# Peter Sculthorpe



## Sid James

There is no guestbook for an Australian composer, so I thought I'd start with our most popular composer internationally, *Peter Sculthorpe*. He is now in his 80th year.

Sculthorpe's works draw on Australian aboriginal and East Asian influences to often paint pictures of the Australian continent. He has stated that he is not interested in writing a symphony, but he has produced many orchestral works, including the famous _Sun Music I-IV_ (1960's) which started off as a ballet. He is an extremely prolific writer of string quartets, his favourite medium, and he has produced 17 of these to date. His works are noted for their unusual timbre effects and innovative use of percussion.

I hear alot of European modernist influences in his music, as well as from this region. A good example of this is his _Piano Concerto _(1980's) which blends these influences pretty well. I think that there is alot of depth to his music, even though he has avoided any experimentation with atonality or newer trends like that. He has a unique style which sounds contemporary but is quite accessible.


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## Sid James

Well, I thought I'd bump this guestbook up, since no-one's replied so far.

I've just acquired some more Sculthorpe. I've particularly enjoyed a cd with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by the late Stuart Challender. He seemed to have such an empathy with Sculthorpe's musical images of the Australian landscape.

One of Sculthorpe's great works is _Kakadu_, picturing the jungle area in Northern Australia (it's now a national park). There are indiginous Australian Aboriginal rhythms to start off with, but in the middle, these subside and it is as if you have come to a clearing in the bush. Bird-like sounds from the strings play over the woodwinds & percussion. It's like you've come to a vast lake, teeming with flocking birds. Simply breathtaking!

Anyone else heard some Sculthorpe? Please feel free to share your impressions here...


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## Frasier

I didn't notice this thread first time but I confirm my appreciation of Sculthorpe. If I had to describe his earlier music I'd say "symbolist" (Sum Musics I - IV), Port Essington, Djilili, Mangrove etc. He seems to have bowed to more classical forms recently with the Requiem. "Songs of the Sea and Sky" is rather beautiful.

He's a great nationalist attempting to take in Australasia as a whole.

I have scores of a few of his works and it's interesting to see how he solves various problems unique to his compositional style: the methods of notation, the way of combining different rhythms; timing as linear measure rather than beats and barlines.


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## Tapkaara

I have one Naxos disc of Sculthorpe's music which I really, really like. I heard him interviewed on KUSC (radio station) in Los Angeles about a years or so ago and he was very interesting in describing the inspiration for many of his works. They played a work for string orchestra (I cannot remember the title) which I though was very good.


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## Sid James

Frasier, I've recently heard Sculthorpe's _Requiem_ on radio, & I thought it was an interesting departure from his earlier music. It's much more pared down & lean. I wouldn't have thought he would take this direction, especially since his earlier music seemed to be more colourful & rhythmic...

Anyone interested in learning more about Sculthorpe, I suggest you read his very engaging autobiography called _Sun Music_. It covers everything from his early years in Tasmania up until the time he wrote it in his late 70's. I'll have to get around to reading it fully myself at some stage. It was interesting to learn from it that two of his major (European) influences were Messiaen & Varese. Although he only mentions these in passing...


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## Sid James

I've been listening to a cd which includes some of Sculthorpe's earlier works like _Little Suite _(1950's) & _Fifth Continent_ (1963). I can detect some slight influence of British composers like Britten, Vaughan Williams & Walton, particularly in how Sculthorpe uses the orchestra to paint a picture of the Australian continent. This is no surprise, as he actually studied in Britain early on, & one of his teachers was Edmund Rubbra. But I think though that, whatever his earlier influences, Sculthorpe really had his own voice, even in those early pieces...


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## Tapkaara

All things considered, is Sculthorpe well known in Australia? I mean, I'm sure the average guy in the street has no idea who he is, but in classical circles?


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## Sid James

Sculthorpe is probably the best-known composer in Australia, in classical circles, that is. He's had pretty decent exposure here since the '60's. Recently, he hosted a series of radio programs of his music, for his 80th anniversary. & a premiere of one of his works is coming up in a concert that I will attend in August, by the Australian Chamber Orchestra. I think that, to an extent, he's eclipsed other Australian composers. The nearest well-known ones, in classical circles, would be Ross Edwards, Carl Vine, Elena Kats-Chernin & Brett Dean. They're all part of the next generation.

Sculthorpe was also called upon in the mid-90's to write a piece of music commemorating the Port Arthur massacre. The result was his short _Port Arthur: In Memoriam_, of which there is a verson for trumpet & also for oboe solo. So I suppose that he is the composer who has represented Australia in this way too...


