Program Note

 I composed Magenta at my Grandmother’s beach house in Portsea. I remember being in the upstairs bedroom, the one with the little window that looked out onto the beautiful big front garden. The garden was full of large lopsided sprawling twisted tea-trees, as well as ferns and other lush shaded greenery. As a child I would play all sorts of make believe games in that garden. I felt so peaceful in this room with my violin and the quiet.

As I played my violin, little motifs and intervals that I loved began to emerge and connect into what would become the main theme. The more I played around with this theme the more I wanted to explore the different ways it could be conveyed and the different playing techniques (double stopping, pizzicato, tremolo) that could be used to create variations on the theme. It was such an innocent theme and was such a pleasure to play. It reminded me of the beautiful colour magenta.

Katherine Rawlings 2019

Performance Information

Magenta (1999 edition) was first performed by David Pietsch in "New Voices from the Old Century", a concert of works by young composers, Melba Hall, The University of Melbourne, 14/10/1999

Magenta (2005 edition) was first performed by Marianne Broadfoot in Lucid Dreaming – a concert tour of works by Katherine Rawlings, Music Workshop, The Sydney Conservatorium of Music, 10/02/2006