Of the Earth (2022)

With his work Barton acknowledges the importance of connection and of ceremony, and this evening, the first concert in the refurbished Concert Hall, was certainly a ceremonious occasion. Barton describes his work as, “a visible statement of hope, as the clapsticks sound out each person knows they are holding a part of the country, a part of the old and a new spirit of now.” Singers from the Sydney Children’s Choir and Gondwana Indigenous Children’s Choir entered the stage part way through the piece like a river flowing from distant sources to connect as one voice wth the Sydney Philharmonia Choir singers and the orchestra, a beautiful visual spectacle symbolising, to my mind, our connection through music. All through the work there was a pulsing heartbeat of the earth from the low strings and bass drum and timpani, it was both a grand and sweeping yet deeply personal work. Thank you William Barton.

The curtain raiser was Of the Earth, William Barton’s contribution to the Fifty Fanfares Commission. Barton is probably best known as a leading indigenous didgeridoo player, but he has also made his mark in classical and theatre composition. I was expecting a work for didgeridoo and small orchestra, but Barton went in the other direction by employing Mahler’s assembled orchestral and vocal forces to produce a quality piece that would have been applauded by Peter Sculthorpe for its evocation of Australia, including Aboriginal clapsticks.