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Category Archives: Books

03 Feb

New Release: ‘The Music of Carl Vine’ by Rhoderick McNeill

Wildbird is delighted to announce the publication of the fourth volume in the Australian Composers series , The Music of Carl Vine. This book has been written by Professor Rhoderick McNeill, Head, School of Arts and Communication at the University of Southern Queensland.

Carl Vine is one of Australia’s great composers. He has been writing music for over forty years. His works include 7 Symphonies, 5 String Quartets, Concertos for Violin, Oboe, Piano (2) and Cello and his much awaited new work Five Hallucinations (2016) for Trombone and Orchestra. His compositions also include major works for the piano, choral, chamber and orchestral music. He is also well known for his ballet and film music including The Tempest and The Battlers.

Vine’s music has been examined by Rhoderick McNeill in this new Wildbird publication. McNeill is particularly known for his book The Australian symphony from Federation to 1960.  A large number of musical examples have been included throughout the book to enable music students, teachers and the interested public to see the key features of Vine’s creative world. Written by leading authorities on Australian music, books in the Australian Composers series are an important resource designed for all music students and teachers, university students and libraries interested in the work of Australia’s leading composers.

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01 Dec

‘The Music of Nigel Butterley’ by Elliott Gyger reviewed by Timothy McKenry in Context Journal

The Music of Nigel Butterley by Elliott Gyger received a review in Context journal, Issue 40 (2015).  Reviewer Timothy McKenry writes:

The Music of Nigel Butterley provides scholars of Australian music with an invaluable resource that functions to contextualise, analyse and even advocate for Butterley’s music.

Read the full review via the Context website.

30 Apr

‘The Music of Nigel Butterley’ reviewed in ‘Tempo’

The Music of Nigel Butterley by Elliott Gyger received a review in Tempo journal, Volume 70, Issue 276, April 2016, pp. 103-104. Reviewer Alistair Noble writes:

This book is a valuable publication for promoting an understanding and appreciation of Butterley’s music but I sense that its importance goes beyond this: it helps us also to understand a great deal about the nature of non-tonal musical composition in the latter half of the twentieth century.

16 Oct

New Audio resource now online

Here at Wildbird Music we’ve welcomed the feedback from some of our readers that the books in the Australian Composers series would be nicely complemented by recordings. We’ve asked the authors of the three volumes to date to suggest some essential listening for each of the composers they wrote about: up to 10 significant works by each composer that they may have analysed in-depth, and where recordings are readily available, especially in a digital format.

We’re delighted that authors John Peterson, Michael Hannan and Elliott Gyger share our enthusiasm for this new resource, and based on their suggestions we’ve been able to add a dedicated Audio section on the Wildbird website, where we’ve collated Spotify playlists for streamed listening and/or links to albums that you can get on iTunes if you prefer digital downloads.

If you already have copies of any of the books in Wildbird’s Australian Composers series, we encourage you to savour each composer’s sound world, revisit the musical analyses and check out the new Audio Resources pages on the Wildbird Music website:

Essential listening to works by Peter Sculthorpe, as suggested by John Peterson, author of The Music of Peter Sculthorpe.

Essential listening to works by Richard Meale, as suggested by Michael Hannan, author of The Music of Richard Meale.

Essential listening to works by Nigel Butterley, as suggested by Elliott Gyger, author of The Music of Nigel Butterley.

If you don’t already have copies of books in Wildbird’s Australian Composers series, this might be the feature that you were waiting for!

09 Oct

Special Education offer on books from the Australian Composers series

Wildbird Music are pleased to offer a discount especially for music students, music teachers and high schools or tertiary music institutions:

15% off purchases of 3 or more books from the Australian Composers series in one order (any combination of titles).
Enter the code 2015EDUoffer at checkout for website orders.
Offer valid until 31 December 2015.

You might like to take this opportunity to obtain each of the titles in the Australian Composers series if you haven’t already.  Or you might like to order several copies of one or all titles for use as a classroom textbook set.  Remember, there are 3 volumes so far in this important series:

And future volumes in the series are currently being written.

04 Jun

“The Music of Richard Meale” Reviewed in The Studio

The Music of Richard Meale by Michael Hannan was reviewed by Dr Rita Crews in the May 2015 issue of The Studio, the journal of the Music Teachers’ Association of NSW. Dr Crews writes:

Very highly recommended, The Music of Richard Meale is a timely and valuable book containing detailed analysis of 37 diverse works and as such will be a great boon to students and teachers alike whilst contributing to overall research on the analysis of Australian music.

14 May

Broadcasts

Saturday’s concert at the Canberra International Music Festival will be broadcast 8pm tonight (14 May 2015) on ABC Classic FM. Tune in to hear the world premiere of Brian Howard’s Full Fathom Five.  For those catching up on the broadcast on a later date, the link is:

http://www.abc.net.au/classic/content/2015/05/14/4236712.htm

Also, on Saturday 9 May 2015, author Elliott Gyger spoke with presenter Andrew Ford on ABC Radio National’s The Music Show about his book The Music of Nigel Butterley. The interview can now be downloaded/streamed at this link:

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/musicshow/elliott-gyger-on-nigel-butterley/6455916

08 May

Book Presentation

Elliott Gyger with Nigel Butterley

Elliott Gyger with Nigel Butterley

While Elliott Gyger was in Sydney for the premiere of his opera Fly Away Peter by Sydney Chamber Opera this month he visited Nigel Butterley at his home to present him with a copy of his book, The Music of Nigel Butterley.

The Music of Nigel Butterley is the third volume in Wildbird’s Australian Composers series. After an extensive period of research, Gyger has written a book which examines all Butterley’s principal compositions, looking at his technique, style and musical language.

Written for music students, teachers and the interested public, this book has been released to coincide with Nigel Butterley’s 80th birthday.

We wish Nigel a very happy birthday… and we hope he enjoys reading his birthday book!!

30 Mar

New Release: The Music of Nigel Butterley

The Music of Nigel Butterley, coverIn celebration of Nigel Butterley’s 80th birthday year, Wildbird is delighted to announce the publication of the third volume in the Australian Composers series, The Music of Nigel Butterley. This book has been written by Elliott Gyger, Senior Lecturer in Composition at the University of Melbourne.

Nigel Butterley is one of Australia’s most outstanding composers. He has been writing music for over sixty years. His works include four string quartets, instrumental music, choral music, orchestral music including his Violin Concerto and Symphony and a wide range of vocal works from songs to opera. He was awarded the Prix Italia for his radiophonic work In the Head the Fire and the Paul Lowin Orchestral Prize for his Spell of Creation. For many years he taught composition at the Newcastle Conservatorium of Music.

Butterley’s music has been examined by Elliott Gyger in this new Wildbird publication. A large number of musical examples have been included throughout the book to enable music students, teachers and the interested public to see the key features of Butterley’s creative world. Books in the Australian Composers series are an important resource for schools, tertiary institutions and private music teachers.