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New Zealand Symphony Orchestra John Photograph: Robert Catto The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1946, is the country’s leading professional orchestra. It has an establishment of ninety players and performs over one ANTILL hundred concerts annually. Touring within New Zealand looms large in the orchestra’s activities. All its main symphonic programmes are presented in Auckland and Wellington, and as well as this, the orchestra visits more than Corroboree twenty New Zealand towns and cities annually. In 2005 the NZSO undertook a highly successful tour that included An Outback Overture performances at the BBC Proms, the Concertgebouw, Snape Maltings and the World Expo at Aichi in Japan. Pietari Inkinen was appointed Music Director from 2008, succeeding James Judd, who now holds the position of Music New Zealand Symphony Orchestra • James Judd Director Emeritus. Other conductors who have worked with the NZSO during his tenure include Alexander Lazarev, Dmitri Sitkovetsky, David Atherton, Yan Pascal Tortelier and Edo de Waart. Soloists who have worked with the orchestra recently include Lynn Harrell, Lang Lang, Hilary Hahn, Vadim Repin, Steven Isserlis, Jonathan Lemalu and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. The NZSO has an extensive catalogue of CD recordings. As part of a commitment to promote and encourage music by New Zealand composers, the NZSO records at least one CD of New Zealand music annually. The orchestra has a strong relationship with Naxos, recording repertoire as diverse as Elgar (three discs), Ferdinand Ries, Beethoven, Bernstein, Copland, Lilburn, Sculthorpe, Frank Bridge, Akutagawa, Mendelssohn, Honegger, Liszt and Vaughan Williams. Over half a million of these CDs have been sold internationally in the last decade and they have received critical acclaim. NZSO discs (Hummel (8.557193), Elgar (8.557166) and Bernstein (8.559100) were chosen for the Editor’s Choice section of Gramophone in 2004, and Lilburn’s Orchestral Works (8.557697) in 2006. www.nzso.co.nz
James Judd
Considered one of the pre-eminent interpreters of English orchestral music, British-born conductor James Judd has amassed an extensive collection of recordings on the Naxos label, including an unprecedented number in partnership with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, where he is Music Director Emeritus. His previous directorships include Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestre National de Lille in France and a groundbreaking fourteen years as Music Director of the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra. He Photograph:NZSO continues to conduct regularly with all of the major British ensembles, including the London Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and the English Chamber Orchestra. He was co-founder of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, which he has led on tours throughout the United States, the Far East and Europe. In North and South America he is a frequent and much-admired guest conductor, having appeared with the orchestras of St. Louis, Montreal, Cincinnatti, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Seattle, Indianapolis, Utah, Vancouver and Ottawa.
8.570241 4 570241 bk Antill 5/13/08 12:09 PM Page 2
John Antill (1904-1986) works preceding it, but numerous works follow in the “really authentic Australian character” that he had An Outback Overture • Corroboree 1950s and 1960s. Patricia Brown’s biography suggests examined, had the effect, according to Clive Douglas, of that Antill destroyed a great many of his earlier belittling the previous efforts of Alfred and Mirrie Hill, John Antill was born in Sydney of English parents. His from the Australian Broadcasting Commission Antill compositions, perhaps concerned that after the success James Penberthy (and himself) to use Aboriginal early years at St Andrew’s Anglican Cathedral School continued to compose, remained active as a member of of Corroboree, they might be compared unfavourably. material to establish an Australian identity. There is no exposed him to an ideal choral and instrumental the Fellowship of Australian Composers and in 1970 Apparently this clean-out included twelve string doubt that the impact of Antill’s Corroboree in 1946 has environment in which to stimulate his instinct to was awarded the O.B.E. Much of his music remains quartets. It has been a matter of some debate whether identified it as a landmark in Australian music history. compose. Words of advice from composer Arthur unknown and unpublished, though with the recent Douglas or Antill was the first to use the Corroboree as Commentators have found parallels in both the work, Benjamin, on seeing some of his early manuscripts increase in recordings of colonial Australasian music the basis for a composition. While it is true that the five- and the public reception, to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring “…Mr. Antill should