Cambewarra (1980) 30’

Kelly Ground engages with the traditions of modernism and Australian history. Ruhe sanfte investigates the music of Bach. Cambewarra is Lumsdaine’s response to the natural world. In the six years since Ruhe Sanfte, several important changes occurred in the way that Lumsdaine composed, which makes Cambewarra a very different piece from Kelly Ground and Ruhe sanfte.

In 1978 Lumsdaine composed Mandala 3, which quotes Ruhe sanfte in its entirety, and also makes the reference to Bach explicit by transcribing the chorus for classical quintet. Although earlier pieces scrutinise their source materials, Mandala 3 is the first work to make a feature of Lumsdaine’s own self‑reflexivity. Part of the change in Lumsdaine’s approach which occurred during the late 1970s was his growing interest in Zen Buddhism. In an interview with Richard Toop which took place two years after the composition of Cambewarra, Lumsdaine said that ‘since Mandala 3 – when works have come, they have come as an incredibly serene fruit’ and this is a result of his Zen training.

The beginnings of both Kelly Ground and Ruhe sanfte are both strongly gestural, and their music is characterised by dramatic explorations of their respective topics. From Cambewarra’s first notes it is audible that this piece is different, as it places greater emphasis on the ‘thusness’, to use a Zen term, of the piece.

Cambewarra was conceived on 31 December 1978 at Cambewarra Mountain, located approximately 100 kilometres South of Sydney. Lumsdaine writes that ‘This place has been home from home for my family and myself whenever we’ve returned to Australia. Over the years I’ve made hundreds of recordings there at all season of the year. Its shapes and sounds have inspired much of my instrumental music, including Cambewarra and Shoalhaven.’ A decade after Cambewarra was composed, Lumsdaine made a series of recordings of this location, which are released on the disc Cambewarra Mountain.

Cambewarra the piano piece exhibits several of the characteristics of the ways in which field recordings of birdsong are structured. In producing soundscapes Lumsdaine aims for ‘the least distortion, in time and space, of the original events’. In order to maximise the ‘integrity’, as Lumsdaine understands it, of the places recorded, he has developed several rules. The first is to: ‘Retain seasonal and diurnal integrity’. This means that: ‘Although I've recorded at each of these locations on a number of occasions, the material for each soundscape is selected from at most three consecutive days and is edited in diurnal order.’ This editing procedure is made audible through abrupt changes of perspective. Whilst the recording location frequently remains static, the direction in which microphones are pointed is varied. The effect is to foreground what was previously background material and vice versa. Both the preservation of diurnal integrity and abrupt changes of perspective (manifest as changes in material) are found in the notated Cambewarra.

Cambewarra is cast in three movements, which are played continuously. In the score the second movement ends five bars after the third movement begins. Following Lumsdaine’s guideline for editing together recordings made on different days, but at the same time of day, the potential for overlap exists. This still ensures that diurnal cycles (those most rapidly changing) are preserved.

Cambewarra marks the beginning of a change in the role of birdsong in Lumsdaine’s own compositions. It was written at a time when Lumsdaine became more aware of the breadth of influence that birdsong has on his music.

© 2006 Michael Hooper