ABSTRACT
This chapter examines a case-study of collaborative interactions between the author, a pianist, and two composers in the process of recording their works. The examination of Australian composing reveals many complex issues: the questions of national identity and sound, the influences of Indigenous and Asian music, and the scarcity of funding for new work commissions. In recent work, Hayden and Windsor suggest that three types of collaboration operate between composers and performers in music: directive, interactive, and collaborative. Gender and age differences between collaborators could have an effect on the quality of collaborations. Beath's Lament for Kosovo began as a work for a mandolin orchestra, and was later orchestrated and made into a piano solo piece, receiving many performances. The social and cultural influences affecting the formation of identity of composers and performers in classical music contrast to the collaborative music-making in jazz improvisations in that in the classical music genre composers and performers typically work alone.
