A stranger I came

On this reading it may seem perverse to partner these poems with images of the Australian landscape, except that to my eye Fred Williams came to define the Australian landscape and spirit every bit as assuredly as Schubert and Müller did Germany’s a century earlier. Of course, First Nations artists had been capturing and honouring the Australian landscape for millennia, though broader appreciation of this art largely postdates Williams’ early death in 1982. Rather than looking for literal overlaps between poems and paintings (a charcoal burner aside, which appears in both Müller’s poems and Williams’ oeuvre), we have sought to underline the universal qualities in the work of these three great artists. 

In the mid 2000s, six months or so after bringing him to the Perth Festival, I conducted Allan Clayton in the UK in his first professional opera, a touching production of Britten’s Albert Herring. I had invited an old friend, Lindy Hume, to direct, and this gorgeous staging filled Snape Maltings, the concert hall Britten built in 1967. It was such a happy period, and the opportunity to bring Lindy and Allan together once more – alongside the wonderful Australian pianist Kate Golla – was not one I could easily surrender. I had been talking to videographer Dave Bergman about another project and asked if he’d put that to one side, to work instead on animating the stunning Williams images I had chosen with Lindy and the artist’s widow, Lyn Williams.  

Don't miss the upcoming national tour of A Winter's Journey from 13 February to 3 March 2026.