On 16 May the Sydney Philharmonia Festival Chorus and Orchestra premiered Carl Vine’s Time’s Fell Hand at the Sydney Opera House, conducted by Elizabeth Scott. The 9-minute work for baritone soloist – sung by Samuel Dale Johnson – chorus and orchestra is a setting of Shakespeare’s sonnet 64; it was commissioned by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs with the generous support of Min Zhu and Jesse Tattersall.
Vine’s moving work opens darkly with muted gongs and brass, as befits a poem about the loss of loved ones, death and the relentless march of time. The choir mainly echoes the baritone’s lines, sung with great expression and lyricism by Johnson.
Shakespeare’s description of the ocean taking over the shore brings a change of mood, with whirling passages from the winds. After a tense pause, brass, percussion and the pulse of plucked basses accompany Johnson’s despairing repeated lines: “This thought is as a death, which cannot choose / But weep to have that which it fears to lose”, for the climax of the piece.
Limelight (Steve Moffatt) 18 May 2026 ****
Vine created a sense of immediate narrative connection combined with poetic depth by giving lines of resigned, determined expressiveness to the baritone soloist, echoed by an aura of choral commentary. With succinctly balanced form, the work lays bare the structure and resonances of the text with simple clarity.
Syndey Morning Herald (Peter McCallum) 18 May 2026
…a tight tapestry…plaintive solo delivery of the fragmented rhyming poetry and a choral ‘conscience’, almost Greek Chorus-like reiteration and continuing of the baritone utterances around the soloist… the journey through the sonnet was colourful, clever and employed soloist, instrumental accompaniment and choir from above in a thrilling new way…
Sydney Arts Guide (Paul Nolan) 22 May 2026 *****
For Vine, the sonnet “continues Shakespeare’s exploration of the subtle connection between love and death. The sentiment hovers between darkness and joy, marvelling that such beautiful emotions can exist while anticipating the certain loss of such beauty.”
In 2025 Elizabeth Scott conducted Vine’s Choral Symphony at the Sydney Conservatorium. A 26-minute work that tells the story of Creation using the myths of ancient Babylonia and scored for large orchestra, SATB chorus, and organ, it follows in the tradition of grand choral-orchestral music of Beethoven and Vaughan Williams. The Sydney Philharmonia Choir participated in its world premiere recording on ABC Classics in 2000 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Edo de Waart, reissued in 2005 alongside Vine’s complete symphonies.