Michael Barkl Explained

Michael Laurence Gordon Barkl 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,, 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 economic and cultural contexts 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] [9]

Music

Barkl's music exhibits a combination of influences from European styled modernism to jazz.[25] [26] An early work, Rota (1981) for piano trio, is clearly influenced by twentieth century Italian music, specifically Franco Donatoni.[27] Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was awarded segnalata in the 1981 International Valentino Bucchi Composition Competition.[28] 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.[29] [30] Drumming (1983) was characterised as "an exciting piano piece", "bring[ing] together Indian tabla drumming with jazz pianism",[31] 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".[32] 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[33] [34] until a complete change emerged with a series of lengthy electronic works composed using the open source patching language Pure Data.[35] 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".[36]

Selected works

Orchestral

Ensemble

Chamber music

Piano

Choral

Vocal

Concert band

Music theatre

Electronic

External links

Notes and References

  1. Bebbington, W. 1997. Barkl, Michael Laurence Gordon. In The Oxford Companion to Australian Music (ed. Warren Bebbington). Melbourne, OUP:48.
  2. Web site: Jimi Hendrix fan becomes a music education pioneer at TAFE Illawarra . www.illawarramercury.com.au . 10 June 2018. 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. Web site: Michael Barkl : Represented Artist Profile : Australian Music Centre . www.australianmusiccentre.com.au . 19 June 2019.
  7. Web site: Red House Editions COMPOSER BIOGS#1 . www.redhouse.com.au . 20 June 2019.
  8. Web site: Musician Michael Barkl receives OAM honour . www.goulburnpost.com.au . 10 June 2018. 19 June 2019.
  9. Web site: Media Notes - OAM (A - E) . www.gg.gov.au . 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]
  12. [Malcolm Williamson]
  13. Etwas ruhiger im Ausdruck: Franco Donatoni’s Crisis. Beau Bassin, LAP, 2018.
  14. Vertigo: Riccardo Formosa’s Composition Technique. Saarbrücken, LAP, 2010.
  15. Composition, Perception, Analysis: The Musical Observer. Saarbrücken, LAP, 2010.
  16. Music in Mind: Three Hundred and Forty-One Aphorisms. Beau Bassin, LAP, 2017.
  17. Composition: Pure Data as a Meta-Compositional Instrument. Köln, LAP, 2009.
  18. Pure Data as a Meta-Compositional Instrument: Compositions Volume 1. Beau Bassin, LAP, 2018.
  19. Pure Data as a Meta-Compositional Instrument: Compositions Volume 2. Beau Bassin, LAP, 2018.
  20. Creating Original Music: a harmonic approach. Saarbrücken, LAP 2009.
  21. Analysing Harmony: The Great American Songbook. Köln, LAP, 2009.
  22. Constructing a Jazz Solo: an Approach for Non-Jazz Musicians. Saarbrücken, LAP, 2010.
  23. The First Rule of Show Business: An Exegesis. Beau Bassin, LAP, 2018.
  24. Web site: Michael Barkl OAM | AMEB . www.ameb.nsw.edu.au . 26 August 2019.
  25. Dench, C. & I. Shanahan (eds). 1995. Michael Barkl. In An emotional geography of Australian composition II. Sounds Australian, no.46, Winter:11.
  26. Sitsky, L. 2011. Australian Chamber Music with Piano, Canberra, ANU Press.
  27. Bebbington, W. 1998. Barkl, Michael Laurence Gordon. In A Dictionary of Australian Music (ed. W. Bebbington). Melbourne, OUP.
  28. Web site: Premio Valentino Bucchi . www.premiobucchi.it . 19 June 2019.
  29. Toop, R. 1984. Top youth at play. 24 Hours, December, vol.9, no.11
  30. Murdoch, J. 1983. Michael Barkl. In A Handbook of Australian Music, Melbourne, Sun Books.
  31. Sitsky, Larry. 2005. Australian Piano Music of the Twentieth Century, Westport, Greenwood Publishing Group, .
  32. Covell, R. 1985. Contemporary seeks companions. Sydney Morning Herald, 22 July.
  33. McCallum, P. 1989. Score workshop produced a gem. Sydney Morning Herald, 14 December.
  34. Vernon, C. 1996. The cosmos and the details: an interview with Dr Michael Barkl. Images, February, vol.8:5.
  35. Composition : Pure data as a meta-compositional instrument . University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016 . January 2009. 19 June 2019. Barkl. Michael.
  36. Web site: Award Extract . honours.pmc.gov.au . 19 June 2019.

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