Selected Chamber Works
Iron in the Blood
THE AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPER
John McBeath
★★★★★ - 5 stars
This is an extensive work of broad musical, historical and narrative scope. It’s a musical adaptation of Robert Hughes’s iconic Australian historical work The Fatal Shore The Epic of Australia’s Founding (1986), complete with narration by Philip Quast and William Zappa.
Composer, conductor and saxophonist Jeremy Rose has orchestrated jazz based music as exposition and ambience for this enormous work, assisted by funding from the Australia Council for the Arts, performed by Rose and the 18piece orchestra.
As the cover notes by Paul Grabowsky state: “Rose’s music deftly summons up the provenance of the new arrivals [to Australia] with reference to folk song, fife and drum marches and a hint of the 18th century drawing room.”
Australia’s early history is expertly portrayed in 11 tracks of uniquely blended narrative documentary and jazz composition. From the First Fleet’s arrival in 1788 through until Hughes’s words of summation, this documentary holds the attention on both musical and descriptive levels.
The arrangement features various solos throughout, notably Rose’s soprano sax alternately floating, climbing and drifting over the orchestra in Time Immemorial Pts 1 & 2. Numerous other solos feature Matt Keegan on tenor sax, Paul Cutlan on baritone sax, Callum G’Froerer on trumpet, James Macaulay on trombone and several others.
The music enlivens and dramatises the narrative, which at times is fearful and cruel and is occasionally uplifting, but the orchestrations always add depictions and dramatic illustration to this absorbing documentary.
LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE
Andrew Aronowicz
★★★★½ "Harrowing history told by a bold, emerging Aussie voice."
http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/content/jeremy-rose-iron-blood-earshift-orchestra
Jeremy Rose read The Fatal Shore, Robert Hughes’ seminal account of Australia’s invasion, colonisation and transformation into a penal colony, in 2012. He was struck by the brutal reality faced by prisoners shipped over from the continent, as well as by the Indigenous population, and eventually found a way to engage with that dark history through music.
Iron in the Blood is a series of scenes performed by Rose and the Earshift Orchestra, underscoring narrated excerpts of Hughes’ work, read by actors Philip Quast and William Zappa. The excerpts give an overview of the struggle of the convicts, as well as the cruelty of British officers and lawmakers. The descriptions of the treatment of the original population – particularly the genocide of Tasmania’s Aboriginals – are harrowing. Musically, Iron in the Blood is an eclectic experience. Tracks draw on more conventional jazz idioms, while art music traits are present too, including sonic landscapes with dislocated, chromatic harmonies and extended instrumental effects. Some of the most intriguing features are the extended, frantic, improvised solos, often underscoring the most disturbing parts of the narration. Individual performances and sound are excellent, and the narrations are enjoyable both on a theatrical and educational level. Rose has really honoured this awful chapter in our country’s history.
THE AUSTRALIAN BOOK REVIEW
Geoff Page
★★★★ - 4 stars
Iron in the Blood is jazz musician Jeremy Rose's ambitious and heartfelt tribute to Robert Hughes's The Fatal Shore (1986). Although some academic historians may demur, The Fatal Shore remains a crucial book for understanding the brutality of Australia's colonial origins.
To create his eleven-part tribute, Rose has assembled The Earshift Orchestra, an ensemble of seventeen musicians, nearly all of whom are youthful, like the composer. Two accomplished actors, Philip Quast and William Zappa, perform short excerpts from Hughes's book (which are sometimes excerpts from original documents themselves).
These are cleverly and movingly integrated into the work as a whole.
Rose's composition and orchestration here is reminiscent not only of Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Gil Evans but, at times, of Igor Stravinsky and Peter Sculthorpe. It is a powerful mélange to which Rose has added much of his own as well. Listeners tend to think of jazz as primarily improvisation but a great deal here is written down – then stirringly performed in the idiom. There are also several improvised solos, including a couple of memorable ones by the composer and others by trumpeter Nick Garbett and saxophonist Matt Keegan, to mention just two. The rhythm section of Joseph O'Connor (piano), Thomas Botting (bass), and Danny Fischer (drums) also plays an indispensable role – even when playing rubato.
The sources of Iron in the Blood are not only to be found in the work of the composers and arrangers mentioned above, but also in British folk song. The optimism in these parts is a useful counter to, and relief from, the harsher textures portraying the (still-astonishing) savagery of the 'System'.
This project was supported by the Australia Council with cooperation from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. It is hard to imagine money being better spent.
https://shop.abc.net.au/products/iron-in-the-blood-cdhttps://itunes.apple.com/us/album/iron-in-blood-musical-adaptation/id1133739705
Between Worlds
for string quartet and saxophone, three movements, 13 minutes.
Published by the Australian Music Centre
http://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/workversion/rose-jeremy-between-worlds/28216
commissioned by Nick Russoniello
Between Worlds was written for string quartet and saxophone and draws impetus from the experience of second generation immigrants – commonly described as ‘being caught between two worlds’ – as they face challenges of an ever shifting sense of self whilst facing pressure to conserve their country of origin’s culture. The work was also inspired by the composer’s recent overseas touring and studying through Greece, Germany, Norway, Cuba and Dominican Republic. Rose’s background as a jazz saxophonist and familiarity with the instrument has combined with his compositional skill sets to create a work for the saxophone that is virtuosic and improvisatory-like.
The work expands the composers exploration of the potential interactions between art music and world music paradigms. Rose’s recent studies of Balkan Brass music at a week long workshop in northern Greece in 2013 helped shape cross-cultural/genre issues in the music such as improvisation, rhythmic vitality and folk melodic invention. The cross-cultural significance of the work stems from melodic material adapted from a Greek folk melody ‘Mirkov Cocek’, however is shifted and expanded to encompass a new context of contemporary harmony and melodic dexterity. This work is the first Rose has composed for String Quartet, drawing influences from Debussy, Ravel, and Peter Sculthorpe.
