May – from “Then, gently, the world began anew.”

May 3, 2011

This was one of the first photographs that Steve showed me for inclusion in our calendar project “Then, gently, the world began anew”. I wrote two stories for it. The scale of nature, the vastness of sea and threat of sky, emphasized the fragility and flimsiness of a little fishing boat. A valedictory sensation was […]

Read More

“Don’t Leave Me This Way” (from String Quartet)

April 12, 2011

The above image from David McDiarmid’s Rainbow Aphorisms is from the National Gallery of Victoria and used by permission of Sally Gray, the artistic executor of the estate of David McDiarmid. I began the sketches for this section of my String Quartet back sometime in the mid-1990s. On May 29, 1995 I delivered the eulogy […]

Read More

April from “Then, gently, the world began anew.”

April 3, 2011

When I first wrote the story for this photograph, it didn’t have the question mark. It was simply a fairy-tale ending, “So they lived happily ever after.” Yet I couldn’t escape the troublesome feeling that in fact the story was one of great desolation and this innocuous, almost playful-looking brick was atop a pile of […]

Read More

Rendezvous with Destiny

March 26, 2011

Update, 1 July 2012: a recording of Rendezvous With Destiny is now available on iTunes. I have to thank Bob Carr for introducing me to the poetry of Stephen Vincent Benét. I confess I had only known of Benét as the author of the short story The Devil and Daniel Webster. Bob and I started […]

Read More

Dan (Take Out The Trash) – for String Trio

March 25, 2011

On Friday April 1, the Acacia Ensemble will premiere my string trio called Dan (Take Out The Trash). Here is an electronic performance of it meanwhile. A couple of years ago I discovered the story of Dan Millman. In the 1960s, Millman was a world champion gymnast, winning an international competition while still a college […]

Read More

March – from “Then, gently, the world began anew.”

March 2, 2011

When I saw this photograph, the story formed instantly in my mind. Unlike other story-image pairs, this one was starkly literal: the tree did look to me like an animal balked and startled onto its hind legs. Perhaps because it was missing the allegory and metaphor of the other months’ stories, these elements showed up […]

Read More

February – from “Then, gently, the world began anew.”

February 1, 2011

Steve’s picture and my six-word story for February form one of the more enigmatic instalments in our 2011 wall calendar. It’s a portrait of anticipation. Of what, I can’t say. I wrote two stories for this image to choose from, the other being “Like children greeting their first dawn.” Had we chosen that story, it […]

Read More

January – from “Then, gently, the world began anew.”

January 1, 2011

As part of the 2011 calendar project I’ve created with Steve Robb, I’m sending out a miniature composition for solo harp every month. Each piece is 30-40 seconds long, written to match that month’s story and photograph. This video is January’s. Interestingly, it didn’t begin life as being intended for January. My original plan was […]

Read More

“Then, gently, the world began anew.”

December 16, 2010

In September I attended one of Chris Howard’s seminars called Rich Heart Wealthy Mind in Melbourne. After one of the exercises about mastermind groups, I stood up in front of all the participants and said that as a musical composer, I would love the experience of collaborating with a visual artist. As wise people have […]

Read More

“Wachsein ist andersvo” from Voices and Instruments

November 3, 2010

Since I’d posted a video from this year’s Sydney Chamber Music Festival, I thought I’d post one made last year as well. Last year, the Festival premiered ‘Wachsein ist andersvo’, then the latest passage from my Voices and Instruments. I wrote it between June and August 2009. I was at a particular juncture in my […]

Read More

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →