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Peter Sculthorpe Third Sonata for Strings >Jabiru Dreaming= (1994) I Deciso II Liberamente - Estatico Programme note Following a visit to Kakadu National Park in 1989, the indigenous music of northern Australia, together with those of Torres Strait and Indonesia, began to fuse in my mind. I have since written a number of works in which these musics have been incorporated into my musical language. My String Quartet No 11 is one of these works, and the Third Sonata for Strings is based upon it. In two movements, the first, marked Deciso, contains rhythmic patterns found in the tribal music of the Kakadu area. Some of these patterns also suggest the gait of the jabiru, a species of stork. The second movement, marked Estatico, stems from my belief that Australia is one of the few places on earth where one may honestly write straight-forward, happy music. While both movements employ similar subsidiary material, the second movement takes an Aboriginal chant as its point of departure. This chant was transcribed by a member of the Baudin exploratory expedition in 1802. The subtitle, >Jabiru Dreaming= takes its name from a rock formation in the National park. This rock is regarded as sacred, but there is nothing forbidding about it: on the contrary, it seems to beckon and welcome. Peter Sculthorpe