I have recently completed a new work for woodwind quintet, commissioned by Fr. Arthur Bridge on behalf of Ars Music Australis. The work is entitled Light Music.

There are full programme notes available here, but in any case, suffice to say that at times my music has been derided by critics and maybe even some other composers as “light”. This new piece is not solely a response to such criticism: instead it takes as its starting point two ways that light is used in our society – the first movement is called “Strobe”, and the second movement, “A Single Match”.

The first movement of this piece was particularly fun to compose as it uses only unisons and octaves for the whole 4 1/2 minutes. This idea was first suggested to me by my composition teacher Peter Sculthorpe, who for many years said that he was interested in writing such a work. Not sure whether he has yet… but in any case, it would be bound to be different from this movement of Light Music, which was also inspired by the relentless energy of electronic dance music.

Light Music will be premiered by Sydney Omega Ensemble on 31st October 2007 at the City Recital Hall, Sydney.