Michael Barkl

Michael Laurence Gordon Barkl OAM (born 9 August 1958) is an Australian composer and musicologist.

Biography

Michael Barkl was born in Sydney, New South Wales in 1958 into a musical family.[1] He learnt classical piano from the age of seven, later becoming obsessed with the electric guitar after hearing the album Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsys as a teenager.[2] From rock guitar he expanded his interests into jazz guitar, and then into bass guitar and double bass.[3] At the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music he initially studied jazz improvisation with Roger Frampton, and followed this with degree studies in composition with Vincent Plush, Martin Wesley-Smith, Warren Burt, Ross Edwards, Don Banks and Graham Hair.[4] Postgraduate studies in composition and musicology were with Ann Ghandar, Gerald Florian Messner, Richard Toop and Greg Schiemer.[5] He graduated with a master's degree in composition (University of New England (Australia)) and doctorates in musicology (Deakin University) and electronic music (University of Wollongong).[6]

After working as a freelance bass player, Barkl joined TAFE NSW in 1987 as foundation head of its contemporary music section.[7][8][9] During this time he contributed a series of biographies of Australian composers to The Oxford Companion to Australian Music, A Dictionary of Australian Music, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.[10][11][12] Further publications documented the compositional techniques of Franco Donatoni[13] and Riccardo Formosa,[14] explored aspects of the cultural context of music composition,[15][16] and described the process of electronic music composition using the program Pure Data;[17][18][19] he also published educational texts on composition,[20] harmonic analysis[21] and improvisation,[22] and a volume of memoirs.[23] From 1997 Barkl was foundation Adviser (later, Chief Examiner) of Contemporary Popular Music for the Australian Music Examinations Board.[24][25]

Music

Barkl's music exhibits a combination of influences from European styled modernism to jazz.[26][27] An early work, Rota (1981) for piano trio, is clearly influenced by twentieth century Italian music, specifically Franco Donatoni.[28] Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was awarded segnalata in the 1981 International Valentino Bucchi Composition Competition.[29] A pair of subsequent orchestral works, Voce di testa (1981) and Voce di petto (1982), while maintaining the Italian association through their titles, added more jazz influence, however slight.[30][31] Drumming (1983) was characterised as "an exciting piano piece", "bring[ing] together Indian tabla drumming with jazz pianism",[32] while Ballade (1984) for six instruments, structured as a reverie interrupting a café piano solo, brought Barkl to the attention of the critics, Roger Covell describing him "one of the most musical of younger Australian composers".[33] Subsequent works, such as Cabaret for orchestra, Blues for bass clarinet and percussion (based on a Charlie Parker riff), Disco for percussion quartet, Red for recorder (based on Jimi Hendrix’s Red House) and Smoky for harpsichord, developed Barkl’s jazz-inspired instrumental style[34][35] until a complete change emerged with a series of lengthy electronic works composed using the open source patching language Pure Data.[36] These used large banks of computer generated oscillators to build thick textures of sine waves, saturating the aural space.

Honours

Michael Barkl was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours (Australia) for "service to the performing arts and music education".[37]

Selected Works

Orchestral
  • Voce di testa, 1981
  • Voce di petto, 1982
  • Iambus, 1982
  • Cabaret, 1985
  • Rondo, 1986

Ensemble
  • Ballade for six instruments, 1984
  • The laird of Drumblair for seven instruments, 1987
  • Disco for four percussion and electronics, 1990

Chamber music
  • Night Words for viola and piano, 1977
  • Music for two trumpets and tape, 1978
  • Rota for piano trio, 1981
  • Expressive and ferocious for string quartet, 1985
  • Blues for bass clarinet and percussion, 1986
  • Vamp for guitar, 1988
  • Red for descant recorder, 1996
  • Smoky for harpsichord, 1997
  • Coming Out, Fanfare for viola and double bass, 1998
  • Here… for clarinet, piano and cello, 2008

Piano
  • Jazz music, 1979
  • Jazz music II for two pianos, 1979
  • Drumming, 1983
  • Five pieces, 1995

Choral
  • Water, where are you going? SATB, 1984

Vocal
  • Night words – the ravishing for mezzo-soprano and piano, 1977

Concert band
  • Backyard swing, 1986

Music theatre
  • The animals Noah forgot, 1988

Electronic
  • Rosalia, 1980
  • The paradox of Pythagoras: nos 1–27, 2007
  • Music of the spheres: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, 2007
  • Music of Grace: The heavy dark trees line the streets of summer, 2007
  • Music of Grace: The cat dances and the moon shines brightly, 2007
  • Music of Grace: The crystals in the cave absorb the light as if they have not seen it in a million years, 2008
gollark: I said "many", not "all".
gollark: The government throwing money at it will not make that better.
gollark: In many cases you just need to have *a degree* of some sort, even if it's completely pointless, because it shows... that you have the patience to do a thing for 4 years or something??
gollark: Or, well, are just short of it.
gollark: So you just have costs go up until they don't reach the limit!

