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The following collection of recordings are a sample of concerts and live to air broadcasts Laura has performed over the past few years. This page will be updated soon with Laura's final Honours recital recording.
Fragmente
Makoto Shinohara (1931)
(Listen) (Video of LMUS performance)
Fragmente was written in 1968 and is a fine example of Japanese Contemporary recorder repertoire. In Fragmente, Makoto Shinohara experiments with musical perimeters such as tone, dynamic, timbre and range. Performed on tenor recorder, Shinohara composed this piece with the intention of allowing the performer a freedom in constructing the piece as a whole. The ‘fragments’ of the title are fourteen short musical ‘units’, which the performer may put together in any order, abiding by certain conditions stipulated by the composer. Each fragment has an individual character and palette of sound displayed through techniques such as varied articulations, multiphonics, glissandi and what could be considered the most powerful elements of music… silence and space. This piece provides possibly the best synthesis of extended techniques for tenor recorder within the overall construction of a single piece.
This sound file was recorded by 2MBS FM Radio for their Young Performers program in May 2007.
The video was recorded by the Australian Examinations Board. Laura was invited to play at the AMEB presentation ceremony in 2005 after receiving her Licentiate Diploma with Distinction.
Chominciamento di Gioia
Anon
(Listen)
Chrominciamento Di Gioia is one of the few surviving dance tunes of the jongleurs. Jongleurs, now more commonly recognised as troubadours or minstrels, roamed much of Europe during the fourteenth Century, entertaining and passing their songs and stories from teacher to pupil. Typically, jongleurs elaborated and improvised around simple tunes on various medieval melodic instruments such as the vielle, hurdy-gurdy and even on bagpipes. Due to the improvisatory nature of these dances, little of this music has been found, or the manuscripts that are available are often plagued with errors and uncertainties. The jongleurs were generally accompanied by percussion instruments, which were also entirely improvisatory in their performance. This piece is broken up into ‘parts’ or fragments of differing rhythmic and melodic ideas, often returning to a recognisable motif that could be vaguely compared to a chorus in a modern pop-song. Typically, the Istampitta are recognised for their musical vitality and drive, this bringing the fragments together as a whole.
This sound file was recorded by 2MBS FM Radio for their Young Performers program in May 2007.
Thank you to Tony Lewis, who kindly accompanied me on percussion in this recording. Thank you also to Racheal Cogan, for sharing her incredible knowledge of this reperoire & playing the Ganassi recorder. For more informaion on Racheal, visit her site www.rachealcogan.com
Sonata in F Major
J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
(Listen)
[Notes on this piece/recording coming soon]
This piece was recorded at a concert in St Stephen's Church, Maquarie Street, Sydney.
Thank you to Chris Berensen for performing this with me on harpsichord.
Amarilli mia bella
Jacob Van Eyck (1589/90- 1657)
(Listen)
Jacob van Eyck was a Dutch carillonneur, bell expert, recorder player and composer. Van Eyck was most talented in mimicking the voice, and adapted popular tunes of the time, including ayres and psalms. He melodically embellished these themes, mostly using a diminution called ‘breecken’ (breaking), which resulted in the consequent variations becoming increasingly virtuosic. The anonymous text of Amarilli Mia Bella was first set by Giulio Caccini (1546-1614) in Le Nuove Musiche, This was Caccini's most influential work, boasting a collection of madrigals and songs for solo voice and basso continuo, published in 1601. The popularity of Amarilli henceforth developed, as composers of varying nationalities adapted it for their own compositions. Van Eyck used Amarilli Mia Bella more than once in his published works, probably not only due to its popularity, but because of the discrete, short phrases and the increasingly passionate musical ideas.
Amarilli, mia bella,
Non credi, o del mio cor dolce desio,
D'esser tu l'amor mio?
Credilo pur: e se timor t'assale,
Dubitar non ti vale.
Aprimi il petto e vedrai scritto in core:
Amarilli, Amarilli, Amarailli
è il mio amore.
Amaryllis, my lovely one,
Do you not believe, o my heart's sweet desire,
That you are my love?
Believe it thus: and if fear assails you,
Doubt not its truth.
Open my breast and see written on my heart:
Amaryllis, Amaryllis, Amaryllis,
Is my beloved.
Rossignol d'amor
Francois Couperin (1668-1733)
(Listen)
[Notes on this piece/recording coming soon]