476 6887

=SPANISH FANTASIES

Rodrigo • Falla • Granados

SLAVA GRIGORYAN • SOUTHERN CROSS SOLOISTS

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FERNANDO OBRADORS 1897-1945 arr. Kevin Power1 Chiquitita la novia (The Bride is Tiny) 2’51

ENRIQUE GRANADOS 1867-1916 arr. Julian ByzantineTonadillas en un estilo antiguo (Intermezzos in Antique Style) – selections [7’59]

2 La maja de Goya (Goya’s Maja) 1’593 El majo discreto (The Discreet Majo) 1’314 El tra la la y el punteado (Tra la la and the Plucked Guitar) 1’075 El majo timido (TheTimid Majo) 1’006 La maja dolorosa (The Sorrowing Maja) 2’22

MANUEL DE FALLA 1876-1946 arr. Paul DeanEl sombrero de tres picos (The Three-Cornered Hat) – Concert Suite [12’05]

7 I. Dance of the Miller’s Wife (Fandango) 2’398 II. Miller’s Dance (Farruca) 3’019 III. Final Dance (Jota) 6’25

LUIS DE MILÁN c.1500-c.1561

Two Romances [5’54]0 Toda mi vida os amé (All my life I have loved you) 1’29! Durandarte 4’26

JOAQUIN RODRIGO 1901-1999

Líricas castellanas (Castilian Lyrics) [6’07]@ I. San Juan y Pascua (St John’s Day and Easter) 2’23£ II. Despedida y soledad (Leavetaking and Loneliness) 2’17$ III. Espera del amado (The Beloved Waits) 1’27

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GERARD BROPHY b. 1953

Verlaine Songs [21’37]% I. Ta voix grave et basse (Your Voice, Deep and Low) 2’30^ II. La lune blanche (The White Moon) 5’51& III. Il pleure dans mon cœur (Tears are Falling in My Heart) 3’20* IV. Vrai, nous avons trop d’esprit (It’sTrue, We Don’t Know When to Give Up) 5’03( V. Un grand sommeil noir (A Great Black Slumber) 4’53

SHAUN RIGNEY b. 1960

Chamber Concerto [14’07]) I. Prelude 4’54¡ II. Lullaby 4’02™ III. TheToys 5’11

Total PlayingTime 70’50

Southern Cross SoloistsMargaret Schindler soprano

Tania Frazer oboePaul Dean clarinet

Leesa Dean bassoonPeter Luff horn

Kevin Power piano

Slava Grigoryan guitar 1-6, 0-™

Fernando Obradors

Chiquitita la novia (The Bride is Tiny)

Fernando Obradors, born in Barcelona, studied with renowned Catalonian teachers including Nicolau,Lamote de Grignon and Millet. He became a conductor and divided his professional life betweenBarcelona’s Liceo opera house and the Philharmonic of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.

He left his mark on Spanish music primarily owing to his collection of Canciones clásicas españolas(Spanish Classical Songs), which he presented during the 1920s, and which have since found favourwith many of today’s great singers – and not just Spanish ones. These pieces are regarded as brilliantlyeffective and well-composed, though not underpinned by the kind of rigorous musicological approachthat some other nationalistic composers of the time might have taken. For example, in Chiquitita lanovia, Obradors makes liberal use of typical – one might say, stereotypical – Andalusian melismaticturns to give his original song the air of a folk melody.

1 Chiquitita la novia, The bride is tiny,Chiquitita el novio, the groom is tiny,Chiquitita la sala, the living room is tiny,Y er dormitorio, and the bedroom,Por eso yo quiero that’s why I wantChiquitita la cama a tiny bedY er mosquitero. and a mosquito net.

Francisco Fernández Boigas

Enrique Granados

Tonadillas en un estilo antiguo (Intermezzos in Antique Style)

Enrique Granados was born in Lérida, Spain. He studied piano in Barcelona and then in Paris, returningto Barcelona in 1889. Although he did study informally for a period with the great Spanish musicologistFelipe Pedrell, as a composer Granados was essentially self-taught; it was as a pianist that he firstwon distinction. He gained popularity in Spain with his contributions to the form of zarzuela (musicaltheatre). Later, he dedicated himself almost exclusively to the piano, coming to prominence as acomposer with the publication of the six piano works that form his Goyescas (1911), inspired by thepaintings and etchings of Goya. The music of that piano suite later became the basis for an opera, also

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called Goyescas. Its premiere took place, in the presence of the composer, at the Metropolitan Operain New York, on 28 January 1916, with great success. Asked to stay on and play for President Wilson,Granados cancelled his return passage and arranged for later travel. That Atlantic crossing passeduneventfully, and he boarded the S.S. Sussex for the final leg across the English Channel. En route,the Sussex was torpedoed by a German submarine. According to witnesses, Granados did make itonto a life raft, but saw his wife Amparo struggling in the water and leapt in to save her, drowning inthe attempt. He had had a morbid fear of water for his entire life, and these had been his first-everseries of ocean voyages.

