The birds and the Beethoven

Inspired by Henry Kendall’s 1869 poem Bell Birds, Emma Jayakumar’s atmospheric work conjures sounds and feelings of the Australian bush, containing compositional elements that mimic songs of Bell Birds, Golden Whip Birds, Djidi Djidi or Willy Wagtails, Currawongs and Bar Shouldered Doves.

The Darlingtons spread their wings with another force of nature in Ludwig van Beethoven’s groundbreaking Op 18 No 1, brimming with his tempestuous exuberance and whose bittersweet Adagio movement is inspired by the crypt scene in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, followed by aerial feats of virtuosity in the Scherzo and jet propulsion energy in the final Allegro.