have 12 months under Mr. Alfred one hopes that more of his works may be published and minute Corroboree of Douglas dates from 1940, it is of 1913, of which Antill denied any previous Hill…” were prophetic. Australian born, Benjamin had brought into circulation through performances and clear that Antill had been developing his much more knowledge. established an accomplished career in Great Britain. recordings. extended multi-movement Corroboree, as a ballet, since One is immediately struck by the raw primitivism in From sixteen Antill worked as an apprentice mechanical The legacy of Australian composition from the around 1936. the Welcome Ceremony, developed most effectively draftsman for the New South Wales Railways 1920s through to the 1950s is dominated by the later The Outback Overture was written in 1954 and was with its unusual orchestration and programmatic effects. Department but after five years he took up Benjamin’s works of Alfred Hill (1869-1960) and Percy Grainger first performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at The clicking percussion effect with the contrabassoon, earlier advice and won a scholarship to study (1882-1961), along with those composers born at the the Tivoli Theatre for the Royal Visit. A charming followed by primitive bird-like screeches soon leads to a composition with Hill at the New South Wales State turn of the century - Margaret Sutherland (1897-1984), concert opener, it is reminiscent of Stravinsky’s strongly rhythmic section, reminiscent of the Rite of Conservatorium. After graduating he embarked on a Clive Douglas (1903-77) and John Antill (1904-86). rhythmic energy, British folk melodies, Copland’s Spring though the apparently complex rhythms are career as a singer, conductor and clarinet player. He Those born in the second decade, Robert Hughes, harmonic influence and Grainger’s humour – all of this generally managed within conventional time signatures. toured Sydney, Melbourne and New Zealand with J.C. Raymond Hanson, Dorian Le Gallienne and James sandwiched between a distinctly Hill-like opening Melodic sources are primarily folk and jazz-like in Williamson’s Imperial Opera Company and in 1933, Penberthy, came into prominence in the 1940s and statement and a closing fanfare full of the patriotic character. The following five short movements provide when he formed the Mastersingers Male Quartet and 1950s. It was in the 1940s that Jindyworobakism came fervour one would expect for the occasion. contrasts with folk-like oboe and solo violin melodies began broadcasting, he began what was to become his to the fore in Australia as a nationalist movement aimed Corroboree is the anglicized version of the and effective use of the celeste in the leisurely Dance to long association with the Australian Broadcasting at identifying literary subjects with Aboriginal traditions Aboriginal word Caribberie which describes Aboriginal the Evening Star, a recall of primitivism in A Rain Commission. In 1934 he joined the Fuller Opera and myths and reflecting the uniqueness of the ceremonies that involved singing and dancing that Dance, swirling flute work and recalls of the screeches Company and in 1936 played bass clarinet with the Australian landscape. While Douglas, Antill and passed on information about The Dreaming stories. in a masterful seven-beat Spirit of the Wind, effective Sydney Symphony Orchestra. In 1936 Antill joined the Penberthy were all identified as “Jindyworobakists” it is These stories linked the past with the present to use of brass, featuring piano and trumpet in the middle, permanent staff of the ABC where, during his career, he Douglas who is most identified with the movement. Of determine the future and tell of the journeys and the to create a macabre dance in compound time in The held the posts of director of the Sydney Wireless the early Australian composers, Antill is perhaps unique actions of the ancestral beings who created the natural Rising Sun and some very evocative percussion, clarinet Chorus, Presentation Officer, Assistant Federal Music in being remembered primarily by the outstanding world. Each story belongs to a long complex narrative and bassoon writing that conjures up rattlesnakes and Editor and Federal Music Editor for the Commission. success of a single work, his ballet Corroboree. A and some discuss consequences and our future being. other low forms of life in the very short The Morning During this era he played a major rôle in determining survey of his compositions shows clearly his Some dances were reserved for women or men and Star. The final extended movement Procession of the fate of contemporary music. His responsibilities commitment to an Australian identity in his music with some involved both, depending on the sacred nature of Totems and Closing Ceremony recalls several ideas undeniably afforded him considerable influence over evocative titles such as Wakooka, Snowy, Black Opal, the dance. Members of the language group performing from previous