Granados was an important influence on at least two other major Spanish composers and musicians,Manuel de Falla and Pablo Casals. He founded the Society of Classical Concerts, Barcelona, in 1900,and his own piano school, Academia Granados, in 1901. Many of his piano compositions have beentranscribed for the classical guitar; they are elegant and poetic, as are his songs, many of which are inthe style of 18th-century tonadillas.

A tonadilla was an intermezzo, an entertainment sung between acts of a play (or occasionally anopera) in 18th- and 19th-century Spain. It usually featured up to four lower-class characters, anddeveloped into a format rather similar to the more famous Neapolitan intermezzo. In terms of musicalstyle it was ‘typically’ Spanish in rhythms, instrumentation and melodic line. As a distinctive regionalgenre, it was of interest to nationalistic Spanish composers in the 20th century, who revived itsessence. The works heard here are inspired by the characters of the theatrical intermezzi, known asmajos (male) or majas (female): a descriptive term for well-presented, often artistic working-classpeople of late 18th-century Madrid. The most famous maja is the subject of two paintings by Goya,and appears clothed in one and nude in the other.

La maja de Goya Goya’s Maja

2 Yo no olvidaré en mi vida Never in my life shall I forgetDe Goya la imagen gallarda y querida. the dear, gallant image of Goya.No hay hembra ni maja o señora There is no woman, whether maja or lady,Que a Goya no eche de menos ahora. who doesn’t miss Goya now.Si yo hallara quien me amara If I were to find someone who would love meComo él me amó, like he loved me,No envidiara, no, ni anhelara I would not covet or desireMàs venturas ni dichas yo. any greater fortune or happiness.

El majo discreto The Discreet Majo

3 Dicen que mi majo es feo. They say my majo is ugly.Es posible que sí que lo sea, True, it’s possible that he is,que amor es deseo since love is desireque ciega y marea: that blinds and intoxicates:ha tiempo que sé I have known for some timeque quien ama no ve. that anyone who is in love can’t see.

Mas si no es mi majo un hombre, But if my majo isn’t a manque por lindo descuelle y asombre, to stand out and amaze for his good looks,en cambio es discreto on the other hand, he’s discreety guarda un secreto and he keeps a secretque yo posé en él that I entrusted to him,sabiendo que es fiel. knowing he is true.

¿Cuál es el secreto que el majo guardó? What is the secret the majo keeps?Sería indiscreto contarlo yo; If I told you, I would be indiscreet!no poco trabajo It’s no small taskcostara saber to learnsecretos de un majo the secrets shared between a majocon una mujer. and a woman.Nació en Lavapiés. ¡Eh! ¡Eh! He was born in Lavapiés [in Madrid], hey!Es un majo, un majo es. He’s a majo, a majo is he.

El tra la la y el punteado Tra la la and the Plucked Guitar

4 Es en balde, majo mío, There’s no point, my majo,que sigas hablando, in keeping on talking,porque hay cosas que contesto because there are things that I onlyyo siempre cantando. ever reply to in song.

Por más que preguntes tanto, No matter how long you ask,en mí no causas quebranto you won’t bother me,ni yo he de salir de mi canto. and I won’t have to leave my singing.

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El majo timido The Timid Majo

5 Llega a mi reja y me mira A majo comes to my window and looks at mepor la noche un majo in the night;que en cuanto me ve y suspira as soon as he sees me, he sighsse va calle abajo. and walks away down the street.

¡Ay, que tío Ah, was there evermás tardío! a slower fellow!Si así se pasa la vida If that’s how he spends his life,estoy divertida. I’m amused.

Si hoy también pasa y me mira If he comes again today and looks at mey no se entusiasma, and doesn’t show a bit of enthusiasm,pues le suelto este saludo: then I’ll call out to him:adiós, don fantasma. Farewell, Mr Ghost!