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## Conor71

I bought this composers Naxos disc of Orchestral works and was very impressed! - I agree with Andre that he is probably the best known composer in Australia at the moment.
I would definetely like to explore Sculthorpe further at some stage .


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## Sid James

I think his _Piano Concerto _(composed 1980's, also on that Naxos disc) is pretty good & underrated. It blends Balinese gamelan melodies with modern European influences. The reason why it's so dark is that prior to the time it was written, Sculthorpe had a near-fatal car accident & three of his closest friends died (not related to the accident). This made him take stock, big time. If you liked the Naxos disc, try to get a recording of his _Sun Music I-IV_, a seminal work in Australian classical, & I think another rather underrated work from the 1960's. It's quite experimental but very accessible.


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## Edward Elgar

I've learned his piano piece "Mountains" for my May recital. His music is much more structured than that of his contemporaries which is refreshing

He got beaten with a cane for composing! For more information, click here:


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## HarpsichordConcerto

Some of Sculthorpe's music seems more accessible (even to a Baroque, Classical and early Romantic listener like me) though I must admit, I bothered to listen to some pieces only because he is Australian, and he composed pieces that were meant to evoke the feelings of some physical places/geographical regions that I have visited, or indeed places near home (one of his piece is called _Kings Cross_, a red-light district not far from home)!

These works are still _not anyway near _my favourite pieces of music, nor have I acquired any recordings of them on CD or any medium, but I have only listened to some bits on youtube, radio and TV. Repeated listenings are few and far between. I do admire some of the pieces that I have listened for being accessible, and not the atonal ****** stuff that seem to be what much of modern/contemporary music is about. His _Piano Concerto_ (1983) is a mixed bag, more towards the atonal ****** style. It's slow movement is more accessible to me.

For the reader who is interested, here is the first movement of the _Piano Concerto_. You're doing well, if you survive the first few minutes.






_Kings Cross_ is better to my ears.


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## Sid James

I've heard a few of the more "modern" piano concertos, and I think Sculthorpe's is one of the best I've heard so far. I don't think it's a struggle to get through it at all, it's much more accessible & conventional than say John Cage's effort. I'd say it's on par with Lutoslawski's own dark piano concerto, composed around the same time as the Sculthorpe, and using similar colours but in a different (perhaps even less tonal) way. What I like about Sculthorpe is that he explores tonality in a progressive way, but never totally departs from it, which is why his music can sound somewhat more accessible than that of the more experimental composers...


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## Air

Andre said:


> I've heard a few of the more "modern" piano concertos, and I think Sculthorpe's is one of the best I've heard so far. I don't think it's a struggle to get through it at all, it's much more accessible & conventional than say John Cage's effort. I'd say it's on par with Lutoslawski's own dark piano concerto, composed around the same time as the Sculthorpe, and using similar colours but in a different (perhaps even less tonal) way. What I like about Sculthorpe is that he explores tonality in a progressive way, but never totally departs from it, which is why his music can sound somewhat more accessible than that of the more experimental composers...


Have you heard Corigliano's or Liebermann's piano concerti (there are a couple of them)? I think these are some of the best. Well, besides earlier ones like Schoenberg, Prokofiev's 5th, Tippett, Bartoks, Stravinsky etc.

I'm interested in hearing Ligeti's as well...


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## Sid James

No haven't heard Corigliano's or Liebermann's piano concertos (or the Ligeti), but am interested in these...


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## Sid James

I put this here because I just re-heard this work after a long time and think I garnered some new insights into it (copied over from current listening thread) -

*Peter Sculthorpe*
_Irkanda IV_
Leonard Dommett, violin solo / Melbourne SO / John Hopkins, cond. - recorded in 1967.
(ABC CLassics)

By contrast, this is a dark work, written at the time Sculthorpe's father died. It's basically a funeral-like lament, but in the middle it kind of changes tack and a kind of doom laden tango thing emerges, which gets more and more intense. This is an amazing performance, but the sound quality is not good (damaged master, I think). It has more than just historical value in that nothing else approaches it, except the late Stuart Challender's rendition done on a now out of print disc of about late 1980's. Sculthorpe here did not hold back, this isn't sugar coated in any way, and it's basically a gut wrenching piece, talking not only to his emotion at the time but the desolation and loneliness of the Australian bush. The harmonies of the Aboriginal wind instrument, the didgeridoo, seem to underly this piece, though there isn't one used in this piece as in some other Sculthorpe works...


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## NightHawk

I haven't Sid J., but I'd like to - your description of him and his music reminds me of a latter day Carl Ruggles...a much neglected composer contemporary with Charles Ives. If you haven't heard of Ruggles try his most acclaimed work 'Dawn Treader'. An American every bit as original as Chas. Ives.



