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Three Dawns and Bush Radio Calling

by Peter Garland

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about

“Three Dawns and Bush Radio Calling”—music inspired by poetry and surreal theater—is an album containing the premiere recordings of two exuberant yet beguiling multi-movement works for solo piano, elegantly performed by pianist Ron Squibbs.

“Three Dawns” (1982), written in Santa Fe, NM, was inspired by a set of three poems by Jean-Joseph Rabéarivelo. “Bush Radio Calling” (1992) was composed in Island Bay, New Zealand, as music for a wildly strange work by the experimental theater company Red Mole (with whom the composer toured the music).

Garland writes about these two works:

"'Three Dawns' is loosely based on a set of three poems with that title by the Malagasy poet Jean-Joseph Rabéarivelo (1901–1937), which I found in the book "The Negritude Poets: An Anthology of Translations from the French," edited by Ellen Conroy Kennedy. The piece has had a difficult history due to its wide intervals and a notational problem in the first movement that has long baffled pianists. It has been revived thanks to the interest and persistence of Ron Squibbs and Jim Fox, for which I’m very grateful.

"'Bush Radio Calling' was composed as music for the play 'Just Them Walking,' by Alan Brunton, who, with Sally Rodwell, his wife, founded the Red Mole theater company. My title references a network of Aboriginal radio stations operating in the Australian outback, where I had just been.

"Synopsis of the play 'Just Them Walking':
"The Citizens are feeling discontent. Public order and services are falling apart. They form a militia of Volunteers for self-protection, but are defeated. The Voice of Bush Radio calls to them to leave this urban decay and head to the Remote Experience Zone (REZ). To get there they have to cross the Bridge to Nowhere, after which they will arrive at the Valley of Abandoned Dreams.

"Meanwhile, Dr. Mouse approaches the Princess (the Enchanting Claire) to enlist her help in tracking down Hercules, a killer dog loose in the REZ who’s spreading a deadly virus.

"Everyone departs on a steamboat going upriver to Hiruharama (the Maori name for Jerusalem, a town on New Zealand’s Wanganui River), where they are looking for Mother Aubert’s secret herbal remedies. Among those on the riverboat is the El Niño Theater Company, which performs a pantomime. Other characters in this gripping drama include Ice Woman, Wild Man, the Preacher, Mrs. Shadrock, the Witness, the General, the Wedding Guests, and the Chorus of Undertakers. (All of this with a cast of three, plus the pianist—me.)

"Finally they arrive at the Bridge to Nowhere and, as they cross it, the play ends in an apotheosis of ecstasy.

"Make sense? All of this was based on real places and people: in Red Mole reality, fact was always stranger than fiction."


Peter Garland is a composer, world traveler, musicologist, and writer whose music (which has appeared on seven of Cold Blue Music’s previous CDs) is always informed by his well-traveled ear and strong sense of personal vision. “Garland’s music seems to be about the sheer expressive power of sound itself…. I feel he is one of our true originals.” (Robert Carl, Fanfare magazine) “[Garland] is an avatar of an experimental American tradition … a composer of mesmerizing music; and in many ways, the musical conscience of my generation.” (Kyle Gann, Chamber Music magazine).

Pianist Squibbs’ previous recordings have been of music by Dane Rudhyar and Joji Yuasa

credits

released May 28, 2021

Ron Squibbs: piano

Produced by Ron Squibbs, Peter Garland, and Jim Fox

This CD is dedicated to Alan Brunton (1946–2002) and Sally Rodwell (1950–2006). “To keep the romance alive.”

Recorded August 2019 and September 2020, Mechanics Hall, Worcester, MA
Recording engineer: Joseph C. Chilorio
Edited by Joseph C. Chilorio and Scott Fraser
Mastered by Scott Fraser, Architecture, Los Angeles

Design by Jim Fox
Cover photo: Albert Percy Godber (1875–1949), Godber Collection,
Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
Interior photo: NASA (dawn seen from the International Space Station)

Compositions © Peter Garland, Petroglyph Music (BMI)
CD p & © 2021 Cold Blue Music, Venice, CA

www.coldbluemusic.com

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Peter Garland Maine

Peter Garland is a composer, world traveler, musicologist, and writer whose music is always informed by his well-traveled ear and intense personal vision. “[Garland] is an avatar of an experimental American tradition…a composer of mesmerizing music; and in many ways, the musical conscience of my generation.” (Kyle Gann, Chamber Music magazine) His music appears on eight Cold Blue Music releases. ... more

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