Brendan Colbert : Works : Solo

Agité I

flute.

1989/91: 3 mins.

Agité I was premiered by Suzanne Hornsby in Melbourne in 1993. Its first US performance was by Linda Wetherill in New York in 1998, and its European premiere was given in Braila, (Romania) by Alexandru Hanganu in 2000. It has been performed and broadcast many times by Melanie Chilianis of the Melbourne-based ensemble re-sound, and is available on their self-titled CD.

Agité II

mandolin.

1989: 5 mins. 30 secs.

Agité II is dedicated to Stephen Morey, who commissioned the work and premiered it in Melbourne on 9/8/1990. Its first European performance was given by Michael Hooper in York in May 2009.

Stephen Morey Michael Hooper

Agité II (transcription)

vibraphone.

1995: 5 mins. 30 secs.

Agité II was originally commissioned as a mandolin solo by Stephen Morey. Upon Stephen’s retirement from performing in 1995, it was transcribed for vibraphone & premiered in that form by Peter Neville in Brisbane in 1999. Speak Percussion's 2005 tour saw Peter give its European premiere in Barcelona, with follow up performances in Livorno, Trieste, Espinho, Porto, Oslo, and Copenhagen.

Agité II also features regularly in solo recitals given throughout Spain by Sisco Aparici.

Score Sample (PDF)

Peter Neville. Sisco Aparici.

Agité III

piano.

1992 rev. 2000: 12 mins.

Agité III was originally completed in the early 1990’s, and premiered in that form by Haydn Reeder in 1993. It was comprehensively reworked in September 2000; this new version being premiered by Michael Kieran Harvey during the Federation Music Week Festival in Melbourne in September 2001.

Score Sample (PDF)

Michael Kieran Harvey

Fret (Agité IV)

guitar.

1992 rev. 2010: 5 mins. 25 secs.

Fret (Agité IV) takes its more individual title from both the obvious link with the instrument, and from the relationships between other meanings of the word itself and various aspects of the piece.

Fret:

agitate, disturb, enrage, irritate, torment, vex;

adorn, diversify, variegate;

an interlaced angular design.

Fret (Agité IV) was commissioned by ELISION and premiered in Melbourne in October 1993 by Stefano Cardi, who also gave its European premiere in Chiaravalle, Italy, in January 1994.

Score Sample (PDF)

Stefano Cardi

Agité V

harp.

1998 rev. 2010: 5 mins. 30 secs.

Agité V - commissioned by Marshall McGuire in 1997 - was originally completed in 1998 and premiered in that form at the 1999 Sydney Spring Festival, where it shared the Marienberg Award for Most Outstanding New Australian Composition. Later revised, it belongs to a series of solos that are all somewhat disturbed in nature and explore some of the more aggressive characteristics of the instruments involved.

Score Sample (PDF)

Marshall McGuire

Akkord I

piano.

1997: 4 mins.

Akkord I was premiered by Danae Killian at the Richmond Town Hall, Melbourne in 1998 as part of the Melbourne Composers’ League ‘Mosaics’ series of concerts. Its US premiere featured Cory Smythe in New York in 2007.

Akkord II

guitar.

1997: 4 mins. 30 secs.

Akkord II was premiered by Norio Sato at the Melbourne International Festival in October 1998, with its European premiere featuring Gisbert Watty in Prato (Italy) in 2007.

Norio Sato

Akkord II is published in "Australian Guitar Miniatures" from Red House Editions. ISBN 0 9587342-3-2

Akkord III

vibraphone.

1998: 2 mins.

Akkord III was premiered by Peter Neville on 23/9/1999 at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, with its US premiere given by Michael Caterisano in New York in October 2005.

...as the waves...

vibraphone.

2007: 5 mins. 30 secs. approx.

…as the waves… can be performed either as a standalone work, or as the third of seven in the cycle The Eternal Surge.

"Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,

So do our minutes hasten to their end,

Each changing place with that which goes before..."

from Sonnet 60, by William Shakespeare.

…as the waves… is dedicated to Peter Neville.

Score Sample (PDF)

Beyond Acheron

piano.

2001: 10 mins. 40 secs.

i. Hope nevermore...

ii. ...to rebehold the stars.

In Greek mythology, Acheron is one of the 5 rivers that separate the realm of Hades from the world of the living. It is the river of woe, across which Charon ferries the souls of the dead.

Beyond Acheron is in 2 movements, each taking its individual title from the Longfellow translation of Dante’s Inferno:

Canto III: lines 85 - 87

"Hope nevermore to look upon the heavens;

I come to lead you to the other shore,

To the eternal shades..."

Canto XXXIV: lines 136 - 139

"We mounted up, he first and I the second,

Till I beheld through a round aperture

Some of the beauteous things that Heaven doth bear;

Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars."

Blitz

flute.

2006: 4 mins.

Catharsis

1.8' Shakuhachi.

2004: 5 mins. 35 secs.

Catharsis was premiered by Anne Norman in Melbourne on 10/10/2004.

