Composition Competition 2022 Recorder Orchestra

We'd like to thank all the composers who submitted scores and making this competition possible; and everyone who shared our competition with the wider community. We'd like to thank our three judges Alana Blackburn, Benjamin Thorn and Zana Clarke. 

Orpheus Music would like to formally thank the sponsors of this competition, without whom this competition could not have run. Thank you to the Canberra Recorder and Early Music Society CREMS, Sydney Society of Recorder Players, Society of Recorder Players (SA) and Recorder and Early Music Society of West Australia.

A few stats that may interest you about the competition:

In total we had 17 scores submitted, with many recorder players, music teachers, and professional composers from all around Australia and New Zealand. We had an almost equal number of male and female composers submit scores. All the scores were sent anonymously to the three judges.

3 from VIC

1 from ACT

6 from NSW

3 from QLD

1 from TAS

3 from New Zealand

The theme for this year's competition was The Australian Environment.

'Music has a way of deeply communicating nature's beauty and precipitous frailty in a way that mere words cannot.'

This competition was part of a three year plan to rejuvenate contemporary composition for recorder after the affects of Covid on the arts industry. The first year was recorder quartets, the second was sextets and this year was Recorder Orchestra. We would like to thank all those who submitted scores, not only this year but over the last three years.

Many Thanks, Zana Clarke, Ben Thorn and Alexandra Bailliet-Joly.

WINNER

Daintree Wonders uses a recorder orchestra in a contemporary way to represent a journey through the Daintree Rainforest. The piece starts with an eerie mood then as the sun rises, birdsong represented through the sopranino recorder, is heard piercing the silence. Other scenes evoked include rain falling on the canopy and life in the rainforest both beautiful as well as dangerous. 

Now for a bit about the musical content… the piece has a motif sprinkled throughout (crochet B Ab G Eb D) that always appears as the same pitches but in different contexts. This helps connect the different sections together and draws the listeners in as they hear something familiar in an unfamiliar setting. The first minute and 10 seconds is comprised purely of the motif in a kind of prolation canon form. The piece also utilises modes as a way to reference mediaeval and Chinese music for recorders. 

Elliot Leahy is a 19 year old composer from Sydney, Australia, currently in his first year of a BMus (Composition) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He has been composing since the age of 8 when he was given a music notation software (Finale 2012) for his birthday, since then he has composed many works, a number of which are for brass. He also plays French Horn and Trumpet and enjoys playing horn in his local community youth orchestra. 

Thank you to the Canberra Recorder and Early Music Society CREMS for Sponsoring this Prize.

2nd PLACE

Black Summer/Rising Waters is a response to the NSW bushfires of July 2019-March 2020, and the NSW floods of January to July 2022.

The opening of Black Summer portrays the first few flames, growing to an unstoppable conflagration at letter D. The section at letter F is the aftermath of the fire.

Rising Waters begins with rain falling, and the rain motive continues throughout the piece. The movement incorporates two fragments from the John Dowland song Go Crystal Tears.

Clive Lane: I am an Australian composer, based in Sydney, a graduate from the Sydney Conservatorium (BMus) and the University of NSW (MMus). I spent many years as a high school music educator, composing and arranging for a variety of musical ensembles and conducting bands, before taking early retirement to focus on full-time composition.

My focus as a composer is on music for small ensembles (choirs, concert bands, etc.) and chamber music. I love many different kinds of music, but my favourite period of music is probably the Renaissance, for both instrumental and choral music.

Thank you to Sydney Society of Recorder Players for Sponsoring this Prize.

3rd PLACE

Scent of Honey Gum Past

Toolern Creek has always been a part of my life, imparting meaningfulness to me as a part of our Australian environment. I am wholly grateful for it. All of my family have stepped across those changing lands, a fifteen minute walk from my home; everyone I have known and loved have seen the creek flow and look in wonder at the hundred year old gumtrees. A lot of my childhood recollections are collected here, with the sounds of buzzing insects, singing cockatoos, diving wrens, and the brushing of gumleaves against the silky flow of water against the reeds. I wanted to capture this ever changing landscape in this piece, the nostalgia inherent within a place that will be always there, yet always different. A place where my memories may still breathe in the wind against the wattles, echoing past conversations, laughter, and joy. I hope this piece can at least communicate a grain of this impermanent beauty, mono no aware. And despite the trepidation of our everyday lives, we must be determined to embolden these Australian environments, as I fear whether these precious places will be passed down, - somewhere we can escape to and remember when ephemeral words may not.

Todd Robinson: Hello, I’m a storyteller with sound. Currently studying a Bachelor of Music at Melbourne University, I’ve grown up with a background of classical music mixed with art pop and rock with inspirations ranging from Liszt to the Beach Boys, Gustav Holst, to Jorge Ben Jor and Joe Hisaishi. And not only that, I’ve always had a passion for literature, which I believe influences my music with the aim to make music that can hopefully bring people together and evoke primal yet intricate psychological narratives. I also hope that my music can flow back the deep, resonant memories within you. I hope my music can speak to you, regardless of the walk of life you come from.

Thank you to Society of Recorder Players (SA) and Recorder and Early Music Society of West Australia for Sponsoring this Prize.