MS 9549
Papers of Andrew Ford (1957 )
Scope and Content Note
Creator: Andrew Ford (1957)
Title: Papers
Date range: 19782000
Reference number: MS 9549
Extent: 1.05m (1 box, 2 folio boxes, and 6 map drawer items)
Administrative Information
Access: Restricted until access determined.
Provenance: The collection was donated to the Library by Andrew Ford
under the Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme in February 2001.
The collection consists of three main categories: correspondence, Ford's
autograph scores and interviews with composers conducted by Ford.
The correspondence has primarily two concerns: Ford's compositions and
his book of interviews with composers, Composer to composer, published
in 1993. The scores make up the bulk of the collection, but represent only
about half of his output to date. The date range is 19812000, the
greatest number occurring in 1991, 199394 and 1999. The set of interviews
is also incomplete.
Most of the material dates from the 1980s and 1990s.
Organisation
The collection has been organised into 10 series by the Library.
The series containing scores are based on categories established in
The new Grove dictionary of music and musicians, 2nd edn.
Any system for categorising works will involve some overlap and blurring,
particularly when dealing with the music of twentieth-century composers, in
which genre distinctions tend to be less clear. Here, for example, there is
overlap between solo vocal and stage works; and the distinction between
orchestral and ensemble works is also unclear at times.
Arrangement
Within series 18 and 10 the order of the papers has been imposed
by the Library. Within series 9 original order has been maintained.
In the description for series 29, the author of texts/libretti is
indicated in parentheses and additional information given on scores re
dedications, commissions, etc. has been included in square brackets.
Occasionally other notes are given if the material is other than a complete
score. For list of abbreviations, see Appendix 1.
Related Material
The Library also holds monographs and many published scores by Ford. See
catalogue for details.
Biographical Note
Andrew Ford was born in 1957 in Liverpool, England and is a composer,
broadcaster and writer. Ford studied composition with Edward Cowie and John
Butler at the University of Lancaster. He was a fellow in Music, University of
Bradford, from 1978 until 1982, during which time he gained considerable
experience conducting campus choirs and orchestras. In 1982 his
Portraits for piano won the Yorkshire Young Arts Composers' Award.
Ford came to Australia in 1983, and was on staff of the Faculty of
Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong for the next 12 years. He was
composer in residence at the Sydney Opera House in 1985, with Evos, WA, in
1991, and with the Australian Chamber Orchestra from 1992 to 1994; and was the
Peggy Glanville-Hicks Fellow in Composition from 1998 to 2000. Ford has also
appeared as a conductor of contemporary ensembles.
Ford has composed for specific performers, such as tenor Gerald English
and pianist Lisa Moore, and has received many commissions for works, both
within Australia and internationally. He writes in a wide range of genres for
concert hall, theatre and radio. Unusual in his output are his operas for young
performers (The world knot, 198788 and The piper's
promise (198687).
Ford's music has been performed in Australia, North and South America,
Southeast Asia and Europe and has featured at international festivals in Aspen,
Houston, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Huddersfield, Ferrara, Istanbul, Seoul and
Salzburg. In 1998 he won the Marienberg-Sydney Spring award for the most
outstanding original work of that year's Sydney Spring Festival of New Music,
and more than 30 of his works have been commercially recorded.
In 1995, Ford left his academic post to pursue broadcasting with the
ABC. His 10-part series Illegal harmonies was broadcast in 1997 by ABC
Classic FM and later on Radio National. The book Illegal harmonies: music
in the 20th century (1997) resulted from the series. Dots on
the landscape was jointly commissioned by ABC Classic FM and Radio
National and was broadcast in 2001. Ford won Sounds Australia Awards for his
broadcasts on music in 1989 and 1990.
Ford has reviewed CDs for 24 hours since 1990 and his book
Composer to composer: conversations about contemporary music was
published in 1993. In 1998 he won the Geraldine Pascall prize for critical
writing.
