From a chance encounter some years ago at the Four Winds Music Festival, four musicians developed new works into a series of recording sessions in the ABC studios.

Now, in the 2024 Canberra International Music Festival, they united in the lofty setting of Australia’s High Court.

The performers were William Barton, didgeridoo, Aunty Delmae Barton, voice, Véronique Serret, violin and Tamara-Anna Cislowska, piano.

Véronique Serret: High Stakes, Canberra International Music Festival. Photo © Dalice Trost 

In this all-Australian program, they opened with Barton’s Birdsong at Dusk.

With Cislowska ready at the piano, Barton walked through the audience, playing his didgeridoo. From high above, Serret on violin and singing. Then, a single note on the piano, which become a procession of sounds manipulated from the heart of her instrument. Serret walked down and spoke out the words describing the eagle and how it protects us.

Among the sparse notes on the piano, William Barton sang out a call, seemingly from nature. Then soft notes on the violin were accompanied by Aunty Delmae Barton speaking about the spirit winds that carry birds. The four together created a landscape of images through music that pictured the land and birds in the vast expanse of Australia. It captured a history few of us know or appreciate.

Tamara-Anna Cislowska and William Barton: High Stakes, Canberra International Music Festival. Photo © Dalice Trost 

Peter Sculthorpe’s Djilile, composed nearly four decades ago, has been adapted for various musical forms. In this version, for solo piano, this sparse work from the heart sounded out. Almost transfixing, its construction, a soundscape. Playing as in a dream, Cislowska let the notes drip from her fingers.

Holly Harrison’s Ice Giant, commissioned by Ensemble Offspring, is a musical representation of the structure and atmosphere of the planet Neptune. It’s quite a challenge characterising a whole planet in music, but if anyone can do it, it’s Harrison.

Played fast and loud by Serret, her stomping, bluegrass sound intertwined with contemporary techniques said out loud, ‘here I am, coming through an individual sound-world to tempt your senses’, and it did. It’s a complex work, living inside something highly original. Even when it went reflective, that unique construction remained. Another fascinating work from Harrison, CIMF’s composer-in-residence.

Up next was Kalkani (‘eagle’ in Kalkadoon language) by Barton and Serret. Then, from underneath the piano, Cislowska lay with a large mallet in hand. She struck its soundboard. It boomed out a deep growl. And so, the composition Heartland by Barton and Serret began. Then the four came together again, to create a roaring volume of diverse sounds, almost explosive in its sound level.

Barton and Serret moved around the court and played to envelop the audience in their music. Everyone sat awash in this unique sphere of voices and instruments.

The final soliloquy from Aunty Delmae Barton asked for the world to listen to the wisdom of the Indigenous elders. Never has the High Court of Australia heard anything so pertinent or spectacular.

Canberra International Music Festival continues until 5 May.