Simon Walker (born in Sydney, NSW 1961 – June 2010) was an Australian composer of numerous film and television soundtracks including ''

For the Term of His Natural Life ''For the Term of His Natural Life'' is a story written by Marcus Clarke and published in ''The Australian Journal'' between 1870 and 1872 (as ''His Natural Life''). It was published as a novel in 1874 and is the best known novelisation of life ...

''. The first available soundtrack of his music was of his score for ''

The Wild Duck ''The Wild Duck'' (original Norwegian title: ''Vildanden'') is an 1884 play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It is considered the first modern masterpiece in the genre of tragicomedy. ''The Wild Duck'' and ''Rosmersholm'' are "often ...

'' on Southern Cross Records, and other releases include ''

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'' and his AFI Award-nominated score for '' Annie's Coming Out'' on the

1M1 Records Philip Powers (born 1963) is a record producer - and author - specialising in film scores and classical music. His recordings have been nominated for five ARIA Awards. He has produced 34 CDs for the 1M1 Records label including ''The Lighthorse ...

label.

Early life

Having met recording producer

Philip Powers Philip Powers (born 1963) is a record producer - and author - specialising in film scores and classical music. His recordings have been nominated for five ARIA Awards. He has produced 34 CDs for the 1M1 Records label including ''The Lighthorse ...

in 1980, they collaborated in 1988 to conceive 1M1 Records, an Australian record label dedicated to Australian Music CD releases with a focus on Australian film soundtrack recordings. The first project was of Walker's own score to the Australian TV miniseries, ''

''.

Career

Classical Compositions

Two of Walker's contemporary classical compositions, the Bartokesque ''Binary'' and ''Deep Space'' were released on the compact disc ''Music for Pianos, Percussion and Synthesizers''. This was a concept album designed by Walker and Powers to explore the territory of synthesizers to the extent they could be utilised since their inception up to 1989. The four other Australian film composers who wrote works for this album were

Guy Gross Guy Gross is an Australian film and television composer. He is known most for writing the award-winning music for the Australian science fiction series ''Farscape'' and the international hit film ''The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert ...

, Mark Isaacs and

Chris Neal Christopher Michael Neal (born 23 October 1985) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club AFC Fylde. He began his career at Preston North End, making his English Football League debut in February 2005, having p ...

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

classical music critic, Roger Covell, wrote in his review in 1990 that "Walker's 'Binary' has a feeling of severity and power to it... The disc is a useful message from composers who are in the process of working out their place in Australian music. More messages of a similar kind would be welcome."

G.P. theme

His theme for the ABC series '' G.P.'', performed by the

Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (TSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It is the smallest of the six orchestras established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). History The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestr ...

, has arguably become his most familiar piece of music in the film industry and was a highly recognisable Australian themes in the 1990s. It is based on the theme in the third movement of Haydn's Trumpet Concerto.

References

External links

* * 1961 births 2010 deaths {{composer-stub