The first known symphonic piece composed about the Sunshine Coast is set to make its debut.
Under the Watchful Eye of the Glasshouse Giants – An Australian Overture will be a musical journey evoking the region’s unique features, centred around the Glass House Mountains and the Coast’s wildlife.
The piece, by composer Clifford Bradley, will premiere at the Sunshine Coast Symphony Orchestra’s A Night at the Proms concert on September 16 at the Events Centre in Caloundra.
“The work is inspired by the amazing variety of wildlife found on the Sunshine Coast and the spectacular mountains that stand silently watching over the region,” Mr Bradley said.
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One of the leading arrangers and film music composers in Australia, Mr Bradley holds a Bachelor of Music (Honours) from the University of Queensland and studied screen composition at the Australian Film Television and Radio School in Sydney under Nigel Westlake, who composed the soundtrack to the film Babe.
He said the inspiration for the new piece came after he returned from the UK in 2019 and became more aware of the various bird calls and songs outside his bedroom window.
“One birdsong in particular caught my attention, we think probably a pied butcherbird – the same eight-note sequence every time. It is used in the very opening and ending phrases of the piece, and recurs at various points throughout,” he said.
“This fascination with the birdsongs eventually drew me more towards a forest/mountain setting for the piece, rather than the beach and surf setting that we often associate with the Sunshine Coast.
“The section of the piece that visualises the forest awakening in the dawn uses a lot of woodwind instruments (flutes, oboes, clarinets), as they tend to be very reminiscent of that environment and always invoke images of nature.
“This section has an upbeat feel to it, with a lot of different rhythms and movement going on, to describe the life within the forest.
“When it references the spectacular Glass House Mountains, and the long and deep connection that the local peoples have to them, the music becomes much broader and grandiose – almost as if you were hovering above them looking down and towards the coast.
“There are elements of awe and wonder, but also hints towards the ancient power of these giants. This is where the brass section (trumpets, horns, trombones) really comes in to play with their sheer power and brilliance.”
He said the composition came together quite quickly once the process began.
“I’d had a few of these ideas bouncing around in my head for a couple of years but I didn’t really start doing anything about them until a few months ago, when I started to jot down a few of my ideas,” he said.
“The first six months of this year turned out to be quite hectic on the work front and so I wasn’t able to really knuckle down and spend some serious time on it until the end of June.
“The majority of it was completed over a three- to four-week period once I was able to properly get going.
“Of course, with any creative endeavour like composition, the time spent away from the task can be just as important as the time spent putting actual notes down on paper.”
Timed this year to coincide with the Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in September, SCSO’s A Night at the Proms also includes two halves of favourites by Australian composers of the past and present, to play off against a second half of British Proms classics.
Opening with a welcome and performance by local Aboriginal leader Kerry Neill, the concert includes other modern Australian pieces by Catherine Likhuta, Elena Kats-Chernin and Paul Stanhope, and Australian classics from Percy Grainger, Colin Brumby and Peter Allen.
The second half will have perennial British favourites including Jerusalem, Fantasia on British Sea Songs and Pomp and Circumstance, featuring soprano Renae Suttie.
Tickets are available here.
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