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Perpetual and the Australian Music Centre is delighted to announce the winners of the 2004 Paul Lowin Prizes. The Prizes were held at Government House, Sydney on 3 November 2004. The following prizes were awarded and highly commended works announced:

$15,000 Song Cycle Prize

Andrew Ford
Learning to Howl.

Learning to Howl is a 35-minute work for voice, saxophone, clarinet, harp and percussion. Originally written for soprano Jane Edwards, it uses texts by women writers ranging from Emily Dickinson to Queen Elizabeth 1.This same piece also earned Andrew Ford the Award for Best Composition at the APRA-Australian Music Centre Classical Music Awards earlier this year.

 
Judges’ Comments:
Learning to Howl
‘This work for voice and small ensemble gained unanimous vote from the panel as the only submission that truly fulfilled the categories regarding presentation, competence and strength of ideas. The piece is beautifully laid out, utterly intelligent and musical. It represents vocal writing at its very best - in its use of an ingeniously assembled text and its integration within the small instrumental ensemble, and in its psychological reach. The word-setting is masterful, the orchestration wonderfully well handled. Within the concept of ‘Modern but not too modern’ Learning to Howl is a virtuosic work and, with its clearly expressed musical lines and fascinating juxtaposition of lyrics, is entirely satisfying for performer and listener.’
 
 
$25,000 Paul Lowin Orchestral Prize

Liza Lim
Ecstatic Architecture

Ecstatic Architecture was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic in celebration of the inaugural season of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The judges described the work as “fascinating and masterly constructed... an expressive and personal statement that constantly delights and amazes”.


Judges’ Comments:
Ecstatic Architecture
‘The judging panel thought piece outstanding in every respect – a highly accomplished work from a mature and considered composer - “ completely assured from the first note, a sustained and powerful lyrical statement that takes you on a journey and never lets you go.” Within the bounds of Paul Lowin’s Will where he states “modern but not extremely modern”, the panel looked at excellence in compositional skills, as demonstrated by the coloristic features such as scordatura and various ‘instrumental preparations’ which extend the orchestra in a novel way, using simple means that never transcend the normal capabilities of an orchestra. They commented on how restrained and utterly effective is the quarter tone writing in the work. Ecstatic Architecture is a beautifully presented, fascinating and masterly constructed score, looking, as its name suggests, at the very notion of architecture - an expressive and personal statement that constantly delights and amazes, commands respect and admiration.’
 
 
Highly Commended
(Orchestral Prize)

Gerard Brophy
Concerto in Blue

The panel regarded this concerto for guitar and orchestra as a major piece by a most accomplished composer, expertly written for an instrument that requires sensitivity and a great deal of orchestral insight. The work has a truly magical opening, and sustains its mood throughout in subtly rewarding colours.

Rosaline Page
Fracture

A fascinating piece, said the panel, and a boldly personal musical statement from an original voice. The complex theatrical concept appears to achieve what the composer set out to achieve. Imaginatively orchestrated, the musical ideas are beautifully articulated. Fracture is an admirable take on concerto writing through strong soloistic dialogue and meaningful orchestral theatricality.

 

2001 Paul Lowin Awards

Perpetual and the Australian Music Centre were delighted to announce the winners of Australia’s richest prizes for composition, the 2001 Paul Lowin Prizes at a combined ceremony. The Awards event hosted by Radio National’s Alan Saunders was held at Customs house, Sydney on 22 October 2001. The following prizes were awarded and highly commended works announced:

$15,000 Song Cycle Prize

Brett Dean
Winter Songs

This piece, 26 minutes long, was premiered in Berlin, 
30 January 2001 by Scott Weir (tenor) and the Philharmonic Wind Qunitet, Berlin. Cond. Herman Baumer.
 
