Music
Vaughan Williams: Symphonies 2 & 8 (Vol. 1) by Andrew Manze & The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
With a quiet intake of breath, the opening notes of Vaughan Williams’ London Symphony creep into your awareness, painting a picture so clearly you can describe the colours of a morning in London at the beginning of the 20th Century…
Case/Lang/Veirs by Neko Case, k.d. lang & Laura Veirs
I greeted this album with such excitement; here three musicians that I have admired for some time have made a record together. The story goes that k.d. lang called both Laura Veirs and Neko Case, and suggested they collaborate. There…
Nelson Freire: Bach
Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire approaches the music of J.S. Bach with sensitivity and playfulness. Within this collection of transcriptions by Bach himself and other composers there is room for interpretation and individuality. Freire’s style is unlike others. For example, Glenn…
Schubert: String Quintet & Lieder
Recently, German baritone Matthias Goerne performed Schubert’s Wintereisse in Melbourne. At the end of the performance the audience remained still. No one clapped. Goerne, without word, exited stage right. But this wasn’t a reflection on the quality of the singing…
Butterflying: Piano Music By Elena Kats-Chernin
Elena Kats-Chernin’s piano music is a gift to the contemporary classical repertoire. Performed by pianist Tamara-Anna Chislowska, Butterflying features over five decades of music by Uzbekistan-born Australian Kats-Chernin. The compositions presented here include piano solos and transcriptions of larger works…
Kidsticks by Beth Orton
Beth Orton’s latest album, Kidsticks, is a co-production by Orton and Fuck Buttons’ Andrew Hung, mixed by folk–synth veteran David Wrench. I think folk–synth–pop is as close as I can get to describing the album as a whole. Kidsticks…
Divine Karina by Karina Gauvin
‘Precision’ was the word that sprang to mind on first hearing soprano Karina Gauvin in her compilation Divine Karina. In the opening ‘Strike the viol’, Gauvin’s consonants–particularly the plosives–are crisp, and the intonation of her runs is painstakingly accurate…
Seven Sonnets And A Song by Paul Kelly
To mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, the great wordsmith is honoured by one of Australia’s great songwriters, Paul Kelly, with this collaboration. In Seven Sonnets & A Song, Kelly has gathered fellow artists including Ash Naylor (guitar)…
Mendelssohn: Works for Piano Trio by the Streeton Trio
Australia’s Streeton Trio is going from strength to strength. Their 2011 debut recording of Ravel and Brahms trios was well received, and they currently enjoy a busy performance schedule – both here and in Europe. This new Mendelssohn recording is…
1000 Years Of Classical Music
ABC Classics has been producing high-quality recordings of all the Australian orchestras, chamber groups, choirs and soloists for years. This means they have an extensive library of music that is not just the best musicians in Australia doing their thing…
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