excerpt :
"Six Fish"
6th movement - "Flying Fish" (312K)
performed by:
"Saffire"
(Awarded the APRA / AMC "Instrumental work of the year" in 2005.)
a bit about the music ..........
Being a non-guitarist, it was with great trepidation that I began writing for guitar, but with careful guidance & enthusiasm from my guitarist colleagues Iv'e managed top clock up a few pieces....among them - "Blue on Gold" (for the Austral trio with Tim Kain) / "Songs from the Forest" (for Tim Kain & John Williams) / "Tall Tales" & "Touchwood" (for John William's "Attacca" band )"Shadow Dances" (Chamber concerto) / "Antarctica" (for John Williams) "Jovian Moons"( for guitar & piano), "Hinchinbrook Riffs" (for guitar & digital delay) & "Six Fish" for Saffire.
With "Six Fish" I wanted to adress the guitar ensemble issue of disproportionate output (4 guitars frequently do not sound like 1 guitar x 4, in terms of volume output or complexity of sound & texture...at least to me!).
"Guitartrek" have adressed this issue by working within the "extended family" format (treble, standard, tenor & bass instruments).
"Saffire" also saw this as an issue that we should adress with the fish commission.
Hence the instrumentation :
- main melodic dialogue occurs between the 2 standard instruments
- dobro & 12 string guitars are predominantly coloration & textural, lending a sense of "orchestration" to the piece.
Submerged & wet is a common thread in each of the movements, whereby Ive deliberately attempted to "wet - up" the sound by incorporating sustain & resonances into the lines of the music - also being aware of open string sonorities is crucial as part of the effect to create a homogenous, resonant & rich texture.
Harmonics are frequently used to support this "open" & resonant soundworld.
The six movements are loosely based on the idea of fish characters.
These are not dead fish for the purposes of consumption (as Richard Meale noted when I first suggested the title to him)........but rather very much alive & existing within their own vibrant & pristine ecosystems.
Richard Flannigan's fascinating work "Goulds book of fish" played an inspirational role in the developement of the piece.
Flying fish was the 1st of the movements I wrote.
Generally a rare sight in southern Australian waters, a sighting of a flying fish off Jervis bay struck me as being a good omen & after years about reading about them, I couldnt get this idea out of my mind when I started work on the piece. "Six Fish" was commissioned by "Saffire" in 2003.
The 6 movements comprise of ........
1.guitarfish
2.sunfish
3. spangled emperor
4. sling Jaw wrasse
5.leafy sea dragon
6.flying fish.
"But perhaps the most memorable work was Nigel Westlake's Six Fish suite, performed under a shimmering blue light that echoed the sea-like imagery within the music. Gleaming arpeggios - executed in perfect tandem by Schaupp and Grigoryan - became musical metaphors for the movement of fish through the ocean, drifting in the current before changing direction with the flick of a tail.
Spangled Emperor was buoyed by gentle bubbles that emerged from Field's guitar, while Koch's dobro became a plaintive whale call in Leafy Sea Dragon.
And the Flying Fish in the final piece leapt from the water with swaggering bravado, slithering across the waves as the music built to a crescendo of white-capped riffs."
.........."The Age."
"Six Fish"guitar quartet -performed by "Saffire".November 17, 2004
Spangled Emperor was buoyed by gentle bubbles that emerged from Field's guitar, while Koch's dobro became a plaintive whale call in Leafy Sea Dragon.
And the Flying Fish in the final piece leapt from the water with swaggering bravado, slithering across the waves as the music built to a crescendo of white-capped riffs."
.........."The Age."
"Six Fish"guitar quartet - performed by "Saffire".November 17, 2004