‘Celebrating Twenty Years’ is a collection of contemporary classical works by twenty-three Australian composers based in both Melbourne and Sydney, Australia’s two largest cities. Melbourne, the home of the Melbourne Composers’ League (MCL), is acknowledged as one of the most multicultural cities in the world, with more than 30 percent of its population born overseas and its 251 distinct ‘spoken’ languages being a number greater than the number of countries in the world. Demographic surveys state that a language other than English is spoken at home by three in ten of its residents. This represents a multicultural linguistic diversity that also serves as an analogy for the aesthetic diversity found in the music styles of its composers, who draw inspiration from an either modernist, postmodern, neoromantic or pluralist sensibility.
This MCL triple compact disc celebrates twenty years since the founding of the composer organisation – a collegial group of artists committed to championing the aspirations of the individual within the collective in an effort to reflect the eclecticism evident in contemporary-classical music composition in Australia today.
Produced by Andrián Pertout
Mastered by Michael Costa, Melbourne, Australia, 22 June – 11 September, 2017
Cover design and graphics by Luke Fraser
Front cover artwork ‘Gallipoli’, oil on canvas (2015) by Luping Zeng
Special thanks to Antonio Tenace, Johanna Selleck, Eve Duncan, and Colin McKellar
Featured Performers:
Helen Ayres – violin; Aaron Barnden – violin; James Cuddeford – violin; Katherine Day – pianoforte; Jacinta Dennett – harp; Peter Doomsday – pianoforte; Claire Edwardes – percussion; Christina Green – pianoforte; Bernadette Harvey – pianoforte; Michael Kieran Harvey – pianoforte; Angela Hewitt – pianoforte; Livia Judge – flute; Danaë Killian – pianoforte; Lotte Latukefu – mezzo-soprano; Dewi Liu – pianoforte; Antonietta Loffredo – toy piano; Janet, Gayle and Sienna McKie – voices; Scott Mealy – double bass; Geoffrey Morris – guitar; Sian Prior – soprano; Fiona Sargeant – viola; Johanna Selleck – C flute, alto flute; Silo String Quartet: Alson Rainer – violin, Aaron Barnden – violin, Andrea Keeble – violin, Christian Reed – viola, Ceridwen Davies – viola, Caerwen Martin – violoncello; Maxine Sitcliffe – viola; Syzygy Ensemble: Laila Engle – flute, Julia Stoppa – clarinet, Leigh Harrold – pianoforte, Jenny Khafagi – violin, Blair Harris – violoncello; Carmine Marcello Rizzi – violin; Jacqui Rutten – soprano; Peter Sheridan – C flute, bass flute; Natalya Vagner – pianoforte; Tristram Williams – trumpet.
DISC 1
| Preview | Track | Composition | Composer | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | My Feet Want to Dance But My Eyes Want to Sleep (for flute, clarinet, string quartet and pianoforte) | Brenton Broadstock | 11:20 | |
| 2 | The Arc of the Day (for piano quintet) | Eve Duncan | 4:11 | |
| 3 | The Beauty of Now (for violin and pianoforte) | Caerwen Martin | 9:52 | |
| 4 | The Elements (for violin) | Andrián Pertout | 6:05 | |
| 5 | Returning (for tape) | Gary McKie | 3:08 | |
| 6 | Moments (pour piano) | Peter Graham | 9:08 | |
| 7 | Out-Takes (for amplified string quartet and tape) | Antonio Tenace | 9:20 | |
| 8 | Spindrift (for solo harp) | Johanna Selleck | 7:19 |
DISC 2
| Preview | Track | Composition | Composer | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rhapsody (for solo viola) | Stephen Lebsanft | 6:07 | |
| 2 | Spirit (for mezzo-soprano, violin, pianoforte and percussion from Gentleness-Suddenness) | Bruce Crossman | 10:26 | |
| 3 - 5 | Snake Belly Medicine Music (for bass flute and double bass) | Colin McKellar | 9:10 | |
| 6 | Kyrie (for pianoforte, vibraphone and percussion) | Clare Maclean | 9:03 | |
| 7 | Meditation on Satie (for pianoforte) | Houston Dunleavy | 3:52 | |
| 8 | Interplay (for guitar and electronics) | Haydn Reeder | 13:52 | |
| 9 | Rainforest (for soprano and pianoforte) | Natalya Vagner (Text by Judith Wright) | 2:38 | |
| 10 | Earth Tones (for toy piano) | Diana Blom | 5:24 |
DISC 3
| Preview | Track | Composition | Composer | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Entasis (for solo trumpet) | Peter Myers | 12:53 | |
| 2 - 5 | Suite from Sighting Silence, Sounding Image (for pianoforte) | Christina Green | 8:01 | |
| 6 | Binary System (duet for C flute and bass flute) | Paul Moulatlet | 6:27 | |
| 7 | Birdsong Improvisations (for soprano and flute) | Jacqui Rutten/Livia Judge | 2:20 | |
| 8 - 13 | Six Short Pieces (for flute and pianoforte) | David Henderson | 10:53 | |
| 14 | Elegy (for tape) | Howard Dillon | 10:59 | |
| 15 | Music (for Solo Flutes) | Peter Tahourdin | 6:07 |
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