Sydney Sketches

"Sydney Sketches" is four movements of lighthearted programme music. It was written for the University of New South Wales Orchestra (who play in the clips below) by Joe Wolfe. Colin Piper conducts. Recording engineer: Emery Schubert.

The subjects of the sketches are different scenes and different moods spanning one day in Sydney. They are linked by variations on two motifs: one is a pulsebeat of repeated quavers in the bass, the other a short phrase in a minor key. These motifs are like two characters who travel around Sydney, with their paths occasionally crossing.

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1. Coogee Beach, Early Morning. (water colour)

2. Lunchers in the Park. (caricatures, pen and wash)
(2.4 Mbyte) In the second movement, variations on the two themes take their ease in Centennial Park, where they meet each other amid Southern European picnics, lovers, walkers, games and birds. (This and subsequent movements recorded by UNSWO, conducted by Colin Piper, at Macquarie Theatre, Macquarie University 2/6/1994)

3. Bennelong Dreaming. (starch and natural pigments)
(2.6 Mbyte) Bennelong Point is the site of the opera house and concert hall. The winds stroll down from the botanic gardens, accompanied by a walking bass. We take a peek into the concert hall and find one of the tourist audiences who are famed for their audible involvement in performances. We emerge onto the forecourt where some buskers transport us off into the dream-time. The railway bridge across the quay takes us back to the present, as the strolling stretto brings us back towards the city. In the scherzo tradition of the classical symphony, the third movement of this piece is not overly serious.

4. City Streets, Evening. (collage, mixed media)
(4.9 Mbyte) In the final movement, the musical adventurers progress through a variety of downtown scenes. The bassoon walks through the busy 'city' theme (the strings in changing metres). The two themes get caught up in the city bustle, then find themselves in a night club with a latin flavour. Emerging into the night, they encounter first the colourful street vendors of Darlinghurst and then the members of a well-known religious group. A struggle between Good and Evil ensues, with the former trumpetting its success. The themes stroll down to Bennelong Point before returning home to the evening quiet of Coogee Beach.

2fl, 2ob, 2cl, asax, tsax, 2bsn, 2/3hn, 2tpt, 2trm, tba, timp, perc, strings

Next performance: 6 December, 1997, 8 pm. North Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Edie Rens conductor.

About the composer. Joe Wolfe started writing music in the seventies and has since written sporadically for jazz and fusion groups, including incidental music for plays and films. He has written four other orchestral works: a Trumpet concerto is the most recent. "The Stairway Suite" is a set of orchestral variations on the pop song "Stairway to Heaven" in the styles of Schubert, Holst, Glen Miller, Mahler, Bizet and Beethoven; "Conjunction" which is an 'interactive introduction to the orchestra', written for orchestra and primary school choir, and an overture to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the UNSW Orchestra. His most recent work is Circle of Fourths, a 5 minute work for orchestra. He has a quartet for flute, saxophone, bassoon and cello for which the sheet music is available as shareware. (mp3 files are available of most of these.)

Joe Wolfe / J.Wolfe@unsw.edu.au /61-2-9385 4954 (UT+10,+11 Oct-Mar)