I. Compassion
II. Healing
III. The Dance of Life and Death
IV. Crossing
V. The Promised Land

It seems to me that in an increasingly divided society, music must inevitably play its part in the public discourse on such matters as fairness, tolerance, national identity, the way we view our history, and the mysteries of the unseen world. My fifth symphony, like the other four, reflects my experience of being Australian in today’s world and is, in part, an instinctual response to the political and spiritual climate of the times.

There are five interconnected movements, some of whose titles make obvious reference to present-day Australia using symbols which, although universal, are loosely modelled on Tibetan Buddhist visualisations. Within this framework my own essential language is always present: shapes and patterns distilled from the natural environment as well as references to musical cultures of East Asia, pre-Renaissance Europe (plainchant) and other works of mine; all of which interplay with fresh material appropriate to the context.

1. Compassion. Calm, loving, yet sorrowful – surrounded by rainbow light.

2. Healing. Pervaded by water sounds, this movement fuses two Buddhist visualisations concerned with mind and body

washing (a light shower of sunlit rain) and healing the body and emotions (a stream flowing through an acacia forest).

3. The Dance of Life and Death. A wild female, at once peaceful and wrathful, dancing naked on a corpse and wielding a short, curved sword to cut through all conceptual ideas. Unfettered instinct is at play here – the life force as represented by such universal images as the dancing Hindu goddess Kali and the frenzied Dionysian Maenads of Greek mythology – terrifying symbols of both the fecundity and destructive power of Mother Nature. An ostinato adapted from rock music and accompanied by an intense red glare invites us to break free and energize ourselves in the ecstatic world of the senses.

4. Crossing. A calm voyage across a lagoon reaches an island – a waking dream that is no doubt deeply symbolic. The destination can only be the Promised Land.

5. The Promised Land. A vision of wholeness and creative fulfilment. ‘A yogi seated in a cave…his eyes gazing joyfully at you. He is singing songs of realisation’. Fresh young voices sing David Malouf’s luminous, subtle words – not so much a song of realisation as of becoming: a fragile, mysterious vision of wholeness for a virginal land of promise ‘still to be entered, still to be found’.

Symphony No. 5 – The Promised Land was commissioned for the Sydney Symphony and the Sydney Children’s Choir by Symphony Australia and the Australia Council with generous assistance from Renata and Andrew Kaldor, to whom the work is jointly dedicated. I’d also like to thank Dr. Graham Williams, founder and director of The Lifeflow Meditation Centre, Adelaide, for introducing me to the visualisations and allowing me to quote from his commentary on them; and Rosalind Page, composer, who recorded the water sounds in a rainforest near Linderbrae, New South Wales. The world premiere was given in the Sydney Opera House on 18 October 2006 by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Sydney Children’s Choir (director Lyn Williams). The performance was conducted by David Porcelijn.

Ross Edwards.

The Promised Land [spacer height=”20px”] Land of promise, promised land, [spacer height=”2px”] Still to be entered, still to be found, [spacer height=”2px”] but close, mysterious. [spacer height=”2px”] The rainbow serpent seeking its sky-body in this [spacer height=”2px”] covenant, this arc from earth to earth, [spacer height=”20px”] these towers, this water city, these coral reefs, [spacer height=”2px”]unit on living unit, built of breath. [spacer height=”20px”] Commonwealth, Commonweal. All [spacer height=”2px”] that holds us, all [spacer height=”2px”] that we hold, this common story built of breath. [spacer height=”2px”] Commonwealth. Commonweal. [spacer height=”2px”] All that holds us, keeps us whole. [spacer height=”20px”] Land of promise. [spacer height=”2px”] Close. Mysterious. Promised land. [spacer height=”2px”] Still to be entered, still to be found. [spacer height=”20px”] David Malouf

 

 

 

Symphony No. 5: ‘The Promised Land’ (2005)

IV. Crossing