Anne Norman

Clair-Obscur

Bb clarinet.

2006: 1 min.

Clair-Obscur was premiered on 31/5/2006 by Joshua Rubin (of the New York Miniaturist Ensemble) at the Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn, New York.

Joshua Rubin

Clamour

oboe.

2003/5: 6 mins. 15 secs.

Score Sample (PDF)

Doublethink

piano.

2012: 13 mins. approx.

“…the labyrinthine world of doublethink. To know and not to know, …to hold simultaneously two opinions…knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, …to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again...”

from 1984 by George Orwell (1903-1950).

Figuration in Search of Identity

assorted percussion: Glockenspiel, Xylophone, Drum 'A' (2 Congas, 2 Djembes, 2 Bongos), Drum 'B' (Bass Drum, 6 Tom-toms, Snare drum), 6 Gongs, 6 Temple Blocks, 6 Wood Blocks, 5 Ceramic Bowls, 5 Glass Bottles, 5 Saw Blades, 5 Steel Bowls, 2 Temple Bowls, 2 Triangles, Ceramic Wind Chimes, Glass Wind Chimes.

2011: 25 mins.

Figuration in Search of Identity takes its title from a 2005 work by the late Australian pre-eminent surrealist painter James Gleeson (1915-2008).

Figuration in Search of Identity is dedicated to Brenton Broadstock and Riccardo Formosa - my composition teachers in the 1980s - both significant influences in the early years of my personal musical explorations. Completed in 2011, it comprises nine movements and is about 25 minutes long.

Score Sample (PDF)

Figuration in Search of Identity by James Gleeson.

Fracture

piano.

2000/2010: 37 mins. approx.

for Score samples see individual works:

i) Quicksand

2005: 7 mins. 15 secs. approx.

ii) Rift

2009: 8 mins. 30 secs. approx.

iii) re-fract

2009: 8 mins. 30 secs. approx.

iv) Agité III

1992 rev. 2000: 12 mins. approx.

Minutiae

piano.

2001: 1 min.

Pro Tempore

5 octave marimba.

2002 rev. 2004: 7 mins. 15 secs.

Pro Tempore can be performed either as a standalone work, or as the fifth of seven in the cycle The Eternal Surge.

"...SInce there is nothing but this moment, 'for the time being' is all the time there is."

Dogen Zenji (1200-1253).

Pro Tempore (Latin: for the time being) had something of a complicated birth. It was originally written for 4 octave marimba, and comprised 4 sections with a flexible format that allowed its duration to range from 8 to 16 minutes. It was originally subtitled Provisional Solutions I-IV; the uncertainty implied by a 'provisional pro tempore' suggesting that even then the piece was a strong candidate for later revision.

This in fact proved to be the case. When Pedro Carneiro suggested creating a version for 5 octave marimba, the opportunity was taken to revise rather than arrange, the new final version being for 5 octave marimba, inflexible in format, and approximately 7’ 15" long.

Pro Tempore is dedicated to Pedro Carneiro.

Score Sample (PDF)

Quicksand

piano.

2005: 7 mins. 15 secs. approx.

"...Quicksand years that whirl me I know not whither..."

from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (1819-1892).

"...I'm torn between the light and dark

Where others see their targets

Divine symmetry... "

"...I’m sinking in the quicksand of my thought,

and I ain’t got the power anymore..."

from Quicksand by David Bowie.

Quicksand was premiered by Michael Kieran Harvey at the Iwaki Auditorium, Melbourne, on 21/8/2009.

Score Sample (PDF)

re-fract

piano.

2009: 8mins. 30 secs. approx.

Score Sample (PDF)

Resignation

flute.

2001: 4 mins. 30 secs.

Resignation was written during a time when I was questioning the wisdom of continuing with composition - after a series of, in some cases particularly insulting, rejections. After a period of outrage and disappointment at these decisions, I determined nonetheless to persevere with my work, content in the knowledge that I am at the very least pursuing my chosen course honestly, openly, and competently.

Resignation was premiered by Elizabeth Barcan in Melbourne on 28/5/2006.

Elizabeth Barcan

Rift

piano.

2009: 6mins. 30 secs. approx.

Score Sample (PDF)

Scorn

Bb bass clarinet.

2002: 5 mins.

"...There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn..."

from The Myth of Sisyphus, by Albert Camus.

Scorn was premiered in the Great Hall at King’s College London on 8/3/2004 by Carl Rosman, who also gave the first performance in Germany in Stuttgart on April 6th the same year.

Score Sample (PDF)

Carl Rosman

Schräg

trombone.

2003: 6 mins. 45 secs.

Schräg: [German] oblique.

"All art is a kind of confession, more or less oblique. All artists, if they are to survive, are forced, at last, to tell the whole story; to vomit the anguish up."

James Baldwin (1924 - 1987) US novelist, essayist.

Schräg was premiered by Barrie Webb at Melba Hall, Melbourne, on the 18th of April, 2004, with its European premiere following in Bucharest on the 27th of May.

Score Sample (PDF)