ABSTRACT
The 19 symphonies of Carl Vine, Brenton Broadstock and Ross Edwards represent the strongest evidence of the symphony as a major form within recent Australian orchestral music. These works are considered chronologically in this chapter. Carl Vine’s eight symphonies (1986–2018) are all concise multi-sectional, one-movement works that represent a wide range of symphonic expression: from powerful motoric energy to languorous neo-romanticism. Brenton Broadstock’s six symphonies (1988–2009) are more rough-hewn. With the exception of the two-movement Symphony No.5 ‘Dark Side’, Broadstock works within a variety of continuous, largely monothematic, one-movement structures. His range of expression is possibly the widest of the three composers from the confronting violence of Symphonies No.2 and No.3, the radiant ecstasy of the fast section in Symphony No.6 through to the wistful long melodic lines of the slow music in Symphonies Nos.1, 4 and 5. Ross Edwards uses the symphony to project his ecological spirituality. The five symphonies (1991–2005) explore various manifestations of his ‘sacred’ and his dance-like ‘Maninya’ styles, with a limited number of compositional fingerprints forming his modal musical language. All three composers have their own idiosyncratic approach to being ‘symphonic’ with no evidence of traditional sonata form thinking.
