Kurrawongs

OMP046 Miggs Coggan Kurrawongs

Winner of the Open Ensemble Composition Section of the Australian Third National Recorder Competition, this at seventeen bars (with a repeat!) is the shortest piece I have ever reviewed.  Most recent among the composer's many compositions are some for massed recorder ensembles with parts for the earliest beginner.  She lives in Armidale, NSW, which one might call the epicentre of the Australian recorder-music explosion.  The tempo-mark of "Kurrawongs" says "Rapid, bird-like" and we are told that the doubling of parts will add to this bird-like quality.  For spatial effect, performers are urged to place the two treble contingents at the extremes of the line-up.  You have to take Aussies as you find them (I find this one most appealing!).  They don't go out of their way to explain to ignorant Poms what a Kurrawong IS.  Bruce Campbells's The Dictionary of Birds in Colour lists 1008 species in alphabetical order of their scientific names.  The common names are not alphabetized.  Undeterred I searched through but found no Kurrawong (Incidentally I DID discover an Australian tree called a Kurrajong.)  Anyway, I commend this little piece to all adventurous LMNtary players.  No price was given, but it shouldn't be too expensive as each part covers only one side of an A5 sheet.  (I couldn't help noting the absence of a copyright line on score and on parts!)

Paul Clark, The Recorder Magazine, Winter 2000, Vol. 21 no. 4

Life recording from a concert, performed by The Recorder Co-op (Melbourne, Australia),  in March 2020. 

Kurrawongs

CLICK HERE to view a video of this recording.

Orpheus Music would like to thank The Recorder Co-op for generously sharing their recordings with us.