Our upcoming concert next Wednesday 4th April at 7pm with Helen Vidovich (flute), Sirius Chamber Ensemble will be performing two pieces by US composer Adrienne Albert arranged for flute, clarinet, cello and piano.
Lullaby for Four and Doppler Effect for flute, clarinet, cello and piano
American composer Adrienne Albert (1941 -‐) was born into a musical family and studied piano, violin and composition from an early age. As a mezzo‐soprano, Albert collaborated with some of the twentieth century’s most in<luential composers including Igor Stravinsky, Leonard Bernstein and Philip Glass. In the 1990s she began composing her own music, including major symphonic and choral works as well as a variety of more intimate chamber pieces. Adrienne Albert’s music has become widely known for its “melodic and lyrical beauty” as well as its “whimsy and playfulness”.
Albert has arranged and adapted much of her music for varying ensembles, with Doppler Effect being the premiere of her fourteenth arrangement of the work! Lullaby began life in 2007 as the middle movement of a chamber work for flute, violin, viola, cello and harp, but was extended and adapted as Lullaby for Three for flute, viola and harp in 2011. Tonight’s performance is the premiere of Albert’s new version, Lullaby for Four for flute, clarinet, cello and piano. Albert says of the work:
“Lullaby is a gentle song featuring the voices of the individual instruments. As my former musical life included being a singer, I ask myself if each musical line can be sung and if so, then it follows that it should sound good on an instrument. Although I wrote the notes, the shape and intention of the music can only come to life through the collaborative process of the musicians interpreting what I have written.”
Doppler Effect was originally composed for flute, viola and harp.
“The notion of writing a piece based on the <indings of an Austrian mathematician who observed the increase and decrease in the pitch of sound when the source and observer are getting closer or further apart came to me while traveling through Italy and hearing the myriad sirens passing by through the dense traffic. The motif descends by a minor second returning to the original harmony combined with the repeated minor seconds portraying the incessant sounds of car horns. The melodic lines portray the vibrancy and sensuality of the people in contrast to the craziness around them.”
© Adrienne Albert, http://www.adriennealbert.com
Tickets available through try booking and at the door.
$35 Adults / $25 Concession/ $15 Children (12 & under)
sirius chamber ensemble 
Absolutely loved hearing the new arrangements of Doppler Effect and Lullaby for four. Like hearing a beautiful story from an old friend just returned home for a short time, such joy!