Ghost Rails
(2021)
for saxophone quartet
I. Track (26,27) II. Devonshire Street Cemetery III. Track (26,27).2 IV. The Battle Of Central Station V. Track (26,27).3 VI. Spirit Children VII. Track (26,27).4 VIII. Hacking, Urbex-Style IX. Track (26,27).5 X. Sydney Metro Hub
commissioned by Jay Byrnes & the Nexas Quartet
premiered by the Nexas Quartet on 3 Dec 2025 at the Sydney Conservatorium, Sydney, NSW, Australia
recording: complete ~ Nexas Quartet
score available through The Australian Music Centre
duration: 22’
genre: Chamber - Small
category: Ambrosia, Esoterica
Growing up catching Sydney trains, I have always been fascinated by the cascade of mechanical and incidental noises these otherwise utilitarian machines produce. Ghost Rails is – at its heart –a celebration of this accidental music through the evocative medium of the saxophone quartet.
More particularly, the work is a sonic exploration of the mysterious and largely hidden spaces of Sydney’s Central Station, especially the unused Platforms 26 and 27. From Central’s origins as a cemetery and makeshift battlefield, through frightening apparitions and disembodied voices, to the platforms’ rebirth as a hub for the new metro, Ghost Rails is a quintessentially Sydney story rendered in the sounds of its subject.