¡Ay, que tío Ah, was there evermás tardío! a slower fellow!Odian las enamoradas Women in love hatelas rejas calladas. silent windows.

La maja dolorosa (II) The Sorrowing Maja

6 ¡Ay majo de mi vida, Ah, majo of my life,no, tú no has muerto! no, you are not dead!¿Acaso yo existiese How could I existsi fuera eso cierto? if it were true?

¡Quiero loca In my madness, I want tobesar tu boca! kiss your mouth!Quiero segura I want to enjoygozar más de tu ventura. your happiness again, and feel safe.

Mas ¡ay! deliro, sueño, But ah, I am delirious, I’m dreaming,mi majo no existe; my majo is no more.en torno mío el mundo Around me, the worldlloroso está y triste. is weeping and sad.

¡A mi duelo I find no comfortno hallo consuelo! for my grief!Mas muerto y frío But, dead and cold,siempre el majo será mío. my majo will always be mine.

Fernando Periquet

Manuel de Falla

El sombrero de tres picos (The Three-Cornered Hat) – Concert Suite

Falla was a thorough nationalist in his quest to express the essence of Spain, and in particular, the fullflavour of traditional Andalusian gypsy music. The nature of his artistic achievement is closelycomparable to that of Bartók in Hungary or Vaughan Williams in England. All three men, by assiduousresearch, imaginative sympathy and sound scholarship, gave fresh impetus to the art music of theircountries by making indigenous folk music an essential element in their own classical idiom.

Born in Cádiz, Falla began composition studies in Madrid when he was 20. As a young man, he wasexposed to the beginnings of Spanish nationalist music through his studies with José Trego and thedistinguished composer Felipe Pedrell. As a result, he first tried to find his voice in composing lightoperas in the zarzuela style, much like Pedrell. But Falla felt restricted by the somewhat formulaicgenre and looked further afield. His quest took him to Paris, where he studied with Paul Dukas andabsorbed the musical ferment surrounding Debussy and Ravel, as well as the iconoclastic school ofLes Six. Exposed to the Neoclassical approach of Stravinsky during the Russian’s visit to Madrid, Fallablended all these influences with his own ideas to create a style that remained with him for the rest ofhis career. He created many wonderfully colourful and expressive works, including operas, puppetoperas and cantatas.

When the Civil War broke out in 1936, Falla was devastated by the shooting of his friend, the poetGarcía Lorca, by Franco’s soldiers, particularly in light of Franco’s claim that he was defending the veryCatholicism which Falla so loved. He left Spain in 1936 for Argentina where his creative juicesseemingly flowed less freely. During his last years, Falla continued to compose but suffered fromincreasing ill health and poverty. He fought to give his later works the respected place in Europeantradition that had been denied Spanish music since the 17th-century ‘golden age’ of such masters asEncina, Milán, Morales, Cabezón, Victoria and Cabanilles.

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Luis de Milán

Two Romances

Milán can be considered the Spanish equivalent of his better-known English contemporary JohnDowland. A master of the vihuela, a precursor to the guitar, Milán was also a composer and author,writing on music and on courtly life in Spain and Portugal in the 16th century from first-handknowledge. His exquisite pieces have received new life in countless transcriptions by modern guitarvirtuosi. Amongst his published music are songs for voice and vihuela, not unlike Dowland’s lute songsin their atmosphere and presumably their intended purpose of courtly entertainment; however, themusical inflections of the Iberian peninsula give them a charming individuality. Both are songs ofunrequited love: the first from a viewpoint of a boy painfully in love with a girl who doesn’t know heexists; the second a dialogue between the legendary knight Durandarte and the noble lady who hasbetrayed his affections.

0 Toda mi vida os amé, All my life I have loved you,Si me amáis yo no lo sé. I don’t know if you love me.Bien sé que tenéis amor I do know that you loveal desamor y al olvido. indifference and neglect.Sé que soy aborrecido I know that I am loathed,Y a que sabe el disfavor. since I have felt your disfavour.

Yo por siempre os amaré. And I will love you for ever.Si me amais yo no lo se. I don’t know if you love me.

