Performed by Claire Edwardes
Performed by Barry Cockcroft, Joseph Lallo & Jess Voigt
Performed by Lunar Saxophone Quartet
Note by the composer:
On Song was commissioned by the Lunar Saxophone Quartet with funding from Live
Music Now/Wales and first performed by them at a concert at the Riverfront Theatre Newport on 29th October 2010 at a concert celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the work of Live Music Now in Wales.
On Song is in a single movement , marked Cantabile, and as the title suggests is predominantly lyrical in character with references to different types of songs and singing. The work is also characterised by the use of complex polyrhythms often over a 'walking' bass. The tempo is constant throughout most of the work until, at the close, a slightly faster section moves the piece on to a lively and passionate conclusion.
Lunar Saxophone have recorded On Song for Signum Records on the CD 'These Visions' SIGCD233
Dawn Interlude is a short French horn solo extracted my song cycle Songs for the Shadowland (for soprano, winds and piano). This piece is not only a commentary on Oodgeroo Noonucal’s poem Dawn Wail for the Dead but also, in its own way, a personal gesture of sorrow for past wrongs perpetrated against Indigenous Australians.
The use of descending glissandi, the use of stopped notes and a ‘natural horn’ quarter-tone harmonic emphasize the mournful nature of the piece.
Performed by Continuum Sax
