Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Work Overview

See, the Prismatic Colors Glisten was written especially for Halcyon, as part of a project that commemorates fifteen years of innovative performances by that ensemble. The musical setting explores the inherent evocative nature of words taken from a text by Walt Whitman, and is dominated by Lydian modes and an almost continual use of harmonization between the two voices that, for me, add a distinctive colour to the music that reflects the image in the very first line of the text, "See, the prismatic colors glistening and rolling, ….".

Work Details

Year: 2013

Instrumentation: Soprano, mezzo-soprano, clarinet, cello, percussion.

Duration: 5 min.

Dedication note: Dedicated to Jenny Duck-Chong, Alison Morgan

Written for: Halcyon

First performance: by Jess Ciampa, Halcyon, Jenny Duck-Chong, Alison Morgan, Geoffrey Gartner, Jason Noble at Kingfisher - Songs for Halcyon (Music Workshop, Sydney Conservatorium of Music) on 15 Mar 2014

This song is one of a collection of chamber works under the title Kingfisher, Songs for Halcyon. The songs were gifts from the composers to celebrate 15 years of music-making by Australia’s leading ensemble for vocal chamber music.

A fabled bird identified with the kingfisher, the halcyon had the power to calm the wind and the waves while it nested on the sea during the winter solstice. The composers took their inspiration from the word 'halcyon', each displaying their own unique voice in writing for singers and instruments. The 21 songs represent the cream of vocal composition in Australia and offer a lasting tribute to the relationships formed between Halcyon and the composers who have written for them over the years.