Tognetti
Commission note: Commissioned by Australian Chamber Orchestra.. Commissioned to celebrate Richard Tognetti's 20 years as artistic director
First performance: by Australian Chamber Orchestra, Pekka Kuusisto at Inner Voices (Newcastle City Hall) on 12 Mar 2009
Performances of this work
7 Mar 2021: at Steel City Strings: The Composer is in the Room (Nowra School of Arts). Featuring Steel City Strings.
6 Mar 2021: at Steel City Strings: The Composer is in the Room (Wollongong Town Hall). Featuring Steel City Strings.
28 Feb 2021: at Steel City Strings: The Composer is in the Room (Chevalier College Performing Arts Centre). Featuring Steel City Strings.
26 Mar 2009: at Inner Voices (Anita's Theatre). Featuring Australian Chamber Orchestra, Pekka Kuusisto.
25 Mar 2009: at Inner Voices (City Recital Hall). Featuring Pekka Kuusisto, Australian Chamber Orchestra.
24 Mar 2009: at Inner Voices (City Recital Hall). Featuring Australian Chamber Orchestra, Pekka Kuusisto.
22 Mar 2009: at Inner Voices (Sydney Opera House, Concert Hall). Featuring Australian Chamber Orchestra, Pekka Kuusisto.
21 Mar 2009: at Inner Voices (City Recital Hall). Featuring Pekka Kuusisto, Australian Chamber Orchestra.
18 Mar 2009: at Inner Voices (Perth Concert Hall). Featuring Pekka Kuusisto, Australian Chamber Orchestra.
17 Mar 2009: at Inner Voices (Adelaide Town Hall). Featuring Australian Chamber Orchestra, Pekka Kuusisto.
16 Mar 2009: at Inner Voices (Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne). Featuring Pekka Kuusisto, Australian Chamber Orchestra.
15 Mar 2009: at Inner Voices (Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne). Featuring Australian Chamber Orchestra, Pekka Kuusisto.
14 Mar 2009: at Inner Voices (Llewellyn Hall ANU School of Music). Featuring Australian Chamber Orchestra, Pekka Kuusisto.
12 Mar 2009: at Inner Voices (Newcastle City Hall). Featuring Australian Chamber Orchestra, Pekka Kuusisto.
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