Judges’ Comments: ‘The judging panel were very impressed with this work and it stood out amongst the entries for many reasons. It is a powerful and passionate work that is imaginative and ambitious in its use of the ensemble and in its overall conception. It begins as a highly virtuosic wind quintet with intermittent tenor obbligato, and evolves into a song cycle in which the voice is admirably welded with the instruments. Every technical aspect is excellently handled – it is well written for the voice and the text is good and clear. The musical invention is striking, each instrument is clearly characterised, and even in the most complex passages, everything is perfectly audible. Overall, the impression is somewhat musically derivative – as though one had heard the piece many times before! It is a work which meets both the criteria and spirit of the Paul Lowin Prize.’.
 
 
Highly Commended
(Song Cycle Prize)

Jennifer Fowler
Eat and Be Eaten

Premiered in Sydney, 6 June 2001 by Marshall McGuire and The Song Company. Cond. Roland Peelman.
 

 
$25,000 Orchestral Prize

Nigel Butterley
Spell of Creation

This piece, 45 minutes long, was premiered in Sydney 9 June 2001 by Anke Hoppner (soprano), Teddy Tahu Rhodes (baritone), Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and Orchestra and Cantillation Choir. Cond. Antony Walker.


Judges’ Comments: ‘This major work, Spell of Creation, represents a very significant contribution to the orchestral and choral repertoire. It employs an emotional and richly layered text, while the writing for extensive orchestral, choral and solo vocal forces shows great skill, restraint and sincerity. The selection panel congratulates this composer on a fine work – the effect of which builds consistently throughout towards a conclusion of genuine power
 
 
Highly Commended
(Orchestral Prize)

Gerard Brophy
Yo Yai Pakebi, Man Mai Yapobi

Premiered in Utrecht, 13 January 2000 by Anumadutchi & Het Residentie Orkest. Cond. Hans Leenders.

Brett Dean
Pastoral Symphony

Premiered in Paris, 9 February 2001 by Ensemble Modern. Cond. Stefan Asbury

1999 Paul Lowin Awards

The winners of the 1999 Paul Lowin Prizes were announced at a joint ceremony with the Australian Music Centre Awards at the Sydney Opera House on 20 September 1999. The following prizes were awarded and highly commended works announced:

 
$15,000 Song Cycle Prize

Raffaele Marcellino
Canticle

Premiered in May 1999 in St Stephens Cathedral, Brisbane.

Judges' Comments: 'Canticle is an impressive fresco combining voices with instruments in the most original and 
effective way. The idiosyncratic treatments of the text, the juxtaposition of text and vocal sound, the outlay and scope of the work, in function of a resonant acoustic space as well as the natural and logical flow of striking musical events deserved the jury's unanimous praise. As a vocal work, Canticle connects in a contemporary way with the almost lost traditions of ecclesiastical writing. It shows its roots and points to the future'
 

Highly Commended
 (Song cycle prize)

David L Young 
Thousands of Bundled Straw V.

Commissioned by Aequator, premiered 26 March 1998 in Zurich

 
$25,000 Orchestral Prize

Michael Smetanin 
The Shape of Things to Pass

This piece, 12.5 minutes long, was commissioned by the West Australian Symphony Orchestra 20th Century Ensemble, with the premiere performance taking place in March 2000.

  
Judges' Comments: 'The Shape of Things to Pass demonstrates an assured individual voice and a superb control of instrumental colour. The restraint in the choice of musical material and the imaginative use of quartertones have resulted in a piece of sustained emotional intensity and structural integrity. Here is an original sound that is relevant to our time and also accessible to wide concert audiences, in the spirit of the composition's founder'
 
 
Highly Commended
 (Orchestral Prize)

Gerard Brophy
MERGE: a memoir of the senses

For percussion quartet, ambient sounds and orchestra. Premiered by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra on 9 June 1999 conducted by Markus Stenz


For further information on the Australian Music Centre Awards, which are presented at the same ceremony as the Paul Lowin Prizes, please visit the Awards page in this site.