Score
Scenes from an Australian childhood : for piano solo / Wendy Hiscocks.
Library shelf no. 786.2/HIS 3 [Not for loan]
Work Overview
Fire Haze at Gerringong began its life as a sketch at
the request of an ABC film director-producer making a
documentary on the life of the Australian artist Lloyd Rees in
2008. The television programme illustrated the influence of
Rees's paintings on my compositions. For this purpose, I
performed the piano solo sketch in response to Rees's 'Fire Haze
at Gerringong', and my choral work Grace was sung by Trinity
College Choir
(University of Melbourne) in connection with Ascension 1, a
painting of the interior of Chartres Cathedral. The incentive to
complete the piano solo sketch came from Bobbie Miller, the
Artistic Director of the Lloyd Rees Festival in 2013.
Fire Haze at Gerringong is a dramatic tarantella swept
along by the swirling bushfire smoke and the danger of the moment
represented by the ominous and subtly hidden presence of a blood
red sun in Rees's painting.
The première was given by the composer at the Lloyd Rees Gala Concert in Gerringong Town Hall on 3rd November 2013. The timing of the première was particularly apt as huge bushfires on the tablelands had once again turned the afternoon sun blood red. Lloyd Rees's son and daughter-‑in-law, Alan and Jan Rees, were present and led the audience in a standing ovation which touched the composer deeply.
Work Details
Year: 2013
Instrumentation: Piano.
Duration: 6 min.
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