Music
Vasks: Works for Piano Trio by Trio Palladio
We listen to, we look for, and we learn about classical music all the time. And yet, somehow, sometimes we miss a gem. This is what discovering Peteris Vasks has been for me. Considered one of the most influential Latvian…
Piae Cantiones by Utopia Chamber Choir & Andrew Lawrence-King
Alia Vox Diversa is a subsidiary of Jordi Savall’s label Alia Vox, and showcases performances by Savall’s colleagues and contemporaries rather than by Savall himself. Recently, the Utopia Chamber Choir, under the direction of Andrew Lawrence-King, has added to the…
Lines Written During a Sleepless Night by Louise Alder & Joseph Middleton
Three years since her debut recital disc Through Life and Love, British soprano Louise Alder is back, and her voice is more ravishing than ever. Lines Written During a Sleepless Night is an homage to Alder’s Russian roots, as…
14 Histoires de guitares by David Jacques
You know someone is a music nerd when they discuss the fact that they collect guitars from a period spanning four hundred years and have more than ten guitars in their collection. David Jacques is definitely one of those über-nerds…
You Be the Lightning by Tracy McNeil & The GoodLife
Tracy McNeil, a Canadian expat now well and truly ensconced in Melbourne, is back with her fifth album, You Be the Lightning. After releasing her previous four albums independently, she has signed on with the prestigious international label Cooking…
Les Sons et les Parfums byJanina Fialkowska
‘Sounds and Perfume’ is the perfect name for this enchanting piano album. Originally from Baudelaire’s poem, Debussy borrowed the full title ‘Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir’ for one of his now world-renowned Préludes. Each prelude…
The Gospel According to Water by Joe Henry
In late 2018 American singer-songwriter Joe Henry was diagnosed with Stage 4 prostate cancer that had metastasized into his bones and was told he had around six months to live. Almost exactly one year later he released his most recent…
Stuart Greenbaum by John Stanton, Ron Baglind & Luke Howard
What would you do in your final hour? If you had but one hour left, how would you express yourself? Through words, music, art? Stuart Greenbaum posits this question with his latest album, a musing on a concept of the…
Aquarelles: Debussy & Hahn by Siobhan Stagg & Noga Quartet
Admired for her beautiful lyric voice and impressive vocal range, Debussy dedicated his song cycle Ariettes oubliées (‘forgotten songs’) to Scottish soprano Mary Garden, for whom he also composed the role of Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande. Australian soprano Siobhan…
Antonio Vivaldi: Juditha Triumphans
The plot of Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans – ‘Judith the Triumphant’ – is gruesome: barbaric Assyrian general Holofernes invades Judea, and in retaliation the virtuous Judith beheads him. It is an unusual plot for an oratorio originally intended to be sung…
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