01. Memento mori [14'11]
02. Sun Song [5'53]
03. - 06. Sun Music [37'05]
07. From Uluru [3'40]
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Porcelijn
ABC Classics 4545052 [recorded November 1996; digital download released 2001]
[digital download; flacs, cover & inlay scans, no booklet]
Recording venue: Adelaide Town Hall, South AustraliaRecording engineers: Graham Milne& Wayne Baker; Producer: Kevin Roper
Unfortunately, again, no booklet came with this digital download of one of the most important and central works in Peter Sculthorpe's output. I have also only been able to find scant information on the internet.
The four Sun Music pieces form an early masterpiece and are the major part of this programme. They were written over the period from 1965 to 1969 and the title Sun Music was later used for the composer's autobiography. The commission for Sun Music I asked for "something without rhythm, harmony or melody". Sun Music II is a Ketjak - a Balinese circular dance, or monkey-dance. The sounds of Balinese gamelan also infuse Sun Music III although this work is firmly situated in the Australian outback. In Sun Music IV, adapted from String Quartet No.7, it has been said that "the outlines of Aztec pyramids are captured in the scoring of the glissandi used prolifically in this piece. Australia is musically captured both in its benign and malignant forces." All of the Sun Music pieces form four of the five movements of Robert Helpmann's Sun Music ballet and Sun Music IV marked Sculthorpe’s transition from European musical traditions to his own perspective of the continent he inhabited.
Much more conventional is the late composition Memento mori, referring to the medieval Christian idea, and making frequent references to the plainchant Dies irae. It was inspired by a visit to the South Pacific island Rapanui (Easter Island). Other late and short works, the orchestral Sun Song, also known as From Jabiru dreaming, derives from the opening and closing movements of the Sonata for Strings No.1; itself an orchestration of String Quartet No.10 and From Uluru which reflects the landscape around what used to be known as Ayer's Rock.
More fine performances from the Dutch conductor, David Porcelijn; this time leading the
Adelaide Symphony.In this recording of Sun Music, didjeridu replaces the drones used in the 1976 premiere recording conducted by John Hopkins which will appear in this series soon.