Category Archives: Mixed Ensemble

Catalogue of Works, Mixed Ensemble

DeathStench (1995)

for amplified flute (with effects – distortion and octaver pedal), amplified clarinet (with effects – reverb pedal) and amplified piano. Optional drum machine.

duration: 15 minutes

Faber Music publishing details

Audio Excerpt
First three minutes:

Complete piece (15 minutes):

Programme Notes

DeathStench is concerned with three main ideas:

    firstly, a programmatic reference to physical death, and the instinctive fight of any being to resist its onset;
    secondly, a contemplation of life experiences before the point of a being’s death, and an imagined assessment of their value after life has ceased; and
    thirdly, references to the musical genre ‘death-metal’, in which dark musical and textual motives (hence the title) are given virtuosically theatrical treatments.

DeathStench was commissioned by the Sydney Alpha Ensemble, for first performance by them. It has also been performed by the Sydney ensemble Coruscations, in Japan, and was a short-listed composition in the inaugural Ladislav Kublik International Composition Prize.

notes by Matthew Hindson.

CD Recording Available?

    No.

Other Information

Catalogue of Works, Chamber Works, Mixed Ensemble

Velvet (1998)

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for two guitars

duration: 3 minutes

Audio Excerpt

None available at the present time.

Programme Notes

Velvet was especially written for the Australian Guitar Miniatures book published by Red House Editions in Melbourne. For two guitars, it was described by the Melbourne reviewer Joel Crotty as “an effective exploration of the composer’s merging of popular and contemporary music styles”.

notes by Matthew Hindson.

CD Recording Available?

Other Information

Catalogue of Works, Instrument and Piano, Mixed Ensemble

Siegfried Interlude No. 2 (1999)

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for woodwind octet (picc.fl.ob.corangl.cl.bcl.bn.cbn)

duration: 3 minutes

Faber Music publishing details, also available in version for clarinet in Bb and piano, and soprano saxophone and piano

Audio


(soprano sax and piano version, performed J. Nightingale, K. Yong)

Programme Notes

Siegfried Interlude No. 2 was commissioned by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for first performance at the launch of their 2000 Season. It uses some of the themes from Act II of Wagner’s Siegfried, including Siegfried’s “Nothung” cries and the woodbird’s theme. It can perhaps best be described as Siegfried meets Purple Haze.

notes by Matthew Hindson.

CD Recording Available?

    Not at this time.

Other Information

    • Photo of Siegfried that was an inspiration for this piece.

Siegfried

source: http://www.blb-karlsruhe.de/blb/images/nibelungen/dia/kat-siegfried.jpg

Catalogue of Works, Mixed Ensemble, New Composition News

Light Music (2007)

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for woodwind quintet (flute, oboe, clarinet in Bb, horn, bassoon)

duration: approximately 12 minutes

Faber Music publishing details

Audio Excerpts:
Excerpt from first mvt:
http://www.hindson.com.au/Audio/LightMusic1stMvtExcerpt.mp3
Excerpt from second mvt:
http://www.hindson.com.au/Audio/LightMusic2ndMvtExcerpt.mp3

Programme Notes

i. Strobe

ii. A Single Match

The term “light music” refers to a specific genre of music designed for ‘easy listening’ , particularly written by English composers between the 1930s and 1960s. In many ways it was the precursor to what we today would appreciate as muzak.

My own compositions have sometimes been derided as “light”, but a response to such criticism was not the only basis to this piece. Rather, the main idea in Light Music is the nature of light, and our response to two visual scenarios or objects. The first movement explores the pounding, incessant binary nature of strobe lights. The music is similarly bright, harsh, irrepressible and possibly even migraine-inducing. It may evoke sensations as found in a contemporary dance club. The second movement is based upon the capacities of the human eye. Apparently its scope is that we could, under ideal conditions, see a single match burning from 70kms away (as unlikely as that seems). So the second movement of Light Music is inspired by the thought of humans viewing the earth in darkness from a near-space orbit, and seeing shimmering lights way down below – maybe even the burning of a single match.

From a compositional perspective each of the movements is based upon a musical principle. In “Strobe”, only one note-name is sounded at any one time. The whole movement is based upon unisons and octaves, with extra harmony being created by held notes forming chords. “A Single Match” utilizes many chords built up by intervals of seconds (rather like the Polish composer Gorecki), upon which more lyrical utterances are placed by each of the instruments in the ensemble.

notes by Matthew Hindson.

CD Recording Available?

Other information:Analysis notes and composition tasks by Paul Stanhope, MLC School

Catalogue of Works, Mixed Ensemble

Septet (2009)

for flute, horn, string quartet and double bass
duration: 9 minutes

Faber Music publishing details

Audio excerpt – live performance: 


Programme Notes

    This piece was written for premiere performance by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Fellows by Ars Musica Australis. It is one of three works composed in 2009 to celebrate the 80th birthday of my teacher, mentor and friend, Peter Sculthorpe.
        I believe that the influence of both current and past composers is extremely important in terms of approaches to music-making today. For any composer, the influence of music that they hear, whether consciously considered or subconsciously heard, surely must be taken into account at some level.

Septet takes as its starting point some of the ideas expounded by Sculthorpe in his music, including the influences of both Asian and Australian indigenous musics. Furthermore, the piece makes reference to both the lyrical and visceral approaches found in a variety of Sculthorpe’s pioneering works.
Matthew Hindson, 2010

CD Recording Available?

        Not at this time.

Other Information

Septet was premiered by the SSO Fellows at the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, Penrith on 15 November 2009.