In 1979 Sculthorpe
composed a Requiem for
solo cello, with which the recent Requiem
completed in 2004 should not be confused.
The earlier work was largely founded
on plainchant melodies from the Requiem
Mass; the recent choral-orchestral setting
only briefly alludes to plainchant.
The 2004 setting is dedicated to the
memory of his father and mother who
died in 1961 and 1994 respectively.
However, Sculthorpe did not want his
Requiem to be on an extravagantly large
scale, although it plays for some forty
minutes. Rather it was to be a private
utterance, so that the 2004 work is
on the whole rather restrained, more
on the scale of, say, Fauré’s
setting than that of Berlioz or Britten.
It is scored for relatively modest forces:
small mixed chorus and standard orchestra.
It nevertheless includes an important
part for didjeridu, an instrument that
Sculthorpe has often included in his
instrumental palette. The use of the
didjeridu as well as the inclusion in
the Canticle and in the Communion of
the Aboriginal Maranoa Lullaby
tends to impart to the Requiem further
implications, other than simply paying
homage to his parents’ memory. It seems
that it was in part Sculthorpe’s initial
intention to compose a Requiem for all
children who had fallen victim to war
as well as extending his compassion
towards outcasts. The use of the didjeridu
and of the Aboriginal lullaby is yet
another protest against the way the
Australian Aboriginal people were treated.
His Requiem might be compared to that
of Britten - also a protest against
war - and "the pity war distilled".
The six sections of the Requiem actually
fall into two parts: Part 1: Introit,
Kyrie, Gradual and Sequence; Part 2:
Canticle, Sanctus, Agnus Dei and Communion.
The opening Introit chant is underpinned
by drumming, except in the central section.
A cadenza-like passage for didjeridu
leads into the Kyrie, one of the sections
in which a Gregorian tune is used as
a ground. The next section Gradual restates
some material from the Introit. The
Sequence opens with a brief quote of
the traditional Dies Irae, but the Dies
Irae section proper is rather subdued
quite unlike that in, say, Britten’s
or Frank Martin’s Requiem. Part 2 opens
with the Maranoa Lullaby;
Sculthorpe had already written a setting
of it for soprano and string quartet
in 1996, that was recorded by Anne-Sofie
von Otter and the Brodsky Quartet. The
Canticle section opens with Sculthorpe’s
"signature": sea gulls’ cries
(harmonic glissandi in the strings).
The chanting in this very beautiful
section is mostly unaccompanied. It
closes with didjeridu accompanied by
"sea gulls". This leads into
another, rather more elaborate cadenza-like
episode for didjeridu, that leads into
the short, vigorous Sanctus, again underpinned
by drumming. The short Agnus Dei somewhat
recalls the opening of the Introit.
The final Communion opens with sea gulls
and didjeridu. Then, a restatement of
the Maranoa Lullaby is introduced
by a whiff of Gregorian chant on trombone.
The Lux Aeterna is first intoned by
men’s voices and didjeridu and later
by full chorus and orchestra, still
with didjeridu. The Requiem ends with
a luminous Amen. Sculthorpe’s Requiem,
one of his most substantial scores,
is a profoundly sincere and humane statement
that cannot fail to move. A magnificent
work.
The second disc offers
several fairly recent works composed
between 1998 and 2000, although the
1999 Earth Cry recorded
here is in fact the abridged version
of a somewhat longer work completed
in 1986. New Norcia for
brass and percussion is an arrangement
of the 1996 setting of Psalm 150 (boys’
voices) that Sculthorpe composed to
mark the sesquicentenary of Launceston
Church Grammar School where he was educated
and in which choir he sang as a boy.
The orchestral suite Quamby
is an arrangement for chamber orchestra
of the slightly earlier String
Quartet No. 14 (1998). It is
well known that Sculthorpe is never
one to waste a good idea. Some of his
works exist in several instrumental
versions, such as Irkanda IV
or the Sonatas for Strings. So, the
really new works are My Country
Childhood for string orchestra
completed in 1999 and Great Sandy
Island composed in 1998. The
composer describes My Country
Childhood as a suite of "four
song-like movements". The music
here is tuneful and straightforward,
superbly written for strings. Some earlier
material has been ‘recycled’. For example,
we are told that the main melody of
the second movement A Church
Gathering is based on a theme
from Songs of Sea and Sky
(1986). The music of the third movement
A Village Funeral is a reworking
of a sequence from the soundtrack of
Burke and Wills (1985).
From quite early on
in his composing life, Sculthorpe contemplated
a large-scale work based on the life
of Eliza Fraser. There were several
attempts at an opera as well as a ballet,
though nothing came of it. The only
result so far was a music-theatre piece
Eliza Fraser Sings
for soprano, flute and piano on words
by Barbara Blackman. This was composed
in 1978. That plan eventually came to
fruition in the orchestral suite Great
Sandy Island completed in 1998.
Although it is based on episodes of
Eliza Fraser’s life, the music has no
real descriptive programme. As Graeme
Skinner states in his detailed insert
notes, the work is "rather concerned
with Eliza’s encounters with what Sculthorpe
calls ‘the spirit of the landscape’".
The opening movement The Sea Coast
is more an evocation of the Pacific
coast than a depiction of the shipwreck
that landed Eliza Fraser on the Great
Sandy Island, now called Fraser Island,
off the Queensland Coast. The fourth
movement The Garrison
is actually the only one that is more
overtly descriptive, with trumpet and
drum suggesting the military settlement.
To some extent, Quamby
is a companion piece to My Country
Childhood, in that it too is
connected to the composer’s childhood
in Tasmania. During fishing trips with
his father, the composer was told the
legend of Quamby Bluff, a place where
native inhabitants were killed by colonial
troops in the 19th Century.
Legend or not, this is reflected in
some serious, stringent music at odds
with the more nostalgic stance of My
Country Childhood.
These performances
are excellent and warmly recorded. The
fairly generously-filled release will
appeal to all Sculthorpe fans, the more
that some of these works receive their
first recording - this is certainly
the case with the Requiem. There is
not much to choose between this recorded
performance of Quamby
and that by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Richard Mills (ABC Classics
476 7627) that also includes a fine
reading of Cello Dreaming
and of Nourlangie for
guitar and orchestra. All in all this
is a magnificent release, and one that
may be safely recommended to all Sculthorpe
admirers. It is also a fine introduction
to this endearing composer’s sound-world.
Not to be missed.
Hubert Culot
Adelaide Chamber Singersa;
