Peter Sculthorpe

Love Song

This work, in its original form, was commissioned by the Darwin Internation Guitar Festival. It was first performed by the Darwin Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Martin Jarvis, with John Williams, soloist, on 12 July 1997. The present arrangement was made especially for Slava Grigoryan and members of the Goldner Quartet. Love Song is a calm, straightforward work, filled with thoughts of friends and friendly places. Its music grows from the falling intervals played by the guitar at the outset. In one movement, the work consists of five sections. Forming an arch, the first section is expanded in the last, and the second section is mirrored in the fourth; the third section, at the centre, acts as an interlude. Unlike much of my music, the work does not set out to evoke a particular landscape. On the other hand, while writing it I was inspired by the thought that it would receive its first performance out –of-doors, its gentle harmonies drifting in tropical evening air. Peter Sculthorpe