Rosalind Carlson

Waterfall in Spring

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Chamber Music / Instrumental Music / Woodwind - Flute and Piano

"Waterfall in Spring", an Australian Fantaisie for Flute and Piano - 1997 - duration approx. 9 minutes

The waterfall being described by the Australian composer Rosalind Carlson in this ensemble chamber work for flute and piano is to be found on the northern side of the Galston Gorge. This gorge is approximately 32 kilometres north of Sydney, NSW Australia, and close to where Rosalind lives.

The gorge itself is most scenic being full of native Australian bush flowers. Its road containing many hairpin bends, winds down the steep slopes linking the rural suburb of Galston to Hornsby.

The local residents refer to this naturally formed waterfall as "'The Waterfall". It flows into the upper reaches of the Berowra Creek.

Historically

Road construction through the Galston Gorge was carried out by unemployed men during the 1890's when the colony was severely hit by an economic depression. The two bridges at the bottom of the gorge were completed in 1891. The road was completed in 1893, but not fenced. Transport on this road was by horse and dray. Drinking troughs for the horses were an important feature of the Galston Road, through the gorge. Four of these were spring fed and always full of cool water, a fifth trough located near the bridges was provided with a hand pump to lift the water from the Berowra Creek below.

During the 1970's Rosalind became very much aware of the seasonal changes and activities of this beautiful cascading Galston Gorge waterfall as she passed it daily for six years on her way to teach at Hornsby Girls' High School. Here she was the Administrative Mistress in Charge of Music. (1973 - 1978).

Inspiration for the flute part came to Rosalind in 1992. Her intent was to write a composition for her flautist daughter, Rosemary to perform. Rosalind originally conceived this work for solo flute. She heard the solo flute wafting in the Galston Gorge. At a later date, Rosalind wrote the atmospheric and at times somewhat stark piano part. This piano part has its own descriptive character one truly reflecting Australia's austere atmosphere, as well as images of the waterfall itself.

The delightful flute melody outlines the fall of the water, the splashing, the tumbling, the water droplets and dance-like figures. These are contrasted with some magical moments throughout. An energetic and most descriptive flute cadenza leads into the return of the opening section. This concludes with a brief coda. The work was finally completed in January 1997.

Its world premiere performance was given by Christine Draeger (flute) and Kathryn Lambert (piano), on the 29th September 1997 at the Third Australian Women's Music Festival in Sydney.

Awards and Honours

In 1998, Rosalind received notification from the Fellowship of Australian Composers that her ensemble work "Waterfall in Spring" had been selected  by the Asian Composers' League Festival Selection Committee for performance in their seven-day Music Festival to be held in Taipei, Taiwan in September.  This is a great honour for Rosalind as only three compositions were selected from Australian composers out of a total of 56 works to be performed.

Also in 1998, "Waterfall in Spring" won first place in the Gold Coast Annual Composers' Competition.  Entries for this competition came from all over Australia.  Adjudicator Betty Beath said that this sensitive, expressive and subtle work was haunting and that the composition had a recognisably "Australian" sound.

Given its world premiere performance in Sydney in September 1997 at the Third Australian Women's Music Festival, the performance was recorded "live" by the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) and broadcast regularly on ABC Classic FM Radio.

This work has been performed in London on numerous occasions, for example:

	It has the honour of being performed on the concert program celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Australian Music Centre at the Australian High Commission in London.
	Also at Regent's Hall London in the 2002  brilliant "Australia Day" concert given by Lewis Mitchell and Chris Childs.

ANZCA (Australian & New Zealand Cultural Arts Limited) examination board has set Waterfall in Spring in the Classical Flute syllabus - Grade 7, and also in the Modern Flute syllabus - Grade 7.

Availability: Music scores and CD available from Flexi-Fingers Publications and the Australian Music Centre - Sydney.  See order form.

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