Sleep (2015)
2 minutes
for string orchestra
String Orchestra
These works are for chamber-sized string orchestras or – in the case of the three central movements of Manhattan Epiphanies – seventeen solo strings.
Please click work titles for more information and resources (audio, sheet music, program note etc.) about individual works in this category.
Bright Shiners (2009)
5 minutes
for solo violin and string orchestra
Commissioned by the Australian Chamber Orchestra to mark Richard Tognetti's 20th anniversary season
First performance by Pekka Kuusisto (violin) and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, City Hall, Newcastle, NSW, 12 March 2009
Sad Jigs (2005)
7 minutes
for string orchestra
This piece may also be played by a string quintet.
Commissioned by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra through Symphony Australia with funds from the Australia Council for the Arts
First performance of this version by Australian Youth Orchestra chamber orchestra directed by Helena Rathbone, National Music Camp, Llewellyn Hall, ANU, Canberra, January 2006.
The Past (1997)
18 minutes
For counter-tenor, flute (=boatswain's whistle) & string orchestra (also optional didgeridoo)
Commissioned by the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra with the support of the Music Board of the Australia Council.
First performance by Russell Harcourt (counter-tenor), Lorna McGhee (flute and boatswain's call), William Barton (didgeridoo), Camerata of St John's conducted by Federico Mondelci, Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Riverway Arts Centre, Townsville, Queensland, 4 August 2009
Manhattan Epiphanies (1994-99)
32 minutes
for string orchestra
i Motherwell at the Guggenheim
ii Rothko I
iii Utopia Parkway: 13 Cornell Boxes
iv Rothko II
v Blue Poles
N.B. Movements may be performed separately.
i. solo violin and string orchestra
ii. 5-5-3-3-1
iii. 5-5-3-3-1 and toy instruments
iv. 5-5-3-3-1
v. string orchestra
The whole piece may be played by 17 solo strings, but larger forces may be employed in the two outer movements.
Commissioned by the Australian Chamber Orchestra
First performance of Rothko I & II by the Australian Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Roger Smalley, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 25 September 1994.
First performance of Utopia Parkway by the Australian Chamber Orchestra, conducted by the composer, Huntington Festival, Huntington Estate Winery, Mudgee, NSW, 1 December 1994.
First performance of Blue Poles by Canberra School of Music Chamber Orchestra conducted by Tor Fromyhr, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, October 2002.
First performance of Motherwell at the Guggenheim by Christina Katsimbardis (violin), Australian Youth Orchestra (NMC), conducted by John Harding, Llewellyn Hall, Australian National University, Canberra, 17 January 2004.
Harbour (1992)
18 minutes
For tenor and 17 solo strings
5-5-3-3-1 (double bass also plays tubular bell)
First performance by Gerald English and the Australian Chamber Orchestra conducted by David Stanhope, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 10 May 1992