Listen + Watch
Observatory I: Micro (2023)
For trumpet, bass clarinet, baritone voice and trombone.
Written for and performed by Loadbang Ensemble (USA) as part of their 2023 Divergent Studio program in Boston, Massachusetts.
Performed in June 2023 in the Pickman Concert Hall, Longy School of Music, Boston. Andy Kozar (trumpet), Adrián Sandi (bass clarinet), Ty Bouque (baritone voice) and William Lang (trombone).
Released (2019)
For mixed sextet - violin, cello, flute, clarinets, piano + percussion.
This piece conveys the stark emotion of a previous experience and how my emotional response to that experience has faded over time and sits differently now. The forceful characteristics in the music are contrasted with delicate fragile sounds, represented initially by the flute and violin and gradually growing into other parts, symbolising being ‘released’ from the negative emotion.
Mallee Dust (2019)
For SATB Choir.
Performed by Candlelight VOX, conducted by Nicole Marshall.
This piece is a reflection on some aspects of the landscape in the Victorian Mallee; but also on family ties to the region.
The mallee can be dusty, stormy and unbearably hot. You can drive for miles and the scenery doesn’t change. There are vast dry lake beds crusted with pink salt. It takes a certain kind of person to thrive in such an unforgiving environment.
Dust under a mallee sky
Floating deep in your soul
Pink salt water
Flowing into you
- Words by Claire Higgins
Am I a Machine? (2019)
A work for disklavier and electroacoustic sounds, exploring the boundaries of human versus machine, in the context of the disklavier, which can be played either by a human, or driven by a computer, using MIDI input.
Disklavier part recorded using the Yamaha Disklavier at the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, the University of Melbourne, Ian Potter Southbank Centre, Melbourne, Australia.
Electroacoustic sounds recorded by Claire Higgins in a home studio.
Kinetica (2018)
For alto saxophone.
A solo work for alto saxophone, exploring moment-form, where discrete and unrelated musical ideas are presented.
Sleep-scape (2018)
Bass trombone and trumpet.
Performed by Kiran Samuel (bass trombone) and Louisa Becker (trumpet), 11th September 2018, in Melba Hall at the (former) Melbourne Conservatorium building in Parkville, Melbourne, Australia.
This piece explores both the limitations and freedom of serialism. In being limited to certain pitches, one is left to explore other aspects like rhythm, dynamics and texture. Sleep-scape is an attempt to represent in sound, the different states of sleep and wakefulness. There are five short movements: Falling into sleep | Deep sleep | REM sleep | Insomnia | Waking in the morning
Letter to a friend - For Clare (2018)
For solo violin and fixed electroacoustic media.
Performed by Clare Lynch.
Written for and performed by my friend Clare - a moment of reflection on our friendship and how it has traversed our personal and professional lives as musicians and educators.
The Next Train (2023)
For flute, soprano voice and double bass.
Performed by Pavana Karanth (flute), Regina Stroncek (soprano voice) and Javier Avendanos (double bass), Pickman Hall, Longy School of Music, Boston.
Written for a speed-composing project as part of the 2023 Divergent Studio, held by Loadbang Ensemble in Boston.
A playful exploration of the sounds heard and experience felt travelling the subway in Boston, Massachusetts.
Written for a speed-composing project as part of the 2023 Divergent Studio, hosted by Loadbang Ensemble and held in Boston.
Released (2019)
For mixed sextet.
Performed by Clare Lynch (violin), Lindsay Hicks (flute), Matthew Baulch (clarinets), Kiya Van der Linden-Kian (cello), Ella Blackburn (piano), Bridget Bourne (percussion), conducted by Matthew Castle: September 2019, Hanson-Dyer Hall, Ian Potter Southbank Centre, Melbourne, Australia.
This piece conveys the stark emotion of a previous experience and how my emotional response to that experience has faded over time and sits differently now. The forceful characteristics in the music are contrasted with delicate fragile sounds, represented initially by the flute and violin and gradually growing into other parts, symbolising being ‘released’ from the negative emotion.
The Shape of Tahune (2019)
For violin, cello and piano.
Performed by Clare Lynch (violin), Kiya Van der Linden-Kian (cello) and Sebastian Dyer-Culhane (piano), May 2019, Hanson-Dyer Hall, Ian Potter Southbank Centre, Melbourne, Australia.
