settlement music credits

music composed and conducted by
Sven Libaek
music recording
engineer
Martin Benge
Beale Piano supplied by
Paling's Sydney, Australia
Composer:
Sven Libaek is an Australian composer, record producer and musician who
was born in Norway in 1938, and trained as a pianist. A graduate of the
Juilliard School New York, he came to Australia in 1960, as a member of
The Windjammers (promoting a film) and when the band broke up, he
returned to Australia.
Thereafter Libaek joined newly established CBS as musical director and
A&R manager in 1963, and began composing music for feature films and
documentaries. As well as Nickel Queen, his credits include The Set, To
Ride a White Horse, Vincent Serventy's series Nature Walkabout, the drama
series Boney (based on Arthur Upfield's character), Ron and Valerie Taylor's
documentary series Inner Space, and The Settlement.
Libaek's music made a cinematic comeback when director Wes Anderson
selected five pieces, all originally part of his score for Inner Space, for use
on his 2004 film The Life Aquatic.
Libaek has a wiki here, and he is well-represented on the internet, with a
devoted band of followers. A short biography up to 2006 can be found at the
Australian Music Centre here.
It was provided by the composer and reads as follows:
Sven Libaek was born in Norway in 1938, and trained early as both a
musician and an actor. He first achieved international recognition with his
role in the Louis deRochemont film Windjammer where he was able to
combine his love for music and acting with his appearance as a soloist with
Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. Libaek first came to Australia in 1960 as
a member of the band, The Windjammers, which toured in both the USA and
Australia to promote the film. Shortly after the group broke up, Libaek and
his wife returned to Australia to live.
Libaek has scored many films & TV series, including Nature Walkabout,
Boney, Inner Space, Big Country, The World Around Us, Joe Wilson, and
The Settlement, as well as dozens of documentaries and industrial films. He
worked with Maurice Jarre as musical coordinator and orchestrator for Peter
Weir's film The Year of Living Dangerously and also hosted his own TV
show on ABC called All about Music. The 2004 Wes Anderson film, Life
Aquatic, featured five of Libaek's compositions as part of its score.
Libaek lived and worked in Los Angeles from 1977 to 1994 where he
orchestrated more than 300 popular songs for US radio stations and artists
including Lionel Ritchie and Neil Diamond, and was engaged by HannaBarbera in Hollywood to score the music to ten two-hour animated TV movie
specials.
During his career, Libaek has had more than 30 record albums released. He
has composed serious concert works for instruments including the piano,
classical guitar, flute and clarinet. For the Australian Centenary of Federation
he was commissioned by the Sutherland Shire Council to compose a special
work for Symphony Orchestra, Choir and Brass Band, with words by his wife
Lolita Rivera. Called The First Shire, it was performed at Cronulla Beach in
front of 10,000 people in January 2001.
Libaek is principal conductor of The Sutherland Shire Symphony Orchestra
and President of the Music Arrangers Guild of Australia. He has worked as
an adjudicator and piano teacher, and early in his musical career, was
Musical Director and A&R Manager for CBS Records as well as General
Manager for April Music Publishing Company for four years. He is currently
Composer-in-Residence at Port Hacking High School and frequently
lectures at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in Sydney.
Libaek is currently completing the score to a Sydney Maritime Museum
documentary about the restoration of the magnificent sailing ship the James
Craig, and putting the final touches on his first Piano Concerto.
(Below: a young Sven Libaek, and Libaek in 2011)
The theme for the film turned up as track B2 on a compilation of Australian
film music, I Love Australian Movies, featuring Sven Libaek and his
orchestra:
WEA 2508 16-1
Alto Saxophone – Errol Buddle
Arranged By – Sven Libaek
Clarinet – David Rutledge
Concertmaster – John Lyle
Drums – Doug Gallagher
Engineer – Martin Benge
French Horn – Robert Johnson
Guitar – Paul Baker
Harp – Maria Łazar
Keyboards – Mark Isaacs
Oboe – Tom Sparks
Producer – Sven Libaek
Trombone – Herb Cannon
Trumpet – Billy Burton
Vibraphone – Noel Gilmour
Recorded in Australia at EMI Studio 301
The Australian Film Commission logo appears on the album