Celebrated Australian composer
Betty Beath has composed a new work for the Basso Moderno Duo. Included here are her programs notes for this lyrical new work:
From a Lake of Honey…
I am very attracted to the idea of bridging cultures, of delighting performers and audience, of lush sounds and lyricism, so it was easy to say yes to Allan Von Schenkel’s invitation to write a short piece for the Basso Moderno Duo.
I wrote this work soon after completing a major commission for voice and orchestra, Gambar Gambar Jawa…Images of Java. The first performance had come and gone, I was pleased with the result and looked forward to writing a piece shaped by the familiar influences of home… sub-tropical Queensland, now at its best with the colours and perfumes of Spring and heading into the hot, balmy days of summer. However, in writing this piece I soon saw I had not gone far from Java… for the images and sounds which inspire this work might be found in the beautiful landscapeI held in my mind, a place you might find, at sunset, on the island of Bali, a ‘lake of honey’.
When I listened to recordings of the Basso Moderno Duo it was easy to respond to the lush, beautiful tone Allan Von Schenkel draws from his modified Double Bass and to realize how well he and partner, Kristen Williams respond to each other in their intimate musical conversations. These were influences which colour and give shape to From a Lake of Honey. Other obvious influences were the use of scale and rhythmic patterns which are associated with the gamelan.
I was aware that Allan would produce intense, warm, sensuous tone and that together the Basso Moderno Duo would ‘sing’. The piece is really a landscape of the mind, it is a simple musical work, which gives opportunities for an imaginative collaboration between performers and audience as they ‘journey’ to a ‘lake of honey’.
Betty Beath,
4th December, 2007.
