Peter Sculthorpe
Born in Launceston, Tasmania in 1929 and passing away in 2014, Peter Sculthorpe was one of Australia's best-known composers and a fine pianist. Recordings of Sculthorpe's orchestral works and music for strings have won a number of Australian Record Industry Awards (ARIA).
Peter Sculthorpe was educated at Launceston Church Grammar School, at the University of Melbourne and at Wadham College, Oxford. He was composer-in-residence at Yale University while visiting the United States as a Harkness Fellow in 1966-67, and Visiting Professor at the University of Sussex in 1972-73. Appointed Reader in Music at the University of Sydney in the late Sixties, he is now Professor in Musical Composition (Personal Chair) at that university.
Sculthorpe was made an Officer of the British Empire in 1977, and in the same year was awarded a Silver Jubilee Medal. He has received the degree of Honorary Doctor of Letters from both the University of Tasmania (1980) and the University of Sussex (1989), and that of Honorary Doctor of Music from the University of Melbourne (1989). He became an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1990 and the following year was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. In 1994 he received the Sir Bernard Heinze Award for outstanding services to Australian music.
He has been the recipient of many awards and prizes for his music, including an Australian Film Industry (AFI) Award for best original film score (Manganinnie) in 1980, and the 1985 APRA Award for most performed Australian serious work (his Piano Concerto). Recordings of Sculthorpe's orchestral works and music for strings have won Australian Record Industry Awards for best classical music recording in 1991 and 1996.
He died in 2014, aged 85.
Peter Sculthorpe is featured on the following titles
Peter Sculthorpe
A retrospective compilation of some of the highlights of the music of the late Peter Sculthorpe. Many favourites are included.
Composer
Peter Sculthorpe: Piano Music
30 years of piano music by Peter Sculthorpe, one of Australia's finest composers. With exemplary performances by The Team of Pianists, Michael Hannan and Sculthorpe himself.
Performer: Piano
Composer
Compositions by Peter Sculthorpe also appear on
Flute Perspectives
Flautist Derek Jones, and pianist Leigh Harrold present this anthology of contemporary Australian Flute Music.
Composer
Midsummer's Night
Here begins an enchanted journey of magic, mischief, dreams, and romance - a fantastical world akin to that of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, with its capricious fairies casting love-spells over mortals lost in the woods at night.
Composer
Cosmosis
The album explores the many combinations throat singing can be presented with. Dean Frenkel has combined his throat singing with a 27 piece childrens choir, guitar and mandolin, with Australian birds, with contemporary piano, in duet with vibraphone, and with a female vocal duo in song format.
Performer: Piano
Composer
Dreamtracks
Music for clarinet by Australian composers. Celebrating Australia's landscape, its spirit, its music and its composers, 'Dreamtracks' documents some of the best contemporary Australian music written for solo clarinet and piano and a variety of unusual chamber music combinations.
Composer
20th Century Piano Trios
This CD by highly acclaimed Trio Melbourne features a stunning collection of 20th Century piano trios, including two never-before recorded pieces by Australian composers Sculthorpe and Yu.
Composer
Torquing Points
An exciting juxtaposition of 20th century Australian and 19th century European musical styles. Gordon Kerry's 'Torquing Points for String Quartet' and Mark Pollard's 'The Quick or the Dead' are approachable and lyrical pieces that fit well with this CD's classical works.
Composer
Night Thoughts
During the long still nights of the Covid pandemic, pianist Len Vorster, well-known as a thoughtful accompanist, spent most of his evenings listening to a wide array of music ranging from Schumann to Copland. He also spent a lot of time thinking about the music. These ruminations developed into the wide ranging, fascinating and beautiful program of 15 deep-rooted works.
Composer
Ringing The Strings
Melbourne's Concordia Mandolin and Guitar Orchestra present this new recording, including music by Sculthorpe, Faure and the ensemble's own Michelle Nelson.
Composer
Brolga Dances
This new disc from the Melbourne Mandolin Orchestra showcases contemporary Australian Music for Mandolin and Guitar.
Composer
Jewel
Australian gems for violin and piano. Jewel showcases the work of some of our finest composers including Peter Sculthorpe, Margaret Sutherland, Don Banks and Vincent Plush.
Composer
Pianists of Excellence
The Team of Pianists has achieved acclaim throughout Europe and Australia for their vitality and freshness in technique. Features solo, duo and two piano works Haydn, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Brahms and Sculthorpe.
