“Sacred Country” , Tharawal Country, the South Coast of New South Wales, sacred to the Aboriginal people of the Tharawal nation, to poet Roland Robinson, and to composer Dindy Vaughan, who was born and raised there.
An area covered with sacred rock carvings, bushland, creeks and streams; a land singing its essence, shouting its freedom, vibrating with energy. Country encircling, embracing, containing; soothing with tenderness. Echoing, reverberating, radiating mystery; mind captive, soul stilled. Creation shines in the Eternal Present.
This piece, a flight of fancy for flute and piano, comprises three sections, each lasting about a minute or so.
The first section kicks off in an energetic and cheerful way with the bright, upper registers of both instruments at play. Also evident in the opening section are ideas such as angular melodic lines played in unison, a little harp-like piano accompaniment texture and a contrasting theme fashioned atop a jazzy, dance-inspired bassline.
The middle section of the work is perhaps the more unearthly music of the work. Little updrafts and whirlwinds of tinkling, glockenspiel-like piano figurations add a haunting quality to a chromatically inflected flute melody, evoking, for me, images of night and a kind of magic.
The final section of the piece – which brings us back to earth with its recapitulation of earlier material – is characterised by the soun
Performed live by Rompduo
Contents: Herbie’s Journey, Heaven’s Steps, Dracula’s New Shorts, Cha Cha Boom, I Wonder Why, Eat My Shorts Dance, My Neighbour’s Pool, Half a Dozen
