In this episode you’ll hear:
Composer: Anne Cawrse
Websites: http://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/cawrse-anne
https://soundcloud.com/anne_c
Interviewed by: David John Lang
Website: http://www.davidjohnlang.com/
This conversation was recorded in November 2016 at the composer’s house in Prospect, Adelaide, SA.
Making Waves is proud to introduce the Making Conversation: Australian Composers Podcast.
In this series preview you’ll hear Lisa Cheney and Peggy Polias of Making Waves introducing the Making Conversation: Australian Composers’ Podcast.
Stay tuned for the series release on Friday 21 April 2017! There will be conversations with 30 composers in this series, with a new one released each Friday.
We are delighted to celebrate International Women’s Day 2017 with this special edition playlist! Clear your listening schedules and settle in to explore a mammoth archive of music from many of the Australian composers (and some Canadians too) featured in monthly playlists spanning January 2015 through to March 2017.
Whether composing as one who just happens to be female, through to exploring gender, femininity and feminism through their works, the archive below attests to the diversity of women working in the compositional spectrum.
Keep kicking your goals, fellow women! The arts wouldn’t be half the diverse, unique, story-telling, mind-blowing, challenging and beautiful space it is without you. We’re behind you and encourage you to take an active role in a connected, supportive community. There is room for everyone here: ears are open. We can’t wait to listen to all the music you’re going to submit to us in 2017! Happy International Women’s Day!
– Lisa & Peggy
For the first playlist of 2017 we’ve ventured into the world of Spotify, which, fairly or unfairly, has attracted controversy in the streaming world. Despite the fact that this month’s playlist is platform-dependent, we adore some of the coincidental thematic resonances across the featured works: particularly the focus on birds and birdsong alongside human vocals, overt or otherwise. We also dare you to spot the Whitney Houston references in there somewhere!
A little more about our streaming platform this month. Most of our playlists to date have been curated from content on Soundcloud, which enables composers and ensembles to freely upload both live and studio recordings, meaning we can feature recordings that are not yet commercially available. Spotify, on the other hand, has some barriers to entry, usually requiring the music to be submitted by an aggregator service, which composers and labels would normally use for a commercial digital release. For us here at Making Waves, this means we inevitably receive less submissions of Spotify content, and that the ones we do receive tend to arrive from composers who are some way along their career journey. What is also nice about Spotify is that royalties are payable, unlike Soundcloud, so please listen multiple times and explore the albums that the tracks are from, and hopefully all this month’s composers will see a little spike on their APRA statement!
We hope you enjoy this wonderful collection of diversely beautiful music by some of our finest Australian composers!
In past playlists we’ve had the pleasure of highlighting some of our favourite works for chamber forces, like Solo Waves and Small Ensemble Waves. In this month’s playlist we’re focusing on the Duo – compositions for two instruments. This playlist is an hour of intimate “dialogues” between viola & piano, saxophone & percussion, violin & electronics, voice & piano and saxophone & piano. The piano is a notable, trusty accompanist here, a kind of sequel to last month’s Keyboard Waves and we’re excited to see a degree of improvisation in some of the works also. As you listen we hope that you too notice the special character of these musical explorations, as compared to the “conversations” that arise from ensembles of more than two players. Lastly, we took special pleasure in noting that a duet can take place with electronics – check out Giles’ End to Reattain to see what we’re talking about.
We hope you enjoy our final playlist for 2016! If you are loving these playlists and works, don’t forget to let us and our featured composers know. One of our greatest assets is, that our composer family are very much present in this space and appreciate your support. What a great time to be making, performing and listening to new music!
Not sure what to get that special musical person in your life for the festive season? No problem, we’ve got you covered! We encourage you to check out the special new way to support our work here at Making Waves via our These are a few of our Favourite Things page. Not to mention our brand new tote bags and discounts on fabulous manuscript and business e-books!
