DUNES (2017)
For string quartet and soprano.
This work was premiered on the 24th August, 2017, at the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery. Winner of the People’s Choice Award at the 2017 Ransom Prize for Composition. Performed by Jennifer Barrington (soprano), Shaun Lee-Chen (violin), Jasmine Middleton (violin), Rachel Hicks (viola), and Jeremy Garside (cello).
Full duration: 6 minutes.
Dunes evokes the vast and complex Australian landscape. The texture is homogenous throughout the work, however is also constantly shifting and changing. In this way, this work suggests the nature of sand dunes, immense as a whole yet comprising of millions of individual grains. The vocalist wanders through this texture independently, not so much as a soloist as an estranged force enveloped in its sonic surrounds.
The text is written by Anna Cox, highly commended in the 2016 Roland Leach Prize for children’s writing.
Rich soil radiating soothing heat.
You can hear the thrumming wind
Some rustling melds into silence
Washing over you
like waves lapping sand of a beach
almost flowing into your ears.