References:
McCallum, Peter, 'Ford, Andrew', The new Grove dictionary of music
and musicians, Stanley Sadie (ed.), 2nd edn., vol. 9, p.
86.
'Ford, Andrew', The Oxford companion to Australian music,
edited by Warren Bebbington, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1997, p.
225.
Andrew Ford Home Page <http://www.andrewford.net.au>
Series List
Series / Title
1 Correspondence, 19782000
2 Stage works, 19871999
3 Orchestral works, 19901999
4 Ensemble works, 19911998
5 24 instrument works, 19852000
6 Solo instrument works, 19811995
7 Choral works, 19911992
8 Solo vocal works, 19841997
9 Sketches, 19822000 [mostly undated]
10 Interviews with composers, ca 19921993
Series Description
Series 1 Correspondence, 19782000
All correspondence has been left in original order, although there does
not appear to be any particular sequence to the letters. The order of folders
was imposed by the Library. The form of correspondence varies, including cards,
postcards, letters and faxes.
A large proportion of the letters in folders 1 and 2 are in connection
with Andrew Ford's book of interviews with composers, Composer to composer:
conversations about contemporary music, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1993.
Thus the majority of letters are in the early 1990s. Major correspondents
include: Leanne Bear, Elliott Carter, Brian Ferneyhough (also letter to
Ferneyhough from Ford), Alexander Goehr, Oliver Knussen, Vincent Plush, Paul
Robinson and Peter Sculthorpe.
The remainder of the correspondence includes letters from performers,
composers, poets, recording and broadcasting firms and covers subjects such as
copyright, commissions, and performances as well as books and broadcasts by
Ford. Most of the letters are written to Ford, but there are also about a dozen
from Ford. Although the date range is 19781998, the bulk of the
correspondence is in the 1980s. Major correspondents include: Sebastian Barker,
Henri Bok, Adrian Jack (Institute of Contemporary Arts), Lisa Moore, Stephen
Plaistow (BBC), Craig Raine (Faber and Faber), Christopher Reid and Harry
Sparnaay.
Folder
1-2 Letters from composers, 1981-2000
3 Correspondence, 1978-1998
4 Letters from Maria Blakey to Andrew Ford, 1991
Series 2 Stage works, 19871999
Piece
1 The world knot, (children's opera, Devlin), 1987-88 [stage
directions, chorus text, few lines of script], 2 pgs
2 Whispers, (music theatre, Rodney Hall), 1990 [score and
text]
3 Casanova confined, (Margaret Morgan), B, tape, 1995
4 Night and dreams the death of Sigmund Freud, (Margaret
Morgan), T, tape, 1999
Series 3 Orchestral works, 19901999
This series includes works for chamber and string orchestra. Pieces
47 were brought together by Ford to form the movements of Manhattan
epiphanes as follows:
i Motherwell at the Guggenheim
ii Rothko I
iii Utopia parkway: 13 cornell boxes
iv Rothko II
v Blue poles (the score of which is not included in the collection)
Rothko I, Rothko II and Utopia parkway were earlier
performed individually (1994) and all movements may be performed separately.
The scores are listed here according to the titles and dates on the manuscripts
themselves.
