Listening Examples – Australian Art Music
Below are some examples of contemporary Australian Art Music. Each of the composers featured have many more pieces that are worth looking into but these are well-known and fun to listen to or perform.
These pieces are organised by date but keep in mind that this doesn’t necessarily reflect the genres they belong to. Australian Art Music has always been diverse, with composers producing a rich variety of music in many different styles.
Year Composed | Piece | Composer | Description | Listen Now |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1976 |
Small Town |
Peter Sculthorpe |
Chamber orchestra – A reworking of Sculthorpe’s 1963 work ‘The Fifth Continent’ for orchestra and narrator. It is inspired by D. H. Lawrence’s novel ‘Kangaroo’, which is set in the ‘small town’ of Thirroul. |
|
1977 |
Port Essington |
Peter Sculthorpe |
String Orchestra – Tells the story of the attempted settlement of Port Essington (NT) through music, using an adaptation of an aboriginal melody for the theme in the Prologue. |
|
1979 |
Saturday Night Knips |
Carl Vine |
String quartet – Part of the Knips Suite, this piece is well-known for its disco-like, driving beat. |
|
1990 |
Ecstatic Dances |
Ross Edwards |
Flutes – Originally written for two flutes, these pieces have been adapted many times for violins, violas, clarinets, string quartets and more. |
|
1991 |
Penguin Circus |
Nigel Westlake |
Mixed percussion ensemble with optional bass – A derivative of ‘Penguin Ballet” from the film ‘Antarctica’. This is a fun, percussion based piece. |
|
1991 |
Prelude & Dragonfly Dance |
Ross Edwards |
Percussion (4 players) – The marimba, in the Prelude creates a daydream-type feel, preparing for the energetic and rhythmic Dragonfly dance. |
|
1995 |
90 Minutes Circling the Earth |
Stuart Greenbaum |
Orchestra – One of four pieces that make up the suite ‘Four essays on the passing of time’. |
|
1996 |
Russian Rag |
Elena Kats Chernin |
Solo piano but many variations exist – A rag in rondo form that draws inspiration from Russian Cafe music. This piece was also used as the theme music for ‘Late Night Live’ on ABC’s Radio National for several years. |
|
1998 |
Voices of Gondwana |
Stephen Leek |
Unaccompanied choir – Commissioned by Gondwana Voices, this is a staple of Australian choral music! |
|
2002 |
Wild Swans |
Elena Kats Chernin |
Orchestra and soprano voice – This is a ballet based on Hans Christian Andersen’s 1838 fairytale ‘The Wild Swans’. The Eliza Aria is particularly well known and was used as the theme music for ‘Late Night Live’ on ABC’s Radio National for several years. |
|
2013 |
Compassion |
Lior & Nigel Westlake |
Orchestra with piano and tenor voice – A song cycle in seven movements, based on a collection of ancient Hebrew and Arabic texts. |
|
2014 |
Malala |
Paul Jarman |
SSA choir and piano – A choral composition that is based on the story of Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani student and activist who survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban in 2012. |
|
2014 |
Paper Planes film soundtrack |
Nigel Westlake |
Orchestra – Nominated for ‘Best Original Music Score’ at the 5th AACTA Awards in 2015, this is a great soundtrack! |