le parfum de l’eucalyptus

French and (new) Australian music for piano duo
Brothers Alistair Noble and Colin Noble in concert at the Piano mill

3.30pm - 5.00pm AEST
Saturday 31 August 2024
The Piano Mill

Part One (40 mins) - Lagavulin
Francis Poulenc - Sonate (quatre mains) (1903)
Erik Satie -Trois morceaux en forme de poire (1914)
Claude Debussy - Six épigraphes antiques (1918)

Part Two (30 mins) - Piano Mill
Colin and Alistair Noble (new work, 2024) - le parfum de l'eucalyptus (d'après Paul Wenz) for Piano Mill and audience

Le parfum de l’eucalyptus was a special feature concert at the Piano Mill with brothers Alistair Noble and Colin Noble. This was a two part concert in which Alistair and Colin presented work developed and prepared during their recent artist residency at the Piano Mill. 

In 1912, from his farm in central NSW, The French-Australian novelist and short-story writer Paul Wenz (1869-1939) wrote to his friend André Gide, ‘I keep wondering if my French doesn’t smell terribly of Eucalyptus’. Today, we might argue that the fragrance of eucalyptus, not only in language but in his experiences of Australia and its people, is part of the lasting beauty of Wenz’s writing.

Part One of this afternoon event celebrates French piano duo music written during Wenz’s lifetime, produced by composers who very likely read his stories set in Australia, published in leading Paris journals of the day—their music transposed here to the Australian bush at Wilsons Downfall. Part Two is the performance of a new work composed for the Piano Mill, inspired by the unique location at Harrigan’s Lane, both the built environment of the Mill itself and the surrounding country—with an ear to the writings of Paul Wenz and the Australia he described to his French readers of the early 20th century.

Colin Noble studied piano with Isobel Grigor, Pamela Page, and Larry Sitsky. He is active as a composer, teacher, and performer. He has recorded more than a dozen recital programs for ABC Classic FM, several in Alistair’s company, and his recordings of Debussy and Bach are available on Apple Music and Spotify. He has performed the piano music of Messiaen since the 1990s and wrote his PhD on this subject. Colin has been involved with various Harrigan’s Lane activities, starting with the Piano Mill’s debut in 2016.

Alistair Noble is a pianist, composer, and musicologist. He is currently Head of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at the University of New England. His compositions have been performed, recorded and broadcast in Australia, Europe, and North America. His analytical research into the music of US composer Morton Feldman is published by Ashgate/Routledge.

As a duo, Colin and Alistair have a long history of performing classic repertoire as well as contemporary works. In this performance, they are excited to share their first collaborative composition—a new work for the Piano Mill at Harrigan’s Lane.

“Search for a discipline within freedom! […] Listen to no one's advice except that of the wind in the trees.”
-Claude Debussy

Thanks to the generosity of Alistair and Colin, proceeds from ticket sales were donated to Quoll Headquarters.