I Was Flying
Sally Whitwell
I Was Flying
Sally Whitwell
Dual ARIA-Award-winning pianist and composer Sally Whitwell returns with the first-ever album of her own compositions: I Was Flying.
The album combines works for solo piano with music for choir and for solo soprano, as well as a range of instrumental chamber music. Sally is joined by a number of her musical friends: rising-star soprano Alexandra Oomens, VOX (Sydney Philharmonia’s choir for 18-30 year olds, with whom Sally frequently works and performs), the Acacia Quartet, flautist Sally Walker and violinist Kirstin Williams.
Sally’s solo piano music forms the backbone of the disc. Best-known for her acclaimed albums of music by Michael Nyman and Philip Glass, Sally’s music inherits these composers’ minimalist feel, but imbues it with colour and style that is all her own. Her writing for voice - whether the Alexandra Oomens’ solo soprano or VOX - centres around a close symbiosis of word and music, creating vivid and imaginative sound worlds.
Accordingly, the vocal works on the album set words from a wide variety of authors, from poets of the Romantic canon to Australians: Lord Byron, Christina Rossetti, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Monique Duval, WB Yeats, Michael Rosen, Michael Dransfield, and Sally herself. Many of the compositions draw on Sally’s relationship with her partner Glennda; but the album roves across a number of subjects, including musical ruminations on an immigrant life, the Sydney to Newcastle train journey - and works inspired by Sally’s relationships with the musicians on the album.
The album was recorded by ABC Classics at Eugene Goossens Hall, ABC Ultimo, with Tonmeister Virginia Read (winner of the 2013 ARIA Award for Best Engineer).
Track Listing:
Loopy Lady: I. Reels - Sally Whitwell piano
A Hundred Thousand Birds - VOX, Sally Whitwell piano
Some World Far From Ours - Alexandra Oomens soprano, Sally Whitwell piano
Starlight Steeple - VOX, Sally Whitwell piano
Winter Love - Acacia Quartet, Sally Whitwell piano
6 - 8.The Birds - Alexandra Oomens soprano, Sally Whitwell piano
I. Skylark
II. Nightingale
III. Linnet
Loopy Lady: II. In the Middle Sally Whitwell piano
Echo VOX, Sally Whitwell piano
In the Deep Heart’s Core Alexandra Oomens soprano, Sally Whitwell piano
Road Trip Sally Walker flute, Sally Whitwell piano
Flatworm’s Heaven - A Train Song Alexandra Oomens soprano, Sally Whitwell piano
To Your Shore - VOX, Sally Whitwell piano
The Insomnia Waltz - Kirsten Williams violin, Sally Whitwell piano
She Walks in Beauty - VOX, Sally Whitwell piano
Loopy Lady: III. Waltzing Alone - Sally Whitwell piano
Flying - VOX, Sally Whitwell piano
Warm Where Snowflakes Lie - Alexandra Oomens soprano, Sally Whitwell piano
Loopy Lady: IV. Spin Out - Sally Whitwell piano
Review
Alexandra Mathew
Sally Whitwell’s debut recording Mad Rush, featuring solo piano music by Philip Glass, was a rare treat. In a market full of Romantic piano recital discs – invariably performed by musicians of the European school – Whitwell’s all-Glass program was refreshing, and earned her the 2011 Aria Award for Best Classical Album. A couple of albums and another Aria Award later, her latest offering, I Was Flying, is the first to feature all original songs and instrumental music. Now, Whitwell has proved herself to be as talented a composer as she is brilliant a recitalist.
Anybody lucky enough to have seen Whitwell perform live will be familiar with her warmth and intelligence, her musicality, and a certain indefinable kookiness. I Was Flying is all that. From the charming cutout birds on the cover, to the heartfelt dedication to her partner Glennda on the sleeve notes within, and to such dream-like compositions as ‘She Walks in Beauty’, the album is consistently enchanting. Soprano Alexandra Oomens, featured throughout the CD, is a beautiful interpreter of Whitwell’s music. While pure and agile, her voice has a distinctive richness. Simply put, behind the breezy exterior of this album is music with real heart.
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