! Durandarte, Durandarte, buen caballero probado, Durandarte, Durandarte, knight tried and true,acordársete debría d’aquel buen tiempo pasado, you should be reminded of those fair days of oldcuando en galas y invenciones publicabas tu when at feasts and festivals you span tales of

cuidado. your deeds.Agora desconocido, di ¿por qué me has Now you treat me as a stranger; tell me: Why have

olvidado? you forgotten me?– Palabras son lisonjeras, señora, de vuestro grado. Words, my lady, flatter your noble standing.Que si yo mudanza hice, habéis me la vos causado. But if I have changed, you are the reason.Pues amastés á Gayferos cuando yo fui desterrado, You loved Gayferos when I was in exile,y por no sufrir ultraje moriré desesperado. And I shall die in despair, rather than endure the insult.

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In 1917 Falla composed music for a pantomime presentation of El corregidor y la molinera (TheMagistrate and the Miller’s Wife). This stage work was an adaptation of El sombrero de tres picos (TheThree-Cornered Hat), a novelette by Pedro de Alarcon. This came to the attention of Sergei Diaghilev,the great impresario touring Spain with his Ballets Russes company. He asked Falla to expand thepantomime music into a ballet; the resulting The Three-Cornered Hat premiered in London in 1919during the Ballets Russes season at the Alhambra Theatre, with choreography by Massine, andscenery and costumes by Picasso. It would become Falla’s most famous orchestral work. He usedSpanish folk music incidentally in the ballet music, but the main dances, such as those of the millerand the miller’s wife, are entirely artistic creations of the composer. Falla later derived two orchestralsuites from the complete ballet score.

The racy story of The Three-Cornered Hat has its roots in the folk traditions of Spain. The plot centreson a miller and his pretty wife, whom the local Corregidor or magistrate has his eyes on. Afterattempting to seduce her, the Corregidor has the miller arrested to get him out of the way, beforefalling into the millstream whilst pursuing the girl. While she runs off to find her husband, theCorregidor removes his soaked clothes, including his three-cornered hat (symbol of his office),replaces them with the miller’s and hops into the miller’s bed to ward off a chill.

Meanwhile, the miller has escaped his captors and comes home. Believing himself to have beenbetrayed by his wife, he goes in search of the Corregidor’s wife to get even, scribbling on the wall‘The wife of the Corregidor is also very pretty.’ The police then find the Corregidor in the miller’s clothes,so he is arrested by mistake. The miller’s wife returns, followed by the miller, and the two are happilyreconciled in the joyous final dance while the villagers toss a straw effigy of the Corregidor in a blanket.

The arranger writes:

When I began my 13-year stint in the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, I thought that I had a reallygood knowledge of the orchestral repertoire. I was really looking forward to playing the symphonies ofMahler and Bruckner and those other big Romantic canvases. Funnily enough, though, it was thepieces I didn’t know very well that quickly became my favourites. Pieces like Nielsen’s Fifth Symphonyand Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream absolutely blew my mind. However, it was a coupleof performances of the complete Three-Cornered Hat ballet that really took my breath away. The musicis imbued with great character and energy and was an inspiration to me. I relished the chance toarrange these three excerpts for Southern Cross Soloists. I hope the listener enjoys it as much as weenjoy playing it.

Paul Dean

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Rodrigo’s wife Victoria Kamhi. It is available in a version for Renaissance instruments (recorder, vihuelaand cornett); the composer’s own ‘modern’ alternative (heard here with slightly adaptedinstrumentation, with the permission of the Rodrigo Foundation) still carries much of the flavour of its15th-century inspiration.

San Juan y Pascua St John’s Day and Easter

@ Que no cogeré verbena I shall not be gathering verbenaen la mañana de San Juan, on the morning of St John’s Daypues mis amores se ván. for my love is leaving me.Que no cogeré claveles, I shall not be gathering carnations,madreselva ni miraveles, honeysuckle or plum blossoms,sino penas tan crueles but rather the cruellest painscual jamás se cogerán, ever gathered,pues mis amores se ván. for my love is leaving me.

Despedida y soledad Leavetaking and Loneliness

£ Vanse mis amores, madre, My love is leaving me, mother,luengas tierras van morar, he is going to dwell in a far land,yo no los puedo olvidar. and I cannot forget him.¿Quién me los hará tornar? Who will bring him back to me?Yo soñara, madre, un sueño, I dreamed a dream, mother,que me dix nel corazón, which told me in my heartque se iban los mis amores that my love will journeya las islas de la mar. to the islands of the sea.¿Quién me los hará tornar? Who will bring him back to me?Yo soñara, madre, un sueño, I dreamed a dream, mother,que me dix nel corazón, which told me in my heartque se iban los mis amores that my love will journeya las tierras de Aragón. to the lands of Aragon.Allá se ván a morar, He will go to dwell there,yo no los puedo olvidar. and I cannot forget him.¿Quién me los hará tornar? Who will bring him back to me?