movements, and introduces a minimalist what was broadcast and some have commented that his G’Day Digger, Music for a Pageant of Nationhood, would paint particular designs on their bodies to show ostinato section with increasing layers of texture added. conservatism played a significant rôle in isolating Jubugalee, Australian Scene, Outback Overture, the type of ceremony being held. After developing some previous ideas in the middle Australia from international trends in composition up Nullarbor Dream Time and Australian Rhapsody. His The inspiration for Antill’s most famous work came section, the texture is later pared down to the bare until his retirement in 1969. works reflect a wide variety of genres and styles and originally from his attendance, in 1913, at a ritual minimum from which momentum and layering builds, Antill wrote music for more than twenty include operas, ballets, concertos, choral works, songs Aboriginal Corroboree at La Perouse in Botany Bay. culminating in a glorious climax with chaotic brass documentary films and his biographer, Patricia Brown, and a large number of orchestral scores for both concert His ballet draws on material he notated at that time and motives and the innovative use of the bull-roarer in the noted that on one occasion he wrote a commissioned and film. his subsequent research on Aboriginal music. The closing minutes to convey a frenzied dance scene. score, conducted it, and had it ready for the film It is of interest that while Corroboree was written in enthusiasm shown for Antill’s Corroboree by conductor screening in Paris three days later. After his retirement 1946, when Antill was 42, there are few surviving Eugene Goossens, who declared it to be the first score of Donald Maurice 8.570241 23 8.570241 570241 bk Antill 5/13/08 12:09 PM Page 2
John Antill (1904-1986) works preceding it, but numerous works follow in the “really authentic Australian character” that he had An Outback Overture • Corroboree 1950s and 1960s. Patricia Brown’s biography suggests examined, had the effect, according to Clive Douglas, of that Antill destroyed a great many of his earlier belittling the previous efforts of Alfred and Mirrie Hill, John Antill was born in Sydney of English parents. His from the Australian Broadcasting Commission Antill compositions, perhaps concerned that after the success James Penberthy (and himself) to use Aboriginal early years at St Andrew’s Anglican Cathedral School continued to compose, remained active as a member of of Corroboree, they might be compared unfavourably. material to establish an Australian identity. There is no exposed him to an ideal choral and instrumental the Fellowship of Australian Composers and in 1970 Apparently this clean-out included twelve string doubt that the impact of Antill’s Corroboree in 1946 has environment in which to stimulate his instinct to was awarded the O.B.E. Much of his music remains quartets. It has been a matter of some debate whether identified it as a landmark in Australian music history. compose. Words of advice from composer Arthur unknown and unpublished, though with the recent Douglas or Antill was the first to use the Corroboree as Commentators have found parallels in both the work, Benjamin, on seeing some of his early manuscripts increase in recordings of colonial Australasian music the basis for a composition. While it is true that the five- and the public reception, to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring “…Mr. Antill should have 12 months under Mr. Alfred one hopes that more of his works may be published and minute Corroboree of Douglas dates from 1940, it is of 1913, of which Antill denied any previous Hill…” were prophetic. Australian born, Benjamin had brought into circulation through performances and clear that Antill had been developing his much more knowledge. established an accomplished career in Great Britain. recordings. extended multi-movement Corroboree, as a ballet, since One is immediately struck by the raw primitivism in From sixteen Antill worked as an apprentice mechanical The legacy of Australian composition from the around 1936. the Welcome Ceremony, developed most effectively draftsman for the New South Wales Railways 1920s through to the 1950s is dominated by the later The Outback Overture was written in 1954 and was with its unusual orchestration and programmatic effects. Department but after five years he took up Benjamin’s works of Alfred Hill (1869-1960) and Percy Grainger first performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at The clicking percussion effect with the contrabassoon, earlier advice and won a scholarship to study (1882-1961), along with those composers born at the the Tivoli Theatre for the Royal Visit. A charming followed by primitive bird-like screeches soon leads to a composition with Hill at the New South Wales State turn of the century - Margaret Sutherland (1897-1984), concert opener, it is reminiscent of Stravinsky’s strongly rhythmic section, reminiscent