Piece
1 Imaginings, solo pf, concertino group (vib, cel, hp, elec
org), orch, 1990-91 [sketch]
2 The widening gyre, 2 vn, vc, chbr orch, 1993
3 The great memory, vc, orch, 1994 [dedicated to Sue-Ellen
Paulsen]
4 Rothko I, 17 solo str, 1994 [to Ross Edwards, for his
50th birthday]
5 Rothko II, 17 solo str, 1994 [to Roger Smalley, for his
50th birthday]
6 Utopia parkway: 13 cornell boxes, 2 vn, va, vc, db, 1994 [for
Leigh Middenway and Robert Durie]
7 Manhattan epiphanes: 1. Motherwell at the Guggenheim, solo
vn, str orch, 1999 [to Richard Tognetti]
8 The furry dance, 1999 [to Leanne Bear and Tor Fromyhr]
Series 4 Ensemble works, 19911998
Piece
1 Pastoral, to Marcia Doheny and Nick Chapman, Commissioned by
the Tasmanian Symphony Chamber Players with funds from the Australia Council, 3
vn, 2 va, 2 vc, db, 1991 [score and sketches]
2 Dance maze, ens, 1996
3 The unquiet grave, va, ens, 1997-98 [to Patricia Pollett]
4 Icarus drowning, 2 cl, hp, perc, str qt, 1998 [to Penny Lomax
and Maureen Cooney]
5 Tattoo, 12 timp, 4 pf, 1998 [to Carl Vine]
Series 5 24 instrument works, 19852000
Piece
1 String quartet, 1985 [foil only, by Southern Printing
Services]
2 Alchemy, perc qt, 1991 [written for the members of Synergy
Percussion, 'to Margaret on our 7th wedding anniversary']
3 Aubade for Alice, fl, vib, 1993
4 Getting blue, a sax, vib, 1993 [for Cesca]
5 Jouissance, 2 trpt, vib, 1993 [to Geny, at 40]
6 Mondriaan, fl, 3 perc, 1993 [for Kathleen Gallagher and Sue
Dennis] [mvts I, III, IV]
7 Four winds, sax qt, [sketch] [1984, revised 1999]
8 Estampie, (anon. 13th century English, arr. A.
Ford), cl, drum, 1999
9 Hymn to the sun, cl, celesta, hp, 1999 [in memoriam Peggy
Glanville-Hicks / after Mesamedes of Crete (c.A.D. 130)]
10 Winterreise, 4 sleigh bells, 2000 [to Peter Neville]
Series 6 Solo instrument works, 19811995
Piece
1 Composition in blue, gray and pink, solo perc version of
2nd mvt from Mondriaan, for Sue Dennis, 19?
2 Portraits, pf, 1981 [I to George and Topsy Preen; II
to Janet; III to Linda] [foils only, no title page]
3 Like Icarus ascending, vn, 1984
4 Clarion, a cl, 1990 [to Harry Sparnaay]
5 At a slight angle ..., b cl, 1991 [for Bronwen to
Margaret]
6 ... les débris d'un rêve, pic, 1993
7 Becalmed, b fl, 1993 [to Laura Chislett]
8 Memorial, vc, 1994 [to Belinda Webster]
9 Rough magic, hp, 1996 [In memoriam Igor Stravinsky
(18821971)]
10 Dark side, db, 1995, rev. 1998 [to Nigel Butterley, on his
60th birthday] [photocopy of original version, other version,
sketches, all three undated, date from The new Grove]
Series 7 Choral works , 19911992
Piece
1 A mermaid [text], 2 pgs [Maria Blakey's writing on front, [part?] of
libretto for The laughter of mermaids, (M. Blakey), SSATBarB,
1991]
2 Laughter of mermaids, (M. Blakey), SSATBarB, 1991
3 In somnia, T, SATB, ens, 1992 [to Richard Meale, at 60]
[Commissioned by Sydney Philharmonia with financial assistance from Performing
Arts Board of Australia Council]
Series 8 Solo vocal works, 19841997
See also Series 2 for stage works.
Piece
1 A terrible whiteness, Mez, pf, 1984 [to Elizabeth Smart]
2 Epithalamium, (W. Shakespeare), T, vn, bell, 1991 [to Susie
and Richard]
3 Epithalamium, (W. Shakespeare), Mez, str qt, 1998 [for Anne
Sofie von Otter and the Brodsky Quartet]
4 Harbour, song cycle, (Margaret Morgan), T, 17 solo str,
tubular bell, 1992
5 A salt girl, (Onakatomi no Yoshinobu, trans. Kenneth
Rexroth), high v, pf, 1994
6 Dutch Uncle, (Christopher Reid), T, hp, Oct 1995 [no.6 of
?]