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Joaquín Rodrigo

Líricas castellanas (Castilian Lyrics)

At the age of three, as a result of diphtheria, Joaquín Rodrigo lost his sight almost completely. He latersaid that this event undoubtedly led to a musical vocation. Aged eight he began his first musicalstudies, with teachers from the Conservatoire in Valencia. His first compositions date from 1923: asuite for piano; Dos Esbozos (Two Sketches) for violin and piano; and a siciliana for cello. From theoutset of his career Rodrigo wrote all his works in Braille, dictating them subsequently to a copyist.

In 1927, following the example of his predecessors Albéniz, Falla, Granados and Turina, Rodrigo movedto Paris to enrol at the École Normale de Musique, where he studied for five years with Paul Dukas,who had a particular affection for his Spanish pupil. Rodrigo soon became known as both pianist andcomposer, and became friendly with many other musical celebrities of the time, among them Falla,whose advice and support would be decisive in his career. In 1933 he married the Turkish pianistVictoria Kamhi, who became his inseparable companion and the most important collaborator in allaspects of his work as a composer. He continued his studies of musicology in France at the ParisConservatoire and at the Sorbonne and also worked in Germany, Austria and Switzerland beforereturning to Spain in 1939 to settle permanently in Madrid. In 1940 the world premiere of theConcierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra took place in Barcelona: a definitive example of hismusical personality, and a work which would bring him world fame.

No other Spanish composer has drawn on so many different aspects of his country’s spirit as sourcesof inspiration, from the history of Roman Spain to the work of contemporary poets. His music isrefined, luminous and fundamentally optimistic, with a particular predominance of melody and originalharmonies. His first works reveal the influence of composers of his time, such as Ravel andStravinsky, but the personal voice quickly emerged which would go on to create a notable chapter inthe cultural history of Spain. The originality of Rodrigo’s musical inspiration goes hand in hand with adevotion to the primary values of his tradition.

Joaquín Rodrigo’s numerous and varied compositions include eleven concertos for various instruments,more than sixty songs, choral and instrumental works, and music for the theatre and the cinema.

The Líricas castellanas (Castilian Lyrics) were composed in 1980, and dedicated (at her request) toSpain’s Queen Sofía. The work consists of three love songs by an anonymous poet, adapted by

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The composer writes:

Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) revolutionised the world of poetry in 19th-century Europe. This prodigiouslygifted and prolific poet broke many literary conventions and dragged the genre of poetry kicking andscreaming into the uncertain times of the late 1800s. There were no issues he shied away fromaddressing in his work, and so he quite often attracted scandal. His vivid poetry was matched by hisextraordinary life. His writings are a colourful, often confronting and sometimes painful chronicle of hisown turbulent existence.

Although his work touched on many subjects, the common thread which runs through all of it is love:its joys, frustrations, trials and tribulations. Particularly poignant are the love poems he penned as anold man, which reflect both bittersweet memories of better times, and a tender resignation. I find thecheek, the wit and the sheer ebullience of his poems irresistibly attractive, and of course am drawn tothe spectacularly colourful use of language. It was these wonderful features that I wished to reflect inmy settings of his work. The intimate soulfulness and elegant finesse of Slava’s playing, and theexquisite colours and nuances that characterise the Southern Cross Soloists were exactly theexpressive and timbral palette that I sought for my five songs.

Verlaine Songs was commissioned with the financial assistance of the Music Board of the AustraliaCouncil for the Southern Cross Soloists’ tour with Slava Grigoryan in April 2006.

% Ta voix grave et basse Your voice was deep and low,Pourtant était douce yet softComme du velours, like velvet,Telle, en ton discours, your speech flowingSur de sombre mousse like beautiful waterDe belle eau qui passe. passing over dark moss.

Ton rire éclatait Your laugh burst outSans gêne et sans art, shameless and artless,Franc, sonore et libre. open, sonorous and free.Tel, au bois qui vibre, So too, in the trembling tree,Un oiseau qui part a bird flies offTrillant son motet. trilling its motet.

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Espera del amado The Beloved Waits

$ Al alba venís, buen amigo, At dawn you came, sweet friend,al alba venís. at dawn you came.Amigo el que yo más quería, My friend whom I desire above all others,venid al alba del día. come at the break of day.Amigo el que yo más amaba, My friend whom I loved above all others,venid a la luz del alba. come with the light of dawn.Venid a la luz del día, Come with the day’s light,non trayais compañía. bring no-one with you.Venid a la luz del alba, Come with the dawn’s light,non trayais gran compañia. don’t bring a crowd with you.