of the Rite of Conservatorium. After graduating he embarked on a Clive Douglas (1903-77) and John Antill (1904-86). rhythmic energy, British folk melodies, Copland’s Spring though the apparently complex rhythms are career as a singer, conductor and clarinet player. He Those born in the second decade, Robert Hughes, harmonic influence and Grainger’s humour – all of this generally managed within conventional time signatures. toured Sydney, Melbourne and New Zealand with J.C. Raymond Hanson, Dorian Le Gallienne and James sandwiched between a distinctly Hill-like opening Melodic sources are primarily folk and jazz-like in Williamson’s Imperial Opera Company and in 1933, Penberthy, came into prominence in the 1940s and statement and a closing fanfare full of the patriotic character. The following five short movements provide when he formed the Mastersingers Male Quartet and 1950s. It was in the 1940s that Jindyworobakism came fervour one would expect for the occasion. contrasts with folk-like oboe and solo violin melodies began broadcasting, he began what was to become his to the fore in Australia as a nationalist movement aimed Corroboree is the anglicized version of the and effective use of the celeste in the leisurely Dance to long association with the Australian Broadcasting at identifying literary subjects with Aboriginal traditions Aboriginal word Caribberie which describes Aboriginal the Evening Star, a recall of primitivism in A Rain Commission. In 1934 he joined the Fuller Opera and myths and reflecting the uniqueness of the ceremonies that involved singing and dancing that Dance, swirling flute work and recalls of the screeches Company and in 1936 played bass clarinet with the Australian landscape. While Douglas, Antill and passed on information about The Dreaming stories. in a masterful seven-beat Spirit of the Wind, effective Sydney Symphony Orchestra. In 1936 Antill joined the Penberthy were all identified as “Jindyworobakists” it is These stories linked the past with the present to use of brass, featuring piano and trumpet in the middle, permanent staff of the ABC where, during his career, he Douglas who is most identified with the movement. Of determine the future and tell of the journeys and the to create a macabre dance in compound time in The held the posts of director of the Sydney Wireless the early Australian composers, Antill is perhaps unique actions of the ancestral beings who created the natural Rising Sun and some very evocative percussion, clarinet Chorus, Presentation Officer, Assistant Federal Music in being remembered primarily by the outstanding world. Each story belongs to a long complex narrative and bassoon writing that conjures up rattlesnakes and Editor and Federal Music Editor for the Commission. success of a single work, his ballet Corroboree. A and some discuss consequences and our future being. other low forms of life in the very short The Morning During this era he played a major rôle in determining survey of his compositions shows clearly his Some dances were reserved for women or men and Star. The final extended movement Procession of the fate of contemporary music. His responsibilities commitment to an Australian identity in his music with some involved both, depending on the sacred nature of Totems and Closing Ceremony recalls several ideas undeniably afforded him considerable influence over evocative titles such as Wakooka, Snowy, Black Opal, the dance. Members of the language group performing from previous movements, and introduces a minimalist what was broadcast and some have commented that his G’Day Digger, Music for a Pageant of Nationhood, would paint particular designs on their bodies to show ostinato section with increasing layers of texture added. conservatism played a significant rôle in isolating Jubugalee, Australian Scene, Outback Overture, the type of ceremony being held. After developing some previous ideas in the middle Australia from international trends in composition up Nullarbor Dream Time and Australian Rhapsody. His The inspiration for Antill’s most famous work came section, the texture is later pared down to the bare until his retirement in 1969. works reflect a wide variety of genres and styles and originally from his attendance, in 1913, at a ritual minimum from which momentum and layering builds, Antill wrote music for more than twenty include operas, ballets, concertos, choral works, songs Aboriginal Corroboree at La Perouse in Botany Bay. culminating in a glorious climax with chaotic brass documentary films and his biographer, Patricia Brown, and a large number of orchestral scores for both concert His ballet draws on material he notated at that time and motives and the innovative use of the bull-roarer in the noted that on one occasion he wrote a commissioned and film. his subsequent research on Aboriginal music. The closing minutes to convey a frenzied dance scene. score, conducted it, and had it ready for the film It is of interest that while Corroboree was written in enthusiasm shown for Antill’s Corroboree by conductor screening in Paris three days later. After his retirement 1946, when Antill was 42, there are few surviving Eugene Goossens, who declared it to be the first score of Donald Maurice 8.570241 23 8.570241 570241 bk Antill 5/13/08 12:09 PM Page 4
