Ross Edwards

Mountain Chant

One of Australia's best-known composers, Ross Edwards' distinctive sound world combines shapes and patterns from nature with a variety of musical resources which reflect and celebrate Australia's cultural diversity. Fred Watson's poem Mountain Chant, which provides the text of the central chorus, juxtaposes European and Celtic imagery associated with Warrumbungles with the names of Dreaming sites of the indigenous people for whom the mountains were a continuousdivine revelation. Vividly and precipitantly rhythmic, it is framed by two stark, interior motets: the first a setting in Latin of O quam preciosa by the 12th century Rhineland mystic, Hildegard von Bingen; and to conclude, The Lord'sPrayer, also in Latin.