Gerard Brophy

Verlaine Songs

Gerard Brophy began his studies in the classical guitar at the age of 22. In the late 1970s he workedwith Brazilian guitarist Turibio Santos and the Argentine composer Mauricio Kagel before entering theNSW State Conservatorium of Music to study composition.

He has been commissioned and performed by some of the world’s leading ensembles, including theSt Louis, Melbourne, Queensland, Tasmanian, West Australian and Sydney Symphony Orchestras, theMalaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestras, New ZealandSymphony Orchestra, the Nash Ensemble, Icebreaker, Nieuw Ensemble, Slagwerkgroep Den Haag,Anumadutchi, Synergy Percussion, Het Trio, Ensemble Modern, Chicago Pro Musica, Bang on aCan, the Asko Ensemble, L’Itinéraire, Duo Contemporain, Topology, Synergy, TaikOz and 2E2M.His music appears on over thirty CDs and is regularly broadcast in Europe, Japan, the United Statesand Australia.

Gerard Brophy’s artistic collaborators include the great Senegalese master drummers of the N’DiayeRose family, timbila virtuoso Venancio Mbande from Mozambique and Balinese gamelan players.Recent highlights include two ballets, Yo Yai Pakebi, Man Mai Yapobi, for Nederlands Dans Theater, andWind Around My Heart for Gothenburg Opera; the score/sound design for the Queensland TheatreCompany’s production of Oedipus the King; national and international tours by ChamberMade Opera ofhis theatre work Phobia; and the Australian premiere of his guitar concerto Concerto in Blue.

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C’est bien la pire peine This is indeed the worst pain:De ne savoir pourquoi not to know why,Sans amour et sans haine when there is no love and no hate,Mon cœur a tant de peine! my heart is in such pain!

* Vrai, nous avons trop d’esprit, It’s true, we don’t know when to give up,Chérie! darling!Je crois que mal nous en prit, I think we’re suffering for it,Chérie! darling!D’ainsi lutter corps à corps Struggling like this body to bodyEncore! still!Sans repos et sans remords No rest and no remorseEncore! still!

Plus, n’est-ce pas? de ces luttes No more, OK? of these pointlessSans but, struggles,Plus de ces mauvaises flûtes. no more of these evil flutes.Ce luth, This lute,Ô ce luth de bien se faire oh, this lute which can playTel air, such a melody,Toujours vibrant, chanson chère always resonating, a precious songDans l’air! in the air!

Et n’ayons plus d’esprit, And let’s not keep it up any more,T’en prie! please!Tu vois que mal nous en prit… You can see we’re suffering for it…T’en prie. Please.Soyons bons tout bêtement, Let’s just be good,Charmante, charming lady,Aimons-nous aimablement let’s love each other in a friendly fashion,M’amante! my lover!

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Cette voix, ce rire That voice, that laughFont dans ma mémoire create in my memory,Qui te voit souvent where I see you often,Et mort et vivant both living and dead,Comme un bruit de gloire something like a sound of gloryDans quelque martyre. acclaiming some martyrdom.

Ma tristesse en toi The sadness I feel when I think of youS’égaie à ces sons becomes lighter at these soundsQui disent: «Courage!» which say, ‘Take heart!’Au cœur que l’orage to the heart which the stormEmplit des frissons has filled with shiversDe quel triste émoi! of such sad distress!

^ La lune blanche The white moonLuit dans les bois; shines in the woods;De chaque branche from each branchPart une voix is heard a voiceSous la ramée... below the interweaving leaves...

& Il pleure dans mon cœur Tears are falling in my heartComme il pleut sur la ville; like the rain falling on the town;Quelle est cette langueur what is this languorQui pénètre mon cœur? that reaches into my heart?

Ô bruit doux de la pluie Oh, gentle sound of rainPar terre et sur les toits! on the earth and on the roofs!Pour [un] cœur qui s’ennuie, For a listless heart,Ô le chant de la pluie! oh, the song of the rain!

Il pleure sans raison Tears are falling for no reasonDans ce cœur qui s’écœure. in this disheartened heart.Quoi! nulle trahison?... What! No betrayal?Ce deuil est sans raison. There is no reason for this mourning.

