Holley, A :: Birds of Opal and other pieces

Alan Holley presents four works for flute together in this collection.

Notes on the works from the composer:

'Most of my music since 1982 reflects a longtime fascination with birds - with their flight, their plumage, and especially their songs. At times these suggest an initial idea for a composition. At other times they become an integral part of the work's structure.'

Cage of Gold (1990) is the instrumental version of an aria from the opera Dorothea, an opera based on the life of Dorothea Mackellar, author of My Country, Australia's best known poem. This piece was originally a setting of Mackellar's poem Japanese Song, which describes a caged bird's longing for freedom. The pairs of repeated chords suggest the bars of a cage. The bird laments its imprisonment, occasionally fluttering futilely.

Cloud Rim (1994) was composed as an 'albumblatt', a single sheet of manuscript. The idea for the work came when I was driving home one day. The weather was unsettled, and glancing up, I saw a large grey cloud outlined with a brilliant, glassy rim of light. I have tried to portray the sun (the flute) hiding behind or emerging from occasional piano 'clouds'.

Summer Bird (1995) started as a solo trumpet work written in 1990, inspired by the excited activity of the birds in our garden and by the sea birds I saw on Lady Elliot Island in the Great Barrier Reef.

Birds of Opal (1982) was composed the with assistance of an Australia Council Composers' Fellowship. I am very fond of this work, which marks the beginning of my use of a lyricism in which I allow the sounds of the natural world to modify late twentieth century musical language.