Antarctica

score available from Wise Music program note Antarctica is a setting of a new text by Melbourne poet Ross Baglin, with whom the composer has worked closely for the past 18 years. The text alludes to rising sea levels caused by the melting of the polar ice caps due to global warming. The opening figure … Read more

Coventry Cathedral

score available from Wise Music program note Coventry was bombed extensively by Germany in 1940 and its cathedral was reduced to a blackened shell. When it was rebuilt in the 50’s, it was decided to leave the open-air ruins of the old cathedral largely untouched alongside the new building. Ross Baglin’s poem considers what remains … Read more

Discoveries

score available soon from Wise Music program note Ross Baglin’s poem, Discoveries, takes the vantage point of an adult remembering a childhood ‘discovery’ whose implications are not really understood until later in life. This reflection is in some ways a metaphor for Australia as a colonised nation. The lines: What is new in each discovery … Read more

From the Beginning

score available from Wise Music program note From the Beginning was commissioned by the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic to be performed in 2003 to commemorate their 150th year. The text draws on the history of the RMP which was “founded in 1853 by a group of colonial leaders and music lovers who wished to bring musical … Read more

I Saw Three Ships

score available from Wise Music program note I grew up with the traditional English Christmas carol, I Saw Three Ships, and love it perhaps more than any other. As I was born on Christmas day, it has occurred to me from time to time that I ought to set it. When Michael Leighton Jones asked … Read more

One Day

score available from Wise Music program note One Day was originally written as a pop song to words by Ross Baglin. It subsequently went through a range of forms – this one for a cappella choir (SATB). It’s a song of love – of finding perfection and beauty in another person. The musical setting is … Read more