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The composer writes:

When Paul Dean suggested the creation of a chamber concerto for the Southern Cross Soloists andSlava Grigoryan, I had little inkling of what was around the corner. In the period between Paul’s initialsuggestion and the premiere performances, I saw the passing of my mother, the birth of my first child,and a shift in location for me and my little family from Melbourne to Perth. The wider world too had beenin turmoil; war and natural disaster seem to have become permanent fixtures in our fields of vision.

In the midst of all of this my gaze turned more and more to my daughter Eva (born February 2005),and her illustrations on the art of becoming a person. Before Eva I was totally ignorant of this processin the newly born. My ignorance remains almost completely unchallenged, with a few exceptionswhere my daughter’s patience with me has reaped some modest rewards.

The Chamber Concerto emerged from these currents. The literal translation of prelude, ‘before play’,describes the first movement aptly. Eva’s lullaby appears at the end of the second movement; and thethird movement, The Toys, is inspired by toys of a previous generation, a mechanically animatedbestiary that could be in turn mesmerising or terrifying.

If I have been at all successful in expressing something in this work it is due entirely to Eva and herwonderful mother Rachael, and to Slava Grigoryan, Paul Dean and the Southern Cross Soloists, whogenerously created the opportunity.

The Chamber Concerto was commissioned with the financial assistance of the Music Board of theAustralia Council for the Southern Cross Soloists’ tour with Slava Grigoryan in April 2006.

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( Un grand sommeil noir A great black slumberTombe sur ma vie: is falling over my life:Dormez, tout espoir, Sleep, all hope,Dormez, toute envie! sleep, all desire!

Je ne vois plus rien, I cannot see anything any more,Je perds la mémoire I am losing all memoryDu mal et du bien... of evil and of good…O la triste histoire! Oh, the sad tale!

Je suis un berceau I am a cradleQu’une main balance rocked by a handAu creux d’un caveau : in the hollow of a vault:Silence, silence! silence, silence!

Paul Verlaine

Shaun Rigney

Chamber Concerto

Shaun Rigney is a composer, producer and occasional writer. His music includes orchestral, chamber,instrumental, electronic and mixed media pieces. His writings include plays, radio drama, poetry andcriticism. His most recent appointment is as composer and Artistic Director of the Aquamarine project,to feature several new orchestral works inspired by the Great Barrier Reef and its people.

Shaun Rigney has worked as a producer on ABC Classic FM, and in 2006 he was music recordingproducer on the West Australian Symphony Orchestra’s first tour of China. Music he recorded on thattour featured in the ABC TV documentary Double Happiness. He has contributed regularly to ABCRadio audio arts programs since the early 1990s, with pieces such as Rain, Steam and Speed (2005),A Portrait of the Air (2004), The Plover (2002), In Darkness and in Light (2000), In Angel Gear (1998-1999), The Beacons (1997), Distant Stations (1997) and Topology of a Phantom City (1993). He alsocomposes for film and TV, and was co-winner at the 1998 Watch My Shorts Film Festival (Melbourne)in the Best Sound category, for the AFI-nominated animation Seabound by Donna Kendrigan.

Shaun Rigney’s music is featured on the ABC Classics album Afterimage, performed by Slava Grigoryan.

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In 2002 Southern Cross Soloists established the Bangalow Music Festival, described by PeterSculthorpe as the ‘the most exciting festival outside a capital city’, which has attracted artists includingIlya Konovalov, the Australian String Quartet, Slava and Leonard Grigoryan, Genevieve Lacey andBrett Dean.

An established dedication to music education takes Southern Cross Soloists throughout regionalQueensland each year. An important part of these educational activities is the ensemble’s SunWater &Stanwell Winter Music School, where students from across Queensland gather for an intensive weekof rehearsals, workshops and concerts.

Southern Cross Soloists has a strong commitment to commissioning and performing Australian musicand has commissioned works by composers including Paul Stanhope, Gerard Brophy, Gordon Kerry,Andrew Schultz and James Ledger.

Southern Cross Soloists is currently Ensemble in Residence at the Queensland ConservatoriumGriffith University.

