Chandos has released an Australian gem here, bringing together\none of our most significant composers and the vibrant young ACO led\nby Tognetti. The works here span most of Sculthorpes career from\nIrkanda I for solo violin written in 1955 to Cello Dreaming,\ncommissioned by the BBC in 1998, featuring the cellist Emma-Jane\nMurphy. Tognettis performance of Irkanda I is one of the many\nhighlights on this disc, exquisitely portraying a 360 degree\ncontour of the hills around Canberra in sound, bird song included.\nThis theme of the Australian landscape is the unifying element\nhere, which the ACO evokes stunningly in a work written for them,\nSecond Sonata for Strings. The disc fittingly ends with Djilile, an\naboriginal melody Sculthorpe has based many works on, concluding a\nthoroughly Australian musical experience. Matt Archer

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