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra John Photograph: Robert Catto The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1946, is the country’s leading professional orchestra. It has an establishment of ninety players and performs over one ANTILL hundred concerts annually. Touring within New Zealand looms large in the orchestra’s activities. All its main symphonic programmes are presented in Auckland and Wellington, and as well as this, the orchestra visits more than Corroboree twenty New Zealand towns and cities annually. In 2005 the NZSO undertook a highly successful tour that included An Outback Overture performances at the BBC Proms, the Concertgebouw, Snape Maltings and the World Expo at Aichi in Japan. Pietari Inkinen was appointed Music Director from 2008, succeeding James Judd, who now holds the position of Music New Zealand Symphony Orchestra • James Judd Director Emeritus. Other conductors who have worked with the NZSO during his tenure include Alexander Lazarev, Dmitri Sitkovetsky, David Atherton, Yan Pascal Tortelier and Edo de Waart. Soloists who have worked with the orchestra recently include Lynn Harrell, Lang Lang, Hilary Hahn, Vadim Repin, Steven Isserlis, Jonathan Lemalu and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. The NZSO has an extensive catalogue of CD recordings. As part of a commitment to promote and encourage music by New Zealand composers, the NZSO records at least one CD of New Zealand music annually. The orchestra has a strong relationship with Naxos, recording repertoire as diverse as Elgar (three discs), Ferdinand Ries, Beethoven, Bernstein, Copland, Lilburn, Sculthorpe, Frank Bridge, Akutagawa, Mendelssohn, Honegger, Liszt and Vaughan Williams. Over half a million of these CDs have been sold internationally in the last decade and they have received critical acclaim. NZSO discs (Hummel (8.557193), Elgar (8.557166) and Bernstein (8.559100) were chosen for the Editor’s Choice section of Gramophone in 2004, and Lilburn’s Orchestral Works (8.557697) in 2006. www.nzso.co.nz
James Judd
Considered one of the pre-eminent interpreters of English orchestral music, British-born conductor James Judd has amassed an extensive collection of recordings on the Naxos label, including an unprecedented number in partnership with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, where he is Music Director Emeritus. His previous directorships include Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestre National de Lille in France and a groundbreaking fourteen years as Music Director of the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra. He Photograph:NZSO continues to conduct regularly with all of the major British ensembles, including the London Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and the English Chamber Orchestra. He was co-founder of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, which he has led on tours throughout the United States, the Far East and Europe. In North and South America he is a frequent and much-admired guest conductor, having appeared with the orchestras of St. Louis, Montreal, Cincinnatti, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Seattle, Indianapolis, Utah, Vancouver and Ottawa.
8.570241 4 NAXOS NAXOS Australian composer John Antill is best remembered for his exuberant, outstandingly successful and ever-popular ballet Corroboree. Drawing on material Antill notated in 1913 at an Aboriginal Corroboree (a type of ritual ceremony) in Botany Bay and on his subsequent research on Aboriginal music, Corroboree is widely recognized as a landmark 8.570241 ANTILL: in Australian music history. Antill’s Outback Overture is a charming concert opener, ANTILL: reminiscent of Stravinsky’s rhythmic energy, British folk melodies, Copland’s harmonic DDD influence and Grainger’s humour. Playing Time John 49:06 Corroboree • An Outback Overture ANTILL Corroboree • An Outback Overture (1904-1986) 1 An Outback Overture 7:57 Corroboree 41:09 2 1. Welcome Ceremony 8:29 3 2. Dance to the Evening Star 3:39 4 3. A Rain Dance 4:55 Naxos Rights International Ltd. 5 4. Spirit of the Wind 3:50 www.naxos.com Disc made in Canada. Printed and assembled USA. Booklet notes in English
6 5. Rising Sun 2:38 & 7 6. The Morning Star 1:49 8 7. Procession of the Totems and Closing Ceremony 15:47 2008 New Zealand Symphony Orchestra James Judd
Recorded at the Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington, New Zealand, from 8th to 10th June, 2006 8.570241 8.570241 Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers, Inc. Producer and engineer: Tim Handley • Booklet notes: Donald Maurice Cover image: Aboriginal Design by Joan Kerrigan (www.dreamstime.com )