Three Phrases

1. weird conjugations

2. punctuated by silence

3. a long unwieldy phrase enclosed by parentheses

Like most of the time when I’m writing, the title came first, kinda . . .

The Australian National Academy of Music had paired me up with Jack Overall as part of their ANAM Set commissioning project. In our first chat, a video call squeezed into a slightly chaotic week in early December 2023, we chatted about the usual things that tend to come up when starting on a new piece for someone: what’s your favourite rep, both to play and to listen to, what kinds of non-classical music do you like, any fave pop artists, etc. I posed a question that seemed to make Jack think for a moment: what are you as a player trying to work on? Amongst his response, in my notes I wrote “longer uninterrupted shapes”.

Back to the title. I’d had the phrase “a long unwieldy phrase enclosed by parentheses” in the note on my phone where I jot down ideas for quite a while – anyone that knows me well, or has had the distinct displeasure of trying to edit my writing, knows I love a long sentence, a complex structure stringing clause into clause and attempting to encase whole tangent thoughts better suited to a footnote into a parenthesis. So this as a title for something is very me, and it felt like it resonated with those ideas of longer uninterrupted shapes Jack and I had discussed.

Elsewhere in my note I had the phrases “weird conjugations” and “punctuated by silence”. Jack and I had thought a suite exploring different facets of an idea over a few movements might be a nice structure, so together these became the starting ideas for Three Phrases: each movement taking some facet of grammar and syntax as a metaphor, a jumping off point, exploring or attempting to create long shapes across complex or unusual structures and without (or in spite of-) interruption.

Music composed by Connor D'Netto

Performed by Jack Overall

Commissioned by the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) as part The ANAM Set 2024 and written for Jack Overall, with its world premiere during ANAM’s 2024 recital season at the Abbotsford Convent, Melbourne. 

The ANAM Set 2024 has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body and generously supported by the Anthony and Sharon Lee Foundation.

The ANAM Set 2024 was recorded in the Primrose Potter Salon, Melbourne Recital Centre by ABC Classic - Duncan Yardley, Producer and Russell Thompson, Audio Engineer. Performed by Jack Overall, cello.