This piece was inspired by a visit to a section of the Tahune Forest in Tasmania. The forest hugs the banks of the Huon River and I saw it at an incredibly still and peaceful time of day. In the piece I attempt to convey that stillness, but in the context of the subtle movements and shapes within the forest, which is alive and constantly changing and growing. Of particular interest were the magnificent Huon Pine trees, which are slow-growing but can live for thousands of years.
In some ways the piece has become a tribute to the Tahune, much of which was sadly decimated during fires in January 2019, just days after our visit.
Song for Yingabeal (2018)
For string quartet.
Performed by Flinders Quartet in August 2018 for their Composer Development Program, Library at the Dock, Melbourne, Australia.
A film of the performance can be viewed here (scroll to 24:22).
Miki Tsunoda (violin), Nicholas Waters (violin), Helen Ireland (viola), Zoe Knighton (cello).
A piece acknowledging the significance of the majestic River Red Gum tree standing in the grounds of the Heide Museum in Melbourne, Australia. "Yingabeal" (song tree) is over 500 years old and is an Indigenous scarred marker tree, that stands at the intersection of five traditional Indigenous song-lines; and is considered one of the most significant marker trees in the Melbourne area.
Kinetica (2018)
Performed by the late Matthew Baulch, 15th May 2018, in Melba Hall at the (former) Melbourne Conservatorium building in Parkville, Melbourne, Australia.
Inside Fog (2018)
For solo piano.
Performed by the composer, 11th September 2018, in Melba Hall at the (former) Melbourne Conservatorium building in Parkville, Melbourne, Australia.
A piece evoking the disorienting feeling of being lost in fog.
Remnant #133 (2021)
Commissioned by Flinders Quartet, with generous support from Mr Richard Gubbin, for their "Beethoven and the Vignettes" program. Performed on 14th November 2022, in the Primrose Potter Salon at Melbourne Recital Centre.
For string quartet - can be viewed on FQ Digital at the link below (scroll down to find the video):
Written in response to Beethoven's Grosse Fugue, Opus 133. Just like remnants of fabric, this piece takes some elements from the Grosse Fugue, reshapes them and places them in a contemporary context.
In responding to Beethoven’s work, I found there to be both darkness and light and I chose to create a piece that focuses on the darkness and the difficult social history around this work. There’s a certain sadness in the work not being received well initially and the fact that Beethoven was asked to replace the movement with an entirely new one.
I was also struck by the fact that the replacement movement was one of the last pieces of music he ever wrote.
Particles I (2019)
For saxophone quartet (ATTB).
Performed by Justinn Lu (alto), Brandon Bartholomeusz (tenor), the late Matthew Baulch (tenor) and Terence Liu (baritone): September 2019, Hanson-Dyer Hall, Ian Potter Southbank Centre, Melbourne, Australia.
This work explores the use of mensuration canon, where a motive (a particle) is expanded rhythmically across the different parts and then combined, to discover harmonic combinations and possibilities. This can lead to a myriad of developmental possibilities, but in this case it progresses from a slow-moving, almost dreamy state, to just a little bit of funk!
Un-earthed (2019)
For soprano voice.
For solo soprano voice. Performed by Beth Potter, 15th May 2019, in the Hanson-Dyer Hall at the Ian Potter Southbank Centre, Melbourne, Australia.
A setting of the text from an anonymous poem. I have attempted to evoke the sense of foreboding that I felt in reading the poem, with its descriptions of environmental disasters. Having the option to use just a portion of the poem and to fragment and re-order the words, meant that I found some new meanings and ways to structure the words and the music.
I have attempted to musically capture the dark nature of the words and the feeling that we are at the mercy of the increasingly volatile environment, especially in light of hastening climate change.
Before Dawn (2018)
For acoustic guitar.
Performed by Ken Murray in 2018, at the (former) Melbourne Conservatorium building in Parkville, Melbourne, Australia.
This work was also performed by Daniel McKay for the 2018 Melbourne Guitar Festival, Melba Hall, University of Melbourne, Parkville.
Spacious and immersive in its sound world, this piece was written to acknowledge the beauty of the moment before dawn, where birds awaken and trees sit in stillness.
Light Studies I (2017)
Performed and recorded by the composer (2018) at home in Melbourne, Australia.
A piece written to convey the beauty of the morning light falling on the leaves of a gumtree in my neighbourhood. A kind of meditation on the fact that the light would be different the next day and that I was lucky to witness that beautiful moment in nature, as we so often are when we take a moment to stop, breathe and appreciate what is around us.