For Piano and Orchestra

I. Invocation and Dance of the Earth Mother
II. De Profundis
III. Ulpirra

The word enyato, extracted from Edwards’ maninya text of 1981, means something like ‘contrast’, and the five works which bear it as a generic title juxtapose such opposites as exuberant, earthy dance rhythms and moments of profound, hypnotic interiority. This highlighting, in close proximity, of the dualistic oppostion between matter and spirit, masculine and feminine, mind and body and so on, is possibly an unconscious attempt by Edwards to reconcile the stylistic extremities of his earlier music: the monolithic fusion of chant and dance in his maninya pieces (which include Flower Songs and the outer movements of his violin concerto Maninyas) and the rapt invocation of the invisible world in his so-called ‘sacred’ series (Etymalong, Yarrageh, Symphony Da Pacem Domine) with its mythical birdsong and trance-like insect rhythms.

Enyato V opens with a cello statement of the plainsong Ave Maria Gratia plena (Hail Mary full of Grace), fragments of which permeate the composition, as they also do Edwards’ Third Symphony, which he worked on concurrently in 1999 and 2000. For Edwards, plainsong seems to represent spiritual as opposed to ‘Enlightened’ Europe and has, for him, no specific religious affiliation. Its increasing presence in his work over the last decade, often interfused with patterns and drones recalling the natural world as well as references to Aboriginal chant, makes an obvious plea for reflection, reconciliation and environmental awareness at this crucial time for Australia.

Mary, of course, represents the Earth Mother, the eternal feminine spirit, whose reinstatement seems vital to our unbalanced ecology; and grace (gratia) may be interpreted as gratitude for the beauty of the world, the impulse to praise, and the ultimate goal of living in harmony with nature, following the example of the peoples we have dispossessed and from whom we have so much to learn.

Enyato V was commissioned by the Canberra School of Music with assistance from the Australia Council to mark the centenary of Australia’s Federation in 2001.

Fred Watson