This month’s playlist brings together a number of tracks that recall aspects of minimalism and post-minimalism: repetitive grooves, a degree of space, restraint, economy of musical material, long lines, drones and monolithic gestures, self-similarity and fractals. We love the breadth of approaches stylistically and thematically within this hour of works. Note the familiar inspiration sources of nature and landscapes in some of these compositions – snow, cities, outdoor scenes – alongside works referencing ideas about communication and thought – dreams, rhetoric, monologue.
We, the Making Waves team, continue to be excited and inspired by the quality and diversity of Australia’s new music scene and hope our enthusiasm is infectious! To learn more about each featured work and composer in this listening-journey we recommend that you click through to each of the featured profile below. Enjoy!
This month we’ve brought together a number of compositions revolving around text, especially spoken word. The composers have employed a range of approaches, including word play, sampled recordings, or the setting of hypothetical speeches. As a result, this playlist ranges from whimsical to contemplative to highly political.
This month we decided to program a playlist theme that had been brewing behind the scenes for quite a while. Long Waves gives the listener a chance to savour some of the broader, single-movement works that composers have put forward to Making Waves. We really enjoy how this set of works visit contemplative or evocative themes, some via solo instrument, others for ensemble, with or without voice. With thanks to Making Waves Intern, Angus Baxter, for his thoughtful curatorial input on the playlist.
This month we’re delighted to have Dr. Leah Barclay, Co-Chair of Sonic Environments, and President of the Australian Forum for Acoustic Ecology , guest-curate this playlist: Sonic Environment Waves. About the playlist, Leah writes:
This playlist features composers who are working in innovative ways with place, environmental sound and new technologies. It has been curated to coincide with the Sonic Environments conference, hosted by the Queensland Conservatorium in Brisbane, July 10-11 2016.
Drawing inspiration from contemporary acoustic ecology, Sonic Environments invites composers, performers, academics, field recordists, acoustic ecologists and technologists to present research and creative works exploring the ecological, social and cultural contexts of our sonic environments. This conference aims to expand our current understandings of acoustic ecology and the role of sound and technology in understanding rapidly changing environments across the world.
This collection of compositions showcases composers experimenting with found sounds, environmental field recordings, mixed media and immersive performance. This playlist traverses the inherently interdisciplinary nature of sound and aims to explore aural awareness in a diversity of sonic environments across the world with composers who are all connected to Australia.
We hope you enjoy this rich and thoughtful selection of works and we thank Leah Barclay for agreeing to curate this playlist.
We’re delighted to hand over to guest curator Elizabeth Knudson for a Special Edition Playlist, our very first international one! Many thanks Elizabeth, for taking the time to bring together these wonderful composers and their works. We’ll be putting the spotlight on these composers and their works over the next week, in the lead-up to July 1st, which happens to be Canada Day.
I’d like to thank Lisa and Peggy for asking me to be guest curator of the first all-Canadian edition of “Making Waves”. I’ve done my best to include some composers I really respect, and whose music I enjoy listening to. The common thread here – which I think is representative of Canadian society and culture – is the fact that its beauty lies in its diversity. In the next hour, you will hear everything from a work for solo electric guitar, to a chamber choir with solo cello, to an orchestral piece inspired by traditional Balkan music. Each composer’s work offers something unique to explore. I hope this serves as an enticing introduction to some of the wonderful contemporary music being created here in Canada. In addition to the composers’ website links (which are definitely worth checking out), another excellent resource to learn more about Canadian composers and their music is the Canadian Music Centre. Best wishes from Vancouver, Canada – and enjoy the music! – Elizabeth Knudson
Welcome to our June Playlist, Moving Waves! In this month’s audiovisual playlist we explore various physical, musical and visual forms of movement as well as ‘moving’ in a more emotional sense. From mesmerising dance-like percussion, to the moving parts of a prepared piano, to dance, to soundtrack for silent film, to Nathalie Latham’s emotive footage of local women in Tamil Nadu in South India accompanied by the music of Iain Grandage, we promise you that this is a musical journey worth exploration. Join us as we showcase exciting, innovative and moving works by seven wonderful Australian composers. Continue reading
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