Lima Lagu, a work for one to three recorders, sees Farr exploring the use of Indonesian scales.
The first movement, Lagu Satu, is a simple and sweet tune for solo recorder. The pace quickens in the fun second movement, Lagu Dua, with two performers providing accompaniment in the form of interlocking hand-clapped rhythms while the solo player's melodic line traces around a mode resembling a stripped-back minor scale. A dark playfulness permeates Lagu Tiga – the pitches that constitute its near-constant semiquaver pulse shift between static and undulating, while dancing above them are the movement's lively theme and blasts of unpredictable, squeaking accents that are passed between the two players. The idyllic Lagu Empat features a sweet cantabile melodic line, supported by an interlocking pair of semiquaver patterns. Rounding out the work is the mysterious Lagu Lima, an odd-metered canon for three players.
Lima Lagu was written in 1992 when I was just discovering the beautiful world of Indonesian gamelan, the traditional percussion orchestra of Indonesia.
Initially, I joined the Javanese gamelan group at Victoria University of Wellington. Before long, its textures, sonorities and melodic patterns started influencing my compositions. After a trip to Java and Bali, I discovered the profoundly contrasting sound of the Balinese gamelan, with its bold contrasts, explosive dynamics, and complex interlocking rhythms. Lima Lagu is a representation of what was fascinating to me in those early years of discovery and is primarily an exploration of the scales and melodies of Java, combined with the rhythms and techniques of Bali.
Lima Lagu simply means "five songs". Four of the five movements explore a different five-note subset of the full seven-note Javanese scale. The first movement, Lagu Satu, uses the four-note Balinese angklung scale, which I was exposed to in my first experiences with Balinese gamelan in the United States.
Twenty-seven years later, I own a full set of Balinese Gamelan Gong Kebyar instruments with the five-note Balinese pelog tuning. It is quite fascinating to revisit this early piece of mine – such an honest representation of a curious mind, and a compositional style in its early stages of development.
