Rhapsody For Painted Desert – Guitar, Violin and Cello Trio

Instrumentation: Guitar, Violin and Cello

Duration: 5 minutes

Level of difficulty: Advanced (AMEB Grade 6 or above)

This work was commissioned by the Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory for the CDU Creative Citizenship Symposium held in Alice Springs in September 2006. It was originally scored for guitar, cello and violin. It was premiered at the Symposium – Adrian Walter (guitar), Jane Coleman (violin) and Therese O’Brien (cello) (recording below)

I arranged Rhapsody for piano trio in 2014 and it was performed by The Ad Hoc Ensemble (myself at the piano, Rebecca Harris (cello) and Netanela Mizrahi (violin) on July 19th, 2014 at Brown’s Mart Theatre.
Background notes:
Many years ago I lived and worked for a short time in the desert country west of Alice Springs.
I remember one night, when we were camped out on swags under a star studded sky, hearing the sound of traditional ceremony starting up in the distance. It was so unexpected and extraordinary; truly a moment that will stay with me forever.
I have drawn on this memory and on the desert country’s spectacular beauty, especially its ever changing colours, as inspiration for this piece of music.

Click here to hear the live recording of the premiere on Soundcloud

This work is available for purchase at the Australian Music Centre via the following link:  Click here for the link to The Australian Music Centre