Slava Grigoryan

Slava Grigoryan was born in 1976 in Kazakhstan and immigratedwith his family to Australia in 1981. A major prizewinner at the TokyoInternational Classical Guitar Competition, he has performed aroundthe world, including appearances in the UK at the BrightonInternational Festival, Guitar Festival of Great Britain, HarrogateInternational Arts Festival, the Newbury, Salisbury, Chelsea and Cityof London Festivals and the Wirral International Guitar Festival, andat the Dresden Musikfestspiel, the GFA (Guitar Foundation ofAmerica) Festival in La Jolla, California, the Al Bustan Festival inBeirut, the New Zealand and Hong Kong Arts Festivals, andWOMAD festivals in the UK, USA, Australia and South Africa. InAustralia he has performed at the Melbourne and Perth InternationalArts Festivals, the Darwin International Guitar Festival, and theSydney, Adelaide and Brisbane Festivals.

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Southern Cross Soloists

Since its formation in 1995, Southern Cross Soloists has become one of Australia’s most successfuland widely respected chamber ensembles, establishing an international reputation for ground-breakingperformances.

Southern Cross Soloists is a collection of highly respected and sought-after musicians: Tania Frazer(oboe), Paul Dean (clarinet), Leesa Dean (bassoon), Peter Luff (horn), Kevin Power (piano) and MargaretSchindler (soprano). The group’s unique combination of instruments allows for the performance of awide variety of repertoire.

The ensemble has undertaken successful international tours to the United States, New Zealand,China, Canada and South Korea. Southern Cross Soloists also tours nationally each year, often withguest artists, and appears at events such as the Camden Haven Festival, the Brisbane Festival and theCanberra International Festival of Chamber Music.

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Executive Producers Martin Buzacott, Robert PattersonRecording Producer Stephen SnellemanRecording Engineer Nic MierischEditing Nic Mierisch, Alex StinsonChamber Concerto edited and mixed by Shaun Rigney; additional editing and mixing by Michael LethoEditorial and Production Manager Hilary ShrubbPublications Editor Natalie SheaBooklet Design Imagecorp Pty LtdCover Image Protected, 2005, oil on canvas © Luis Ardila / ArtBox Images / Getty ImagesArtist Photographs David Watson (Southern Cross Soloists); Ingrid Kaiser (Slava Grigoryan)Annotations adapted from notes by Morwenna Collett, with additional material by KP Kemp.Translations Natalie Shea

Recorded 3-6 September and 20-21 December 2007 in the Iwaki Auditorium in the Australian BroadcastingCorporation’s Southbank Centre, Melbourne.

ABC Classics thanks Miguel Iglesias, Alexandra Alewood and Melissa Kennedy.

� 2008 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. � 2008 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Distributed in Australia and New Zealand byUniversal Music Group, under exclusive licence. Made in Australia. All rights of the owner of copyright reserved. Any copying, renting,lending, diffusion, public performance or broadcast of this record without the authority of the copyright owner is prohibited.

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Slava Grigoryan has appeared with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the LondonPhilharmonic Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, Hallé Orchestra, Royal ScottishNational Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Israel SymphonyOrchestra, Dresden Radio Orchestra and Austria’s Klagenfurt Symphony Orchestra, as well as all themajor Australian symphony orchestras and numerous tours with the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

Slava Grigoryan is also a keen chamber musician. His first tour, at the age of 18, was with Paco Peñaand Leo Kottke; he has since performed with the Goldner, Flinders and Australian String Quartets andthe Southern Cross Soloists, and with the Endellion, Škampa and Chilingirian Quartets in the UK. He isa founding member of Saffire – The Australian Guitar Quartet, with whom he has toured Europe andNorth America as well as giving regular performances in Australia. In 2005 he toured Australia withinternationally renowned guitarists Ralph Towner and Wolfgang Muthspiel; the trio, known as MGT, has recently recorded its first album. His most significant collaboration, however, is with his brother,Leonard Grigoryan, with whom he has performed in the UK, USA, Germany, Austria, France, Italy,Spain, Russia, Estonia, Croatia, Hungary, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Africa and the UAE as well as regular tours of Australia. The pair have released three duo recordings, Play, Impressionsand an album of concertos by Rodrigo, and Leonard also appears on Slava’s latest album, BaroqueGuitar Concertos.

In 1995, Slava Grigoryan was signed to the Sony Classical label, on which he released four albums. His debut album for ABC Classics – Sonatas and Fantasies – won the Best Classical Album award at the 2002 ARIA Awards. Subsequent albums have included Brazil (with flautist Jane Rutter) andAfterimage, both nominated for ARIA awards, and Shadow Dances – music for guitar by NigelWestlake. He has also recorded numerous albums with Saffire, including the group’s ARIA Award-winning self-titled debut album.

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