D Amour:Art Songs Of The Salons CD

au Recording took place over a few days in December 2003 in the excellent acoustic of the Nickson Room at the University of Queensland during which time we encountered some heavy rain. The sound of a few drops adds a unique feature to a couple of tracks. The roof has now had repairs!LocanaFittingly the CD begins and ends with Locana. In concert, flute, violin and horn find a different spot in the performance space for the rhythmically free opening. For the recording we all moved to positions vastly different to our usual places and made two versions of this opening. Unable to decide which one to use we decided to use both, one adjoining the rest of Locana and the other here to set the mood for the CD. The unusual placement of the players gives a sense of an aural mandala.

Locana's ConsortJust as Locana has a life as a solo flute piece (though first written for solo horn), Locana's Consort started for solo flute. When publishing it seemed appropriate to add a companion work, hence the title and some melodic references. Publications by Wirripang: australiancomposers .

au have published a number of Michael's works. This trio version (flute, violin and horn) extends the original and has a more varied approach. The horn becomes more drone-like throughout, the other two provide most of the melodic movement.