Sid James said:


> Well, I thought I'd bump this guestbook up, since no-one's replied so far.
> 
> I've just acquired some more Sculthorpe. I've particularly enjoyed a cd with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by the late Stuart Challender. He seemed to have such an empathy with Sculthorpe's musical images of the Australian landscape.
> 
> One of Sculthorpe's great works is _Kakadu_, picturing the jungle area in Northern Australia (it's now a national park). There are indiginous Australian Aboriginal rhythms to start off with, but in the middle, these subside and it is as if you have come to a clearing in the bush. Bird-like sounds from the strings play over the woodwinds & percussion. It's like you've come to a vast lake, teeming with flocking birds. Simply breathtaking!
> 
> Anyone else heard some Sculthorpe? Please feel free to share your impressions here...


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## Sid James

Another review of the same disc, copied here from current listening thread.

This disc has again been reissued on ABC Classics budget "Discovery" label/series. Details HERE

If people want to get a more recent (better sound) recording of the _Sun Musics_, there was one done in last 10 years or so with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra under David Porcelijn, also on ABC Classics label (but full price), I'm not sure if it's still in print but I've heard it on radio, it's great & it won an ARIA award, our equivalent of the Grammys.

*Peter Sculthorpe*
_SUn Musics I-IV
Small Town_
Melbourne SO / John Hopkins (recorded 1976-7)
(ABC CLassics)

Sculthorpe's _*Sun Music *_pieces image the dry interior, the REd Centre. The layerings of the strings and glissandos give me an impression of the "haze" of heat, blurring as the heat rises up from the parched earth, and also the vastness of the landscape, where man is like the size of an ant. These were done in the 1960's, and Sculthorpe was using the same "texture" techniques as Penderecki at the same time, but they didn't know what eachother were doing. They kind of came to the same conclusions to innovate string techniques, but in the case of Sculthorpe this is an image of landscapes. This is not picture postcard stuff, nothing like eg. Ferde Grofe. There are elements of Asian music here as well as rhythms of Aboriginal tribal music. This is from Sculthorpe's earlier more experimental phase & it's my favourite work by him.

The other piece here,_ *Small Town*_, includes reminiscences on the bugle call of the_ Last Post_, which is played to commemorate our war dead here every year on Anzac Day. This comes across as an image of a small bush town on exactly that day, the bugle call and memories of the past coming back and wafting by. Aaron Copland was said to be an admirer of this piece, which along with _Irkanda IV _(also on this disc, listened to it before, in earlier post) forms part of his _The Fifth Continent _for narrator and orchestra, with words by D.H. Lawrence from his novel _Kangaroo_, written while he lived here.


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## Sid James

NightHawk said:


> I haven't Sid J., but I'd like to - your description of him and his music reminds me of a latter day Carl Ruggles...a much neglected composer contemporary with Charles Ives. If you haven't heard of Ruggles try his most acclaimed work 'Dawn Treader'. An American every bit as original as Chas. Ives.


I have heard _Sun Treader_, on youtube a while back, and yes it does have that epic, vast, landscape painting quality.

There are connections between Sculthorpe and the Americans for sure. One of his big influences was Edgard Varese, who was French-born but an honorary American, living there for a large part of his life. The other big influence on his was also French, Olivier Messiaen. The layering and block like structure of Varese, also things like his siren like sounds & experiments with instrumental writing, pushing things to the limit, etc. and the static qualities of Messiaen come together in Sculthorpe's music...


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## Sid James

Another "review" of mine from current listening thread -

*Peter Sculthorpe*
_Kakadu_
Sydney Sym. Orch. / Stuart Challender, cond.
(ABC CLassics, on _Sculthorpe - Earth Cry_ album)

I'm really getting into Sculthorpe's music now.

This work comes from the late 1980's, when Sculthorpe was returning more to melody and tonality. It is a portrait of the Kakadu National Park in Northern Australia.

It starts off with drumming which is like the clapping of rain on a rooftop. During the wet season in the North, it often rains so hard that it's like a solid sheet of water coming down. Stand in that for a second and you're soaked to the bone.

Then Sculthorpe's classic bird sounds, a flock of birds coming to a lake in a clearing to drink and cavort. The centre of this work is an Aboriginal melody Sculthorpe heard on an old recording made in early 20th century. It's like the ghosts of the Aborigines are there, but physically they have gone, the culture disappeared from there. There is sadness and tragedy here, the strings sound distant and quiet, as if far away in memory and time.

To end, the piece returns to the drumming, and in the end another related Aboriginal melody, but kind of lush, epic and filmic. As if you're flying in a plane above the ancient forested landscape, you are going back home from there, or flying away like in a flock of birds.

An amazing work, and I like how Sculthorpe combined melody and rhythms in this.

