To view video, click the picture below: This recording of THE SHE-WOLF was made in the late 1980s. It was one of a cycle of five songs, ’Points in a Journey’, which was commissioned by North Adams State College, Massachusetts and had its First Performance at Smith House, North Adams State College. The work is a response to a poem by Australian poet, Jena Woodhouse. She writes about the strength and passion of her late mother.
“Asmaradana”, a Javanese song form reserved for themes of heroic or tragic love, originates from the courtly life and music of Central Java. Already established by the eleventh century, it endures even today as a well-loved form of expression. My interest in this was awakened during several visits to Indonesia, which I made with my husband David Cox, in the 1970’s and 80’s. Originally this piece was a setting of the poem “Asmaradana” by the very influential Indonesian poet Goenawan Mohamad translated by Dr. Harry Aveling. I later wrote the work as a piano solo; this orchestral version was written for performance by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Richard Mills, for the Music of Australia program, which took place during the Trade and Cultural Mission in Jakarta, AUSTRALIA TODAY INDONESIA ’94. The piano version is published by Wirripang Pty. Ltd., and this orchestral version has been recorded by Vienna…
Styles can change I like pen and ink as a medium and, mostly I draw directly with the pen, which means I don’t pencil out first, then draw the ink line over the pencil. There’s nothing wrong with doing that; but, for myself, I find that doing it my way will result in a line that is more energetic It is the end result matters and usually an energetic drawing is what I am looking for.. I am not trying for complete accuracy. I want my drawings to look spontaneous, as though I have just jotted them down while the story is being told, almost as though they are calligraphy, quickly written down. I also want my illustrations to be lively and to look as though I have enjoyed drawing them. I think readers sense that enjoyment. I like to try out on different types of paper, with different pens…
Music Blog The Purest Love Selections from the first performance of the forty-five minute music drama, IL POVERELLO, which was performed in St John’s Cathedral, Brisbane, October 1st 2010.The work was commissioned by MANDOLINS IN BRISBANE. The program notes describe the work as: ‘A wonderful soundscape that animates the fascinating character of St Francis. Betty Beath and Davd Cox have explored Francis, the person, and his message of love and peace, his affinity with nature and his devotion to simplicity of life.’
There is something good and natural about the art of illustration; it is as much a literary art, to my way of thinking, as it is a visual one and I see illustrators, alongside the writers of words, as story tellers. An illustrator can add subtexts to a story, can even make gentle fun of the text and, of course, there are illustrators such as the Japanese Mitsumasa Anno, who tell stories beautifully with no need for words. I have been an illustrator for a long time now; but I began my working life, when I was sixteen, as a jackaroo on sheep and cattle stations in outback Australia. The good thing about that job was that I didn’t pay for my food or board and I very seldom went near a town or city; so I saved money. When I was twenty-one, I took off for London just to…
In 1975, Betty and I were lucky enough to be awarded a travel grant by the Literature Board of The Australia Council (an innovation of the Whitlam era). We went, wide eyed with innocence and curiosity, to explore the islands of Bali and Java. We had no definite objective, no planned publications, we would just allow, even encourage, things to happen and then work out what to do. We had learned as much of the Indonesian language as we could, enough to get by, and of course we would be forced to learn quickly as we went on our way. We had no very clear picture of what we would find, photographs and books give you only a vague overview. There was one description, however, that remained clear in our minds: A Sumatran gentleman we met at a party for Indonesian students told us, a little defensively, ‘You can call us…