The Bells of Nyx
Downloadable formats: MP3 (4.3 mb). Headphones are advised as the recording is quiet.
Awarded First Place and the Canberra Audience Choice Prize in the 2011 National Carillon Composition Competition.
Composed by Leonard Weiss and played by the Carillon Association of Australia President Lyn Fuller.
Leonard Weiss is a first-year composition student at the Australian National University. He has been composing for around six years with some of his previously performed compositions including Synergy, a duet for an electro-acoustic and acoustic harp; Fugue in C Minor, a five voice Baroque style Fugue for organ and Electric Toast, a piece written as the advertising music for the Z-26 Musical Tesla Coil.
Leonard’s primary instrument is the harp. He also sings and plays the french horn, trumpet, tubular bells and several other instruments - in fact any instrument he can get his hands on. He has also conducted small and large orchestras; his last performance being The Lark Ascending with the Maruki Community Orchestra which performed at the Albert Hall, Canberra.
(Excerpt from the Carillon Competition concert program)
Prizes Awarded
The Bells of Nyx was awarded First Place - "The NCA Chairman's Award" - in the competition. After the première I was also awarded the Canberra Audience Choice Prize - "The Wesley Music Foundation ACT Award."
News and Publicity
Winning the competition has given me the opportunity to be interviewed by The Chronicle for their November 15th issue and The Canberra Times for their November 19th issue, as well as being featured in news articles by The Australian National University and Canberra Grammar School. The articles are below (click on each for a larger version):
About The Competition
The National Carillon Competition was held in 2011 by the Carillon Society of Australia and the Wesley Music Foundation, and was aimed at ANU and USyd students studying or interested in composition. 20 entries were received - 6 from Canberra and 14 from Sydney - with the support of Jim Cotter and Matthew Hindson, Heads of Composition at the respetive universities. More information on the competition.
For me, this was an excellent opportunity to compose for and play Canberra's iconic National Carillon for the first time, and also work with the Carillon Society of Australia's President, Lyn Fuller.
About The Carillon
I have only had the opportunity to play on Canberra's National Carillon, which has 55 bells ranging from low G (1.5 octaves below middle C) chromatically up to high D (two-and-a-bit octaves above middle C), with the exception of low G#.
As I am vaguely used to playing the Organ I could adapt to the Carillon's pedals quite easily, though playing with fists was very different. Of its musical features, I found that the resonance and intonation was unlike any other insturment that I have heard, which made this competition a truly unique experience.