BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Australian composer Rachel Bruerville is celebrating the release of her debut album of instrumental chamber music. But it’s not only an album of original compositions — it’s also an album filled with personal stories.
Under the Fig Tree — Music for serenity, strength, and joy pays tribute to the women in Rachel’s family, from her grandmother to her twin sister. She composed music for the artists who inspired her; she commissioned her school friends to craft the visual artwork.
In this interview, Rachel shares the intimate connections that underpin these nine new tracks.
Rachel, congratulations is in order — you’ve released your debut instrumental chamber music album! Why now?
Thank you so much, Steph! It’s very exciting and it’s been a long time coming. The simple answer to the ‘why now?’ question is that I finally had some success with funding applications to be able to make it happen.
I am aware of the incredibly privileged position I am in to have secured funding from Creative Australia and CreateSA in grant rounds for independent artists, and I’ve had a lot of rejections in the last decade for other funding opportunities.
The reality of independent funding admin though, wow — unpaid and time consuming! Still, I am very fortunate.
Before asking you about the music, I’m going to stop for a moment to pay tribute to the artwork. How did the album cover come together?
Oh my gosh, the album artwork is a dream come true! My two favourite living visual artists happen to be friends I went to high school with, Amanda Ng and Lucy Timbrell. Amanda specialises in watercolour, and Lucy is a printmaker.
When it came to creating album artwork, I could never choose to commission only one of them, so I asked them about a collaboration. Fortunately they were both excited by the idea, and had actually been intending to collaborate for many years. I’m so glad they have!
This music is about the women in your family. I’d love to know why you chose to honour their strength through your album.
Family relationships can be so difficult, and I’ve experienced this in my life. However, throughout the difficulties, I have been so lucky to have this inner circle of women – my grandma, my mum, and my twin sister – who have been eternally supportive.
Well, I say eternally, but to be honest my twin sister and I did go through a little phase of hating each other, but we got over it!
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we’re supportive and that we’re women, by the way – the emotional labour of women deserves to be honoured, and through music is the best way that I can.
The whole album is dedicated to my grandma, Brigid Bruer (1933–2019).
What do you think is beautiful about the combination of classical guitar and harp — not a particularly common pairing, but one that showcases so many similarities as well as the unique qualities of each instrument?
Writing the classical guitar and harp duets for this album was inspired by the players – Andrew Blanch and Emily Granger – and I’m so grateful to them for their support of new Australian music. I first heard them play together at a UKARIA concert in 2021, and I was blown away.
As you say, their instruments are similar in many ways, but the tone of the different plucked strings is quite different when you hear them on their own. Then, when you hear the duo combination, it can be hard to tell which instrument is which in the texture, and it’s those colours that are created by the overlapping that I find so beautiful.
I was interested to read your reflection on the “thoughts and feelings of 2013”; you stated that you were less concerned with perfection in those years. I’d love to know more about how these ideas of perfection and growth play into the new music you have put into the world in 2025.
Ah, perfection. I think in this age of AI literally stealing art from us, my ideas about what perfection means are changing.
It’s true that when I was studying composition and learning the craft, I wasn’t expecting my music to be amazing, and therefore there was less pressure! However, at uni there was a lot of talk about composers studying to ‘find our unique voice’, and when I first started my music degree in 2013, I assumed that ‘my voice’ as a composer would eventually become clear.
As of 2025, I think that maybe it never will? I don’t know, maybe it will — but maybe I’ll never be able to articulate what it actually is, apart from by writing more music.
Also on the concept of perfection, Jakub [Gaudasinski], the sound engineer I worked with, had some great advice. We basically talked a lot, throughout the process of recording and editing, about the fact that the recordings were not going to be perfect.
We are humans, and we only had a finite amount of rehearsal, recording, and editing time, and limited resources to complete the project. There is no guarantee of how things will come together on the recording day, and then how what you thought you captured on the recording day actually translates to the recording itself when you listen back a few days, weeks, or months later. Honestly, aspects of the process were terrible! So I think you just have to make peace with the fact that the recordings exist as they are, and have captured beautiful moments of ‘imperfect’ human creativity.
Your music is about personal strength, but also the strength of communities — communities of women, family, musicians, and even people who care for wildlife, as in one of your tracks! What does this tell us about your creative values?
I think there can be a perception of ‘classical’ music being ‘difficult’ – especially outside our bubble of fellow music nerds. For example, people might think that they don’t know enough about music theory to be able to appreciate ‘classical’ instrumental music.
Of course, I am speaking as a music nerd myself, but I think this perception is just not true, and not helpful. There are so many different ways that human beings can understand and enjoy different kinds of music, and my hope is that this particular album of original music being inspired by ‘serenity, strength, and joy’ will translate to others in positive ways.
You recently wrote a blog about having ’emerged’, and what that idea might mean to different people, and systems, throughout a career in the arts. I’m curious as to what this now means to you when you’ve made another huge career progression: the release of this debut!
Haha, I still have no idea! This album is a huge achievement that I’m very proud of. But in reality, I don’t know what it might lead to. I’m interested to find out!
Anything else you’d like to share?
I’d love to say a huge thank you to the incredible Cameron Lam for his music business consulting service, and all the other amazing things he does for art music in Australia. Cam, your brilliant advice given with honesty, humour, and humility is so much appreciated, and is a huge reason why this album now exists!
Explore Rachel Bruerville’s newly released debut album Under the Fig Tree — Music for serenity, strength, and joy.
Images supplied.
