Notes on the Music
These are all portraits of people whom I have got to know well over many years. I even married one of them. Stephen is a brother, Gary is an uncle, and Emma is a cousin.
I can’t really explain what makes the musical ‘likeness’, except to say that each piece was composed very deliberately with the subject in mind from the beginning. Sometimes the results were surprising, even to me.
Each portrait is no more than a snapshot in time. There is much more to all these people than one (or several) pieces of music can express. But I hope I’ve captured something which remains true and beautiful about everyone.
Sonata for Piano No.1: Four Sisters
The idea of writing musical portraits was first put to me by Imogen Hebart in 2011. Upon hearing that I was a composer, she spontaneously offered herself and her three sisters as potential ‘subjects’ for my next composition. It was an odd idea, but it stuck, even though Imogen promptly forgot all about it…
As I got to know the Hebart sisters over the next few years, I began to make little musical sketches that I associated with each individual and her character. I eventually turned them into piano pieces, and they made their appearance one by one as birthday presents between 2014 and 2018. And now here they all are together. I’ve placed them in an order that makes the most musical sense, although this doesn’t quite correspond to their order of birth (Eleanor is younger than Genevieve). The four movements go together so well that I’ve called them a Sonata, but they can also be enjoyed simply as portraits of four very dear friends. |
Stephen
Stephen is my younger brother, and I first wrote his portrait as a piano solo in 2019. I sensed from the beginning that its repetitive breath-length phrases would translate well into a wind band arrangement, and so I arranged a version for the Adelaide Wind Orchestra in 2022.
The way a musical portrait depicts its subject is often rather mysterious. But one image I definitely had in mind at the beginning was my brother slowly waking up (he’s not a morning person). Nevertheless, as I hope you will hear, there’s much more to Stephen than that. |
Emma
My cousin Emma loves to sing, and together we are a songwriting duo known as Heidi & Lang. It’s quite a different process to the composing I do alone: We sit down at a piano, I doodle away at a simple musical idea, Emma spontaneously finds some words to sing, and gradually a song takes shape. The results have always surprised and delighted me.
I didn’t set out to compose Emma’s portrait. I just found myself playing it on the piano one night, and immediately the music made me think of her. She has an adventurous spirit, but she deeply values home and family. |
Sonata for Piano No.2: Portrait of Gary Priest
Prelude No.1
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The first movement remembers Gary in his element as a priest ‘At Church’, where he was fantastic at sharing the ‘joy of the Lord’ in the Anglican liturgy, and making sure that everyone present felt included in worshipping God. The second movement is a lilting pastorale, imagining Gary ‘In the Garden’, which is where he often had to be called from when I visited. Gary also loved to cook, so the third movement depicts him busy (and perhaps a bit messy) ‘In the Kitchen’. The final movement, ‘At the Dinner Table’, is inspired by Gary’s lively presence in company: animated, enthusiastic, and always quick to laugh.
Each of the movements is preceded by a Prelude, and all four preludes share the same musical theme. They were the first things I composed. Rather than portrait pieces, they are ‘remembrances’, more about us missing Gary than about him.
Gary was always very encouraging and supportive of my work as a composer, and he would laugh louder than anyone else in the audience at the various musical ‘jokes’ that have made their way into many of my compositions.
Each of the movements is preceded by a Prelude, and all four preludes share the same musical theme. They were the first things I composed. Rather than portrait pieces, they are ‘remembrances’, more about us missing Gary than about him.
Gary was always very encouraging and supportive of my work as a composer, and he would laugh louder than anyone else in the audience at the various musical ‘jokes’ that have made their way into many of my compositions.
Three Portraits of Elsabeth
Elsabeth is my wife, and these are three portraits I wrote as I got to know her. ‘Elsabeth in an Akubra’ was first sketched in Kuitpo Forest, when I was on a solo hike to pray about the prospect of marriage. ‘Elsabeth in a Wedding Dress’ began as a short trumpet solo, played by my friend Daniel, to signal the Arrival of the Bride at our wedding (April 2019). ‘Elsabeth in a Dressing Gown’ grew out of the first few bars of music I played on the piano once we arrived back from our honeymoon.
© David John Lang 2024
© David John Lang 2024
Special thanks to:
Elsabeth Lang – for many, many things, not least agreeing to be on the album yourself
Imogen Hebart – for the initial idea of musical portraiture
Robyn Priest – for the generous commission
Charles Newland – for tuning the piano, twice (sorry that it didn’t last)
Stephen Lang – for the cover artwork and caring so much
Jeremy Wright – for inadvertently providing the backup cover artwork (see above)
Mary-Ellen Parkinson – for photos and encouragements
Lucy & Eleanor Lang – for occasionally sleeping when we wanted to record
The DJL Composition Prayer Team – for many years of prayerful support
The LORD of hosts – for always answering their prayers (and ours)