Music

Stuart Greenbaum: A Trillion Miles of Darkness

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

Stuart Greenbaum has been on fire recently, with two other albums of his compositions making it into this column in the past 24 months. A Trillion Miles of Darkness is nothing like the other two (The Final Hour in 2020…

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John Adams

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

I’ve recently been recovering from the dreaded lurgy and my attention span has been completely shot. Yet somehow I listened to this complete album with no breaks, from the very first gorgeous notes through to the final crashing timpani of…

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William Barton: Heartland

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

A child picks up an instrument, an uncle teaches him, and a mother weaves the stories in and around the music. When the child turns 17 years old, he performs with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and changes the landscape of…

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John Williams: Violin Concerto No 2 & Selected Film Themes

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

Ninety years young is how I would describe John Williams after listening to his latest recording, both as composer and conductor. Working with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, he presents his Violin Concerto No 2, written for his friend, the world-…

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Christoph W. Gluck: Don Juan and Semiramis

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

Long-time readers of this column will know exactly who Jordi Savall is. The Spanish conductor, composer and viol player has been revolutionising early music performance since the 1970s. What is hard to convey in this written form is the joy…

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The Enchanted Loom: Orchestral Works by Carl Vine

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

One day, early on in my musical studies, I was handed a work by a contemporary Australian composer. The music looked black on the page and terrified teenage me, having never heard of this person. But then I saw the…

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Flute Perspectives: Australian Contemporary Flute Music, Volume 3

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

Did you know that as an Australian flute player, I am spoilt for choice for repertoire? Not only do I have the standards from France, England and beyond, but I have a plethora of works written by Australian composers of…

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Musa Italiana: Orchestral Works

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

This album takes the idea of fusion to a more heightened ideal, with all the works written by Austro-German composers in the ‘Italian style’. What does this mean you might ask? It means works by composers who were taught within…

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Lys: Works for Violin by Mari Samuelsen, Scoring Berlin & Jonathan Stockhammer

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

The theme to this month’s reviewed albums is one of melding, fusion and blending. Not so much the crashing together of different musical worlds, but rather the layering of ideas and traditions to create something that feels new but sounds…

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Ennio Morricone: Cinema Suites for Violin and Orchestra

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

Sometimes when you listen to an album you get the feeling the musicians are trying to tell you something. Using the emotional pulls of music, without words to help, musicians send out their message to us. I normally listen through…

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