7 The past, Ct, fl, str, didgeridoo, 1997
Series 9 Sketches, 19822000
Where sketches were together with complete scores, they have been kept
with the scores. The sketches have been kept in original order, even when there
is a complete score for a work in another series. Thus there are two packets of
sketches and three individual sketches.
Pieces within the two packets have not been individually numbered. Most
sketches are undated.
Packet
1 Dark side [two unlabelled pages] The very end of
harvest, 2000 Rothko [1 unlabelled page]
Gloucestershire wassail This endris night [reverse of
Gloucestershire wassail] [unlabelled pages, numbered 4748,
5152] Harbour [2 unlabelled pages] Ringing the
changes Imaginings, 2nd movt. Joseph Lieber (The
song of the cub) The boar's head carol, 1989 [reverse of
Joseph Lieber] Seven Australian birds discover the music of
the twentieth century Season Song II [reverse of Seven
Australian birds] Corpus Christi carol Susanni [reverse
of Corpus Christi carol] The laughter of mermaids
In the bleak mid-winter The furry dance
2 III. Female nude Dark side Four winds
Composition in blue, grey and pink Winterreise
3 Season song, SATBarB,1982 [sketch]
4 Volition, voices, bs cl, wd blks, marimba [sketch]
5 [sketch numbered 1-6], 2 pgs, 1 Feb 1994
Series 10 Interviews with composers, ca
19921993
This series consists of interviews with composers conducted by Andrew
Ford, primarily for his book, Composer to composer: conversations about
contemporary music, (Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1993). Seventeen of the
composers interviewed appear in the book, which includes 30 composers (Knussen
and Kueris are not included). Since they were not intended for broadcast, the
interviews are often informal in style and most of them simply start without
any preamble, title or date information. Unless otherwise stated, interviews
are on 90 minute cassettes (although they may not use the whole tape). The
sound quality of the recordings is good.
See also series 1/12 for correspondence with composers concerning
the book.
Cassettes:
1 Bennett, Richard Rodney (1)
2 Boulez, Pierre (1) and (2) [60 min. cassette]
3 Boulez, Pierre (3) [60 min. cassette. Side B is a recording of
something else, perhaps a panel discussion. Speakers have not been
identified.]
4 Butterley, Nigel (3)
5 Cage, John
6 Carter, Elliott
7 Conyngham, Barry
8 Donatoni, Franco
9 Goehr, Alexander
10 Henderson, Moya
11 Knussen, Oliver (1)
12 Knussen, Oliver (2)
13 Kueris, [?]
14 Lim, Liza
15 Nyman, Michael
16 Reich, Steve
17 Ruders, Poul
18 Saariaho, Kaija
19 Sculthorpe, Peter [interview for Mainstream]
20 Stockhausen, Karlheinz
21 Tavener, John
Appendix 1
Abbreviations:
a alto [instrument]
A alto [voice]
arr. arranged
b bass [instrument]
B bass [voice]
Bar baritone [voice]
chbr chamber
cel celeste
cl clarinet
Ct counter tenor
db double bass
elec electric
ens ensemble
fl flute
hp harp
Mez mezzo soprano [voice]
orch orchestra
org organ
perc percussion
pf piano(forte)
pic piccolo
qt quartet
S soprano
sax saxophone
str string
T tenor [voice]
timp timpani
trans. translated
trpt trumpet
v voice
va viola
vc violoncello
vib vibraphone
vn violin
Box List
| Box |
Series |
Folder/Item |
| 1 |
1 |
folders 14 |
| |
10 |
cassettes 121 |
Folio Box List
| Box |
Series |
Piece/Packet |
| 1 |
2 |
14 |
| |
3 |
12, 47 |
| |
4 |
12, 45 |
| |
5 |
110 |
| |
6 |
12, 410 |
| 2 |
7 |
13 |
| |
8 |
17 |
| |
9 |
12, 5 |
Map Drawer Items
| Series |
Piece |
| 3 |
3 |
| 3 |
8 |
| 4 |
3 |
| 6 |
3 |
| 9 |
3 |
| 9 |
4 |
June 2001 |