An avian felon from a 17th-century fairytale has repaid its debt three times over for composer Alice Chance, the Affinity Quartet, and Musica Viva Australia supporter, Alison Kerry. Alison and her husband Geoff are the commissioning partners of Gifts from a Thieving Bluebird, a seven-minute composition for string quartet by Alice Chance, written for the Affinity Quartet. Full of lyricism and drama, the piece had its world premiere at a Sydney Morning Masters concert in October, and Alison is delighted with the result.
‘How much can you do in seven minutes?’ she says. ‘Alice packed in an entire storyline and it was fantastic – the characters of the story and all the movement and intricacy really came through.’ In writing the music, Alice took cues from Schubert’s ‘Death and the Maiden’ – played in the same concert as her piece – and from a story by French writer Madame d’Aulnoy, L’Oiseau bleu (The Bluebird).
‘A commission like this really gives you the time to dream about what the piece could be,’ Alice says. ‘It enabled me to work in ideal circumstances and focus on making something I’m proud of.'
‘How much can you do in seven minutes?’ she says. ‘Alice packed in an entire storyline and it was fantastic – the characters of the story and all the movement and intricacy really came through.’ In writing the music, Alice took cues from Schubert’s ‘Death and the Maiden’ – played in the same concert as her piece – and from a story by French writer Madame d’Aulnoy, L’Oiseau bleu (The Bluebird).
‘A commission like this really gives you the time to dream about what the piece could be,’ Alice says. ‘It enabled me to work in ideal circumstances and focus on making something I’m proud of.'
