[Rhoderick John McNeill]

Dear MSA colleagues

I am writing to alert you to the release, today, of my new book entitled The Symphony in Australia 1960-2020.  Published by Routledge, this book follows on from my previous work The Australian Symphony from Federation to 1960 (Ashgate/Routledge 2014), thus completing a comprehensive survey of the form as treated by Australian composers from 1893 to the present.

This book is organised in 8 chapters.  First there is an account of the world-wide development of the symphony throughout the period 1960-2020 which forms the backdrop for the survey of the genre as it was taken up by composers based in Australia in the remaining chapters.  Chapters 2 and 3 cover symphonies of the period 1960-1980 which have tended to be overshadowed by the major achievements of Peter Sculthorpe, Richard Meale and Nigel Butterley of those years.  Chapter 4 considers the changes in musical fashions that emerged during the 1980s and the resurgence of the symphony in Australia.  Major symphonists Carl Vine, Brenton Broadstock and Ross Edwards and their works are considered chronologically in the central chapter five  of the book.   Three final chapters cover other significant composers who have composed symphonies since 1990 to the present.   Over 100 Australian works are discussed in this book which represents the first study of this repertoire.  I hope to show that Australian composers have made a significant contribution to the symphony that deserves proper recognition throughout the international classical music community in the form of performances and recordings.

Here is a link to the publisher and the book: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003108740/symphony-australia-1960%E2%80%932020-rhoderick-mcneill

I’m sure that this new book will be of interest to MSA members and hopefully, those at universities might like to order copies of the book for their institutional libraries as well as considering purchasing the book themselves.

I am affiliated with the University of Southern Queensland  (UniSQ) as an Honorary Professor.

With warm greetings to all, especially those who know of me and my work previously

Rhoderick McNeill

[Author]

Posts