& you can't get a better interpreter of Aussie music than the late Maestro Challender, he was a legend...


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Rest in peace, Peter Sculthorpe, and may your music live long. :angel:


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## Blancrocher

A revelatory and occasionally moving hour-long radio interview with Sculthorpe:

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/encounter/a-conversation-with-peter-sculthorpe/5436058


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## Aecio

Not very familiar with Sculthorpe works, but Kakadu and Earth Cry are very interesting. They sound very "australian" to a foreigner like me, you feel the scorched and old earth under your feet.


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## Nereffid

Just listening to Sculthorpe's gorgeous 2012 work _Island Dreams_, for saxophone and orchestra, on Amy Dickson's recent album.







From the ABC Classics web site: 
The work consists of two movements - Song of Home, which in the words of the composer 'sings of the love that Indigenous inhabitants have for their island home, the place where they and their ancestors were born'; and Lament and Yearning, which tells of the potential tragedy of climate change and a hope for a more stable world. The work is based on three melodies from Australia's far north, including the much-loved Djilile.

Brief promo in which Dickson discusses the work here: 




(The rest of the album, with music by Brett Dean and Ross Edwards, is good too!)


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## KenOC

I hope people haven't lost interest in Peter Sculthorpe, who has passed on since this thread was started. I listened to his music most of the day today -- Mangrove, Kakadu, Memento Mori, Earth Cry, and Irkanda IV. He was an absolute original. Quite a bit of his music can be found on YouTube, which is good because many of his recordings seem to have gone out of print.

His music has the ability to absorb the attention and, often, to engage the soul.


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## Guest

I'm Australian and Sculthorpe absolutely leaves me cold. His 'soundscapes' of Australia are pleasant enough, but I grow bored. My musical friends like him and I'm the odd one out. I don't know a lot of the works, to be honest, because I was never engaged enough to explore further. Glad he has a following, though, as he is regarded as a significant Australian composer.

I can relate a humorous anecdote about Sculthorpe's music. It goes back to the 1970s, before the opening of Sydney Opera House, when I was working in the ABC Music Department as a secretary to the Head of Music Operations. I used to handle his correspondence. In those days Sydney Symphony Orchestral concerts were held in Sydney Town Hall. We got this letter from a European couple who complained about Sculthorpe's "Sun Music" and why it had been programmed for the orchestral series. The man wrote (and I'm paraphrasing, as it was years ago), "My wife and I decided to leave and we couldn't walk properly out of the hall because the music was making us both dizzy and weak. Please do not program that dreadful 'Sun Music' ever again". Both the boss and myself fell into paroxysms of laughter at the neurotic letter and its funny overtones. The boss was a very funny man himself and it was always amusing in that department!


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## Portamento

CountenanceAnglaise said:


> I'm Australian and Sculthorpe absolutely leaves me cold. His 'soundscapes' of Australia are pleasant enough, but I grow bored. My musical friends like him and I'm the odd one out. I don't know a lot of the works, to be honest, because I was never engaged enough to explore further. Glad he has a following, though, as he is regarded as a significant Australian composer.


Are your friends Australian, by chance?

While Sculthorpe's ability to synthesize indigenous elements of the Pacific Rim into music of his own is palpable, I can see (the majority of) Australians finding him a bore. "The pervasive impact of racial perceptions and realities on the production and consumption of music clearly shapes musical exoticism." In other words, the 'non-Western other' has always had a previaling influence on Western art music. Orientalism, primitivism, medievalism, and archaicism - humans have longed for these things since the beginning. Then, when comparing either side of exotism, nationalism and folklorism should be treated as different. For Australians, Sculthorpe's music may exhibit an excessive amount of folklorism; the rest of the world sees him as the perceived representation of Australian nationalism (one missing in the dense field of exotism). Sculthorpe has done for Australia what Dvořák and Smetana did for the Czech Republic.


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## christomacin

I enjoy this piece:


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## regenmusic

Just found out about him tonight.

The first paragraph in Wiki is very promising:

Peter Joshua Sculthorpe AO OBE (29 April 1929 - 8 August 2014) was an Australian composer. Much of his music resulted from an interest in the music of Australia's neighbours as well as from the impulse to bring together aspects of native Australian music with that of the heritage of the West. He was known primarily for his orchestral and chamber music, such as Kakadu (1988) and Earth Cry (1986), which evoke the sounds and feeling of the Australian bushland and outback. He also wrote 18 string quartets, using unusual timbral effects, works for piano, and two operas. He stated that he wanted his music to make people feel better and happier for having listened to it. He typically avoided the dense, atonal techniques of many of his contemporary composers. His work was often distinguished by its distinctive use of percussion.


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