Music

A Viennese Bouquet: Music for flute and piano – Melissa Farrow & Erin Helyard

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

Vienna was beset with war at the beginning of the 19th century, when it was taken by the French twice during the Napoleonic Wars. By 1814, the Congress of Vienna took place, and the political map of Europe was redrawn…

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For Clara: Works by Schumann & Brahms by Hélène Grimaud & Konstantin Krimmel

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

Classical music lovers all over the world know when you say the name ‘Clara’, you mean one person. Someone who challenged the status quo, brought Brahms into the spotlight, and was the first famous working mother–musician–composer. Clara Schumann (nee Wieck)…

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Music for a New Century by New Century Chamber Orchestra & Daniel Hope

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

I love an album where you hear the weight of the past 400 years of music in each work. This album has everything you’d expect from modern music: neoclassicism, minimalism, cinematic, atonality and more, to blend, contrast and plain show…

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The American Project: Abrams & Tilson Thomas by Yuja Wang, Louisville Orchestra & Teddy Abrams

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

Yuja Wang is a well-known name for any classical music enthusiast. A child prodigy, she started her studies at Beijing’s Conservatory of Music at the ripe old age of seven and took the world by storm, winning competitions and giving…

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Australian Horn Trios by Quercus Trio

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

As in many art forms, things can fall through the cracks of popularity in classical music. When this happens we can miss out on something interesting and different but entirely worthy of attention. Listening to this album, I felt the…

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Women of Note: Celebrating Australian Composers, Volume 5

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

For the past 12 months, I have been chewing on ABC Classic’s Volume 4 in their Women of Note series. This year, Volume 5 has been released with five emerging and established female Australian composers represented, and it’s wonderful to…

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Breathing Space by Genevieve Lacey

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

At the centre of the National Museum of Australia is a ‘Garden of Australian Dreams’, a symbolic landscape exploring ideas of place and country. An outdoor courtyard, it features water, landscaping, lighting, cartography and now, a sound installation. Genevieve Lacey…

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Tom Henry: Light in Dark – Works for Solo Piano

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

For contemporary composers, the creative tension of wanting to express yourself through music often involves a constant push and pull between the traditional and the modern. Tom Henry is not only one of our own local composers, but he also…

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Light and Darkness – CPE Bach: Flute Sonatas

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

When you are a poor composer in the 1700s and a king takes a shine to your style, you immediately start writing pieces that will appeal to him. And when that king’s instrument of choice is the flute – endless…

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To Listen, To Sing – Ngarra-Burria: First Peoples Composers

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

I have been a fan of Ensemble Offspring for the entirety of my working life. I love that their mission is to program, create and educate about contemporary classical music. Their focus on under-represented musical voices, drawing inspiration from and…

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