Broadstock, Brenton, (Thomas)
Broadstock, Brenton, (Thomas)
Broadstock, Brenton, (Thomas), Australian composer and teacher; b. Melbourne, Dec. 12, 1952. He studied at Monash Univ. (B.A., 1976), Memphis (Tenn.) State Univ. (M.M., 1980), the Univ. of Sydney (with Sculthorpe; postgraduate composition diploma, 1981), Trinity Coll. in London (A.Mus., 1981), and the Univ. of Melbourne (D.Mus., 1989). In 1988 he served as the first composer-in-residence of the Melbourne Sym. Orch. and in 1989 joined the faculty of the Univ. of Melbourne. He publ, the vol. Sound Ideas: Australian Composers born since 1950 (Sydney, 1995). In 1994 he received the Paul Lowin Song Cycle Prize and in 1999 the Don Banks Award. In his music, Broadstock follows a stylistically diverse course frequently marked by adventuresome harmonies, dense and complex textures, and aleatorie structures. In his opera Fahrenheit 451 (1992), he explores the potentials of electronic sound. He also reveals a deep social consciousness in such scores as his first 3 syms.: No 1, Toward the Shining Light (1988), was prompted by the severe mental and physical handicaps of his first-born son; No. 2, Stars in a Dark Night (1989), was inspired by the letters of Ivor Gurney; and No. 3, Voices from the Fire (1991), was his coming to terms with genocide.
Works
DRAMATIC: Fahrenheit 451, opera (1992); That Eye the Sky, film score (1993). orch.:Festive Overture (1981); The Mountain (1984); Expedition for Strings (1985); Aurora Aus-tralis (1985); Tuba Concerto (1985); Battlements (1986); Piano Concerto (1987); 5 syms.: No. 1, Toward the Shining Light (Melbourne, May 21, 1988), No. 2, Stars in a Dark Night (Melbourne, Nov. 11, 1989), No. 3, Voices from the Fire (1991; Melbourne, July 2, 1992), No. 4 (Melbourne, July 1995), and No. 5 (Krasnoyarsk, May 1999); Nearer and Farther for Horn and Strings (1991); In a Brilliant Blaze for Chamber Orch. (1993). brass band: Si. Aelred, rhapsody (1981); Click, festival march (1982); Rutherford Variations (1990). chamber: 4 string quartets (n.d., 1981, n.d., 1990); Aureole 1 for Flute and Piano (1982), 2 for Bass Clarinet (1983), 3 for Oboe and Piano (1984), and 4 for Piano (1984); Beast from Air for Trombone and Percussion (1985); Wind Quartet, Down the Emperor’s Road (1986); And No Birds Sing for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Piano, and Percussion (1987); In Chains for Alto Flute and Guitar (1990); Deserts Bloom...Lakes Die for Wind Octet and Double Bass (1990); Pennscapes for Clarinet, Viola, Cello, and Piano (1994); Celebration for Flute, Clarinet, Piano, 2 Violins, Viola, and Cello (1994–95). piano:In the Silence of Night (1989); Giants in the Land (1991; also for Organ). vocal:Eheu Fugaces for Soprano, Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Piano, and Percussion (1981); Bright Tracks for Soprano and String Trio (1994).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire