(Second edition – 2013)
Music and Lyrics by Gavin Lockley
Book compiled by Michael Crouch AO
ISBN 978 0 980 40802 7 (Hardback with CD)
Following a performance of Lockley’s setting of the iconic Dorothea McKellar poem, My Country, came the inspiration to create a six movement Symphonic Poem (complete with vocal and instrumental solos, as well as choral episodes), which endeavours to capture a picture of Australia, its history, land, people, hardships, culture, and spirit.
Most people would be daunted by such a prospect, but Lockley did his research and mustered all of his creative energies to bring off what is a masterly piece of music, with immediate appeal.
The six movements are sequential: Dreamtime (the vision, the belief and the stories of Australia’s first peoples); The Ships (the arrival of European settlers on the First Fleet); The Red Centre (The Burke and Wills expedition, a story of pioneering courage); Pie Jesu (A lament for those Australians who have bravely given their lives for their country); Immigration Scherzo (A celebration of Australia’s multicultural identity); and finally, My Country Australia (A tribute to “a sunburnt country”).
The music perfectly juxtaposes consonance and dissonance, beauty and ruggedness, thick textures with simple moments. Didgeridoo and other non-western instruments are used to give a more authentic voice to some of the movements.
This premiere recording of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and a 100 voice choir is conducted by Brett Weymark,. It accompanies a glossy pictorial book with corresponding essays written by prominent Australians (NSW Governor, Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO, Sir Roger Carrick KCMG LVO, Professor Geoffrey Blainey AC, Former Deputy PM, Hon Tim Fischer AC, social demographer Hugh Mackay, former Governor-General, and Major General Michael Jeffery AC AO(Mil) CVO MC (Retd)), making it a worthy addition to any library, or gift for overseas friends or new Australians.
The complete package of book and CD is an aural, visual and literary feast.
Along with a Foreword by former PM, Hon John Howard OM AC, stunning photography and other illustrations work well with the composer’s notes in addition, giving a very complete picture of the nation, as well as of the task, itself.
The composer said of this work: “Symphony of Australia was something of a personal Everest for me”. His objective has been realized in enabling all who read the text and listen to its music, to celebrate Nationhood.
(This review was first published in Fine Music magazine, March 2014
http://issuu.com/finemusic/docs/fine_music_magazine_march_2014 )