The Arrangement is a cantata for six voices, flute, clarinet and piano commissioned by renowned Australian sculptor and performance artist Ken Unsworth and premiered at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 2013 by the Song Company, led by Roland Peelman. The work was subsequently staged by Ken Unsworth at his studio in Sydney and featured the Australian Dance Artists, Ken Unsworth himself, and The Song Company once again. The photographs are from that staged performance.
In The Arrangement I set texts by Houseman (How Clear, How Lovely Bright), Lorca (Gacela Del AmorDespesperado), Auden (Law, Like Love), Barnabe Googe (The oftener seen) and Rilke (Immer Wieder) all of which concern the deals we make with ourselves and with other people to get on through life. There are instrumental interludes interspersed between the sung pieces.
The recordings are taken from the world premiere performance at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and feature The Song Company – singers Clive Birch, Richard Black, Mark Donnelly, Anna Fraser, Hannah Fraser and Susannah Lawergren – with Lamorna Nightingale (flute), Jason Noble (clarinet), Thomas Rann (cello) and Roland Peelman (piano & music director).
