Program note: Lacrimae Rerum
- David Young
- Source: The Song Company Modern Art Series 16, 17 June 2001
Lacrimae Rerum (world première) David Young (b. 1971)
"Sometimes there is nothing to say.
Sometimes there is nothing left to do.
Sometimes one can only weep.
Lacrimae Rerum(tears in the nature of things) is not the setting of a text as such, instead tracing the
contours of utterances, gasps and wails as expressed through crying.
Fragments of the conception of this work owe a debt of inspiration to Les Ballets C. de la B.'s La Tristezza
Complice. Another motivation has been the frescoes within the Palazza Pubblico di Siena, including the
allegory of good and especially bad government.
Finally my thanks to Roland and the Song Company for nurturing and encouraging the realisation of this
work." David Young
As a composer, David Young is preoccupied with exploring the relationship between sound and image,
employing intricate and often miniature formats in chamber settings. His music has been variously
described as "musical origami", "intimate" and "quietly determined to be itself...an aural equivalent of
seeing a world in a grain of sand".
David's music has been performed in Australia, Japan, USA and different European countries As artistic
director of the arts company Aphids, David has produced cross-artform installations/residencies,
contemporary performance events and community arts projects. Aphids' major project for 2000 was Maps:
David and composer Juliana Hodkinson (Denmark/UK) with Scandanavia's most provocative scenographer
Louise Beck (Operanord, Denmarþ transformed Melboume's Arts House into a clicking, whirring, timekeeping
and measuring machine. Maps will tour to Copenhagen in October 2001 as a co-production with
Aphids' sister company in Denmark, Kokon. David is currently the Festival Director of Next Wave, the
Victorian-based, biennial contemporary arts festival focusing on the work of young artists.
