Chamber music

Ford’s chamber music includes six string quartets, and numerous works for mixed ensemble, some involving piano.

Please click work titles for more information and resources (audio, sheet music, program note etc.) about individual works in this category.

The Carnival of the Insects (2023)

20 mins

string quintet or string orchestra

1. Introduction and march
2. Click Beetle
3. Wanderer Butterlfly
4. Gravel Ants
5. Bumblebee
6. Southern Moon Moth
7. Grasshopper
8. Earwig
9. Praying Mantis
10. Mud Dauber Wasp
11. Mayfly
12. Stick Insect
13. Cockroach
14. Finale

Text: Accompanying poems by John Kinsella

Commissioned by the Australian Chamber Orchestra

Machnamh: ruminations on a tune by Seán Ó Riada (2022)

9 minutes

for string quartet with or without didgeridoo

Commissioned by Owen J Conlan

Beyond (2022)

12-15 minutes

for three or more trumpets and bell-plates

Commissioned by Nick Hewett

String Quartet No 7: Eden Ablaze (2020)

13 minutes

for string quartet with or without didgeridoo

Commissioned for the Brodsky Quartet by Julian Burnside AO QC.

First performance by the Brodsky Quartet and William Barton (didgeridoo), Canberra International Music Festival, Fitters' Workshop, Canberra, 30 April 2023

Polly’s Dance (2019)

3 minutes

for cor anglais, French horn and cello

Commissioned by Sandy Rendel in celebration of his sister Polly Woods's 75th birthday.

First performance by Dinah Woods (cor anglais), Jules Evans (horn), Helen Mountfort (cello), Midland Hotel, Castlemaine, Victoria, 20 July 2019

Scenes from Streeton (2019)

26 minutes

for wind quintet and recorded voices

1. Golden Summer 2. Near Heidelberg 3. The Selector's Hut (Whelan on the Log) 4. The Spirit of the Drought 5. After Streeton

Text: interviews with Eda Ritchie, Bruce Pascoe, Vivienne Ritchie, Ian Langford and Gwenda Langford. Editing and sound engineering by Russell Stapleton.

Commissioned in celebration of the Melbourne Recital Centre's 10th anniversary.

First performance by Arcadia Winds, Primrose Potter Salon, Melbourne Recital Centre, Melbourne, 9 October 2019.

Blood Red Roses: three shanties and a sea song (2017)

10 mins

for 2 trumpets, French horn, trombone and tuba

1. Go Down, You Blood Red Roses
2. Sally Brown
3. Lowlands
4. Spanish Ladies

Commissioned by Sydney Brass

First performance by Sydney Brass, Bondi Junction RSL, Sydney, 1 July 2018

Never (2016)

11 mins

for clarinet/bass clarinet, violin and piano

1. Night Flight -- 2. Fanfares -- 3. Lullaby for Lost Children.

Commissioned by Plexus

First performance by Plexus, Melbourne Recital Hall, Melbourne, 29 May 2017

Contradance (2015)

13 minutes

for 11 players

1(=picc)-1-1(=bass cl)-1(=contrabsn) / 1-0-0-0 / pno / 1-1-1-1-1

Commissioned by Steven Alward for the Omega Ensemble to celebrate the 60th birthday of Mark Wakely

First performance by the Omega Ensemble, City Recital Hall, Sydney, 20 April 2016

String Quartet No 6 (2014-17)

25 minutes

1. Preludio —
2. Scherzo perpetuo
3. Lamentoso —
4. Sunrise with Wedding Dresses
5. Finale
Movements 2 and 4 may be performed separately.

Commissioned by the Flinders Quartet with support from David and Kaye Birks, Julian Burnside AO QC and Ben Quilty

First performance by the Flinders Quartet, Ballarat, Victoria, 28 October 2018