References
  1. Bebbington, W. 1997. Barkl, Michael Laurence Gordon. In The Oxford Companion to Australian Music (ed. Warren Bebbington). Melbourne, OUP:48.
  2. https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/5455770/jimi-hendrix-fan-becomes-a-music-education-pioneer-at-tafe-illawarra/ Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  3. Saintilan, N., A. Schultz & P. Stanhope. 1996. Michael Barkl. In Biographical Directory of Australian Composers, Sydney, Australian Music Centre.
  4. Lee, S. 1995. Michael Barkl. In Sound Ideas (ed. Brenton Broadstock), Sydney, Sounds Australian:279–280.
  5. Broadstock, B. (ed.) 1995. Michael Barkl. In Sound Ideas (ed. Brenton Broadstock). Sydney, Sounds Australian:48–49.
  6. https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/barkl-michael Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  7. http://www.redhouse.com.au/editions/Biog1.html Retrieved 20 June, 2019.
  8. https://www.goulburnpost.com.au/story/5457324/musician-michael-barkl-receives-oam-honour/ Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  9. https://www.gg.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/honours/qb/qb2018/pen_xc83F/Media%20Notes%20-%20OAM%20(A%20-%20E).pdf Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  10. The Oxford Companion to Australian Music (ed. Warren Bebbington). Melbourne: OUP, 1997. Also published in A Dictionary of Australian Music (ed. Warren Bebbington). Melbourne: OUP, 1998.
  11. Nigel Butterley, Mary Finsterer, Barry Conyngham, Malcolm Williamson. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (ed. Stanley Sadie). London: Macmillan, 2000.
  12. Malcolm Williamson. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ed Lawrence Goldman). Oxford: OUP, 2006.
  13. Etwas ruhiger im Ausdruck: Franco Donatoni’s Crisis. Beau Bassin, LAP, 2018. ISBN 978-613-9-90170-8
  14. Vertigo: Riccardo Formosa’s Composition Technique. Saarbrücken, LAP, 2010. ISBN 978-3-8383-3074-7
  15. Composition, Perception, Analysis: The Musical Observer. Saarbrücken, LAP, 2010. ISBN 978-3-8383-6501-5
  16. Music in Mind: Three Hundred and Forty-One Aphorisms. Beau Bassin, LAP, 2017. ISBN 978-620-2-07987-7
  17. Composition: Pure Data as a Meta-Compositional Instrument. Köln, LAP, 2009. ISBN 978-3-8383-1647-5
  18. Pure Data as a Meta-Compositional Instrument: Compositions Volume 1. Beau Bassin, LAP, 2018. ISBN 978-3-659-88634-8
  19. Pure Data as a Meta-Compositional Instrument: Compositions Volume 2. Beau Bassin, LAP, 2018. ISBN 978-3-659-96899-0
  20. Creating Original Music: a harmonic approach. Saarbrücken, LAP 2009. ISBN 978-3-8383-2716-7
  21. Analysing Harmony: The Great American Songbook. Köln, LAP, 2009. ISBN 978-3-8383-23992
  22. Constructing a Jazz Solo: an Approach for Non-Jazz Musicians. Saarbrücken, LAP, 2010. ISBN 978-3-8383-5082-0
  23. The First Rule of Show Business: An Exegesis. Beau Bassin, LAP, 2018. ISBN 978-3-659-71818-2
  24. https://www.ameb.nsw.edu.au/michael-barkl-oam Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  25. https://www.gg.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/honours/qb/qb2018/pen_xc83F/Media%20Notes%20-%20OAM%20(A%20-%20E).pdf Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  26. Dench, C. & I. Shanahan (eds). 1995. Michael Barkl. In An emotional geography of Australian composition II. Sounds Australian, no.46, Winter:11.
  27. Sitsky, L. 2011. Australian Chamber Music with Piano, Canberra, ANU Press. ISBN 9781921862403
  28. Bebbington, W. 1998. Barkl, Michael Laurence Gordon. In A Dictionary of Australian Music (ed. W. Bebbington). Melbourne, OUP.
  29. http://www.premiobucchi.it/ Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  30. Toop, R. 1984. Top youth at play. 24 Hours, December, vol.9, no.11
  31. Murdoch, J. 1983. Michael Barkl. In A Handbook of Australian Music, Melbourne, Sun Books.
  32. Sitsky, Larry. 2005. Australian Piano Music of the Twentieth Century, Westport, Greenwood Publishing Group, ISBN 0313322864.
  33. Covell, R. 1985. Contemporary seeks companions. Sydney Morning Herald, 22 July.
  34. McCallum, P. 1989. Score workshop produced a gem. Sydney Morning Herald, 14 December.
  35. Vernon, C. 1996. The cosmos and the details: an interview with Dr Michael Barkl. Images, February, vol.8:5.
  36. https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/794/ Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  37. https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/2001853 Retrieved 19 June 2019.
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