Premiered by Sydney Camerata Quartet and Nick Russoniello, 11 April 2013, Newcastle Conservatorium of Music, Australia.
Recorded by Nick Russoniello and Acacia String Quartet and released on the album Between Worlds – available here
River Meeting Suite
for saxophone quartet, tabla, sitar, vocals and electronics
5 movements, 30 minutes
River Meeting Suite was written for the unique ensemble Compass Quartet which boasts two classical saxophonists with two jazz improvising saxophonists. The work features a collaboration with tabla player Bobby Singh and vocalist/sitarist Sarangan Sriranganathan. Framed within Western Art Music, Jazz music and Indian Carnatic and Hindustani traditions, the work touches many cross-cultural/genre issues such as notated vs improvisation, rhythmic languages and structural development, creating a work that is playable by musicians from such different backgrounds.
The music explores the potential meeting points of the the different musical lexicons and combines unusual instruments from different performance backgrounds. This work utilises certain melodic, structural, textural, motivic and rhythmic aspects typified in Indian Carnatic and Hindustani Music with harmonic devices from jazz. Some of the material was developed by the composer in dialogue with the Indian musicians to extend the jazz and classical lexicons into manner that overlaps with Indian traditions.
This work was performed at the 2012 Darling Harbour Jazz and Blues Festival, SIMA, the Kinetic Jazz Festival and Campbelltown Arts Centre. The work was a finalist in the APRA/AMC 2012 Art Music Awards in the Jazz Work of the Year category. The work was recorded by Compass Quartet with Sarangan Sriranganathan and Bobby Singh on the album “Ode to an Auto Rickshaw” (Earshift Records, Fuse Music Group, CD EAR005). In this form is has been regularly broadcast and is available through the CD.
Christina Leonard – soprano saxophone
Jeremy Rose – alto saxophone
Matthew Ottignon – tenor saxophone
Luke Gilmour – baritone saxophone
with
Sarangan Sriranganathan – vocals and sitar
Bobby Singh - tabla
Oneirology
for saxophone quartet and piano
4 movements, 30 minutes
Oneirology takes impetus from the 2009 Christopher Nolan film Inception and is scored for Compass Quartet with Jackson Harrison which boasts a saxophone quartet (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone) with piano. Framed within the context of contemporary jazz music, contemporary classical, Ethiopian and gospel traditions, the work touches many cross-idiomatic issues such as notation vs improvisation, group interaction, orchestration and classical composition structures, creating a work that is transformed from composition to performance.
The four-part Oneirology Suite takes impetus with the themes of Nolan's film, reflected in the movement's titles: Daydreamer, Entering the Subconsciousness, Dream within a Dream and Deja Vu (reality check?). Structurally the movements are connected by a narrative of increasing departure from reality as the harmonic, rhythmic and melodic material becomes more spatial and dissonant. The final movement recapitulates the material in a convoluted fashion to suggest an altered state of reality. The work utilises certain harmonic devices and improvisations from jazz yet is framed within a classical chamber ensemble-like context. The work is innovative in its use and adaptation of Nolan's film into a musical form, its utilisation of improvisation in a classical context, and its cross-genre applications.
Oneirology was published by Earshift Records/MGM, CD EAR 006. The CD was launched in Sydney at the Sound Lounge in March 2012 and performed at the Kinetic Jazz Festival in Sydney in 2012. The work was featured in a lecture/performance at the Australasian Saxophone and Clarinet Conference in 2013. The album received a four-star review from The Australian and broadcast on ABC Radio National and ABC Classic FM.
Christina Leonard - soprano saxophone
Jeremy Rose - alto saxophone
Matthew Ottignon - tenor saxophone
Luke Gilmour - baritone saxophone
Jackson Harrison - piano
Liminality
for chamber orchestra, 12 minutes.
Published by the Australian Music Centre
http://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/workversion/rose-jeremy-liminality/31329
Commissioned by the Sydney Conservatorium of Music 2016.
http://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/workversion/rose-jeremy-iron-in-the-blood/31100
Premiered by the Modern Music Ensemble, conducted by Daryl Pratt September 2, 2016, Sydney Conservatorium of Music
The title refers to a space of transition whereby one is undergoing a metamorphosis, searching for both a certain future, and an end to a journey that may be accompanied with discomfort, anxiety and displacement.
It is often used in fiction as a rite of passage of a character, as they undergo signification transformation of identity through sacrifice or tragedy.
Liminality uses this narrative as inspiration through the juxtaposition of several musical ideas to portray a musical story that is fractured, and left unanswered. A choral-like, slow rubato section is contrasted with chaotic, densely rhythmically layered orchestral sections. The work features several solos, including the oboe, trumpet, violin, cello, piano, as well as many duos throughout the ensemble.
The title of the work also represents a response to the tragic events to emerge from Australia’s off-shore detention centers, including the self-immolation of two people on Nauru. Although I am aware that one piece of music cannot change the world, I was deeply moved by the event and was motivated with a desire to express a lamentation for both the 23 year-old Iranian Omid Mosoumali and 21 year-old Somalian Hodan Yasin. The irony of Australia’s eagerness to join a war against many of the refugee’s countries in the name of liberating them from their leaders, whilst reluctantly providing safety and care for the people fleeing the war torn countries is tragic. Just as these political and humanitarian issues that serve the work as inspiration are unresolved, the work ends without a ‘happy ending’, an apt way to respond to this ongoing saga.