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 Reviews Home
CarriageWorks, Sydney // NSW // 20.06.2008
Is the success of a performance best measured by how well it mirrors the intentions of the creators, or must it be ultimately judged against the effect it has upon its audience? How different members of the audience responded to Sono Perception , presented by JOLT and CarriageWorks, may have been influenced by expectations as to what might constitute the workings of, as the subtitle put it, 'A Sonic Art Concert'.
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West Australian Art Gallery // WA // 07.05.08
It was one of those ideas, dreamt up over lunch at a restaurant, which developed over several more meals into the launch of a new 13-piece group. Ensemble Nu, with the support of Tura New Music, got off to an impressive start this week with a sold out debut concert at the WA Art Gallery.
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The Queensland Orchestra // QLD // 24.04.08
A full house greeted the Queensland Orchestra at the first concert in this year’s Contempo series, focusing on contemporary works for orchestra. This particular concert featured three concertos – two for percussion and one for violin – performed by some of Australia’s brightest young talents.
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Christopher de Groot // WA // 01.05.08
An intriguing fusion of musical styles and traditions, and uncommon instrumentation characterised this programme of exciting, new and recent works by emerging Perth composer, Christopher de Groot.
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chronology arts - Intimate Lines // NSW // 02.05.08
The promise of eight premieres in one night is an enticing one. Intimate Lines, the first in the chronology arts 2008 concert series, offered exactly this: eight new works by young Australian composers, each one presenting a different response to the concept of intimacy.
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Abrahams, Cooper, AustraLYSIS Electroband // NSW // 04.04.08
It's still too soon for the dim downstairs den of The Sound Lounge, in the bowels of the Seymour Centre, to have collected the history and the tales of the Side On Cafe, the old Parramatta Road haunt of SIMA (Sydney Improvised Music Association). On the upside, it’s very nice to be able to see what’s happening upon the stage from more than just the first few tables. Mind you, the AustraLYSIS Electroband is more a feast for the ears than the eyes. . .
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Various Artists // SA // 04-06.04.08
Staging a contemporary music festival is always a tricky proposition: one person's idea of cutting edge contemporary music is another person's conceptual straitjacket. How one defines contemporary music is bound to be contentious one way or another, so I approached the inaugural Adelaide Contemporary Music Festival (directed by Gabriella Smart) with an equal measure of curiosity and trepidation.
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Perth International Arts Festival // WA // 15/03/08
Creators of multi-artform works sometimes struggle with the lure and impracticalities of over-stimulation. Crowding works with one too many items of sound, light or motion can distract the audience's attention from critical details. But when a construction reaches a fine balance between its elements, these works flourish...
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2008 Aurora Festival: James Cuddeford and Natsuko Yoshimoto // NSW // 16.04.08
Violinists James Cudderford and Natsuko Yoshimoto recently performed at the Female Orphan’s School on the campus of UWS Parramatta as part of the 2008 Aurora Festival of Living Music. The program comprised works by Australian and American composers, including two solos by the iconic American composer Elliot Carter, and violin duos by established and emerging composers from both countries.
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Sydney Symphony // NSW // 26.03.08
Preceding the sombre, near-funereal march of Dimitri Shostakovich’s 8th with the existential, wide-eyed hope of Georges Lentz’s Mohn may have seemed to some an unusual programming choice, yet those witness to these performances were privy to something quite special – a brave yet thrilling pairing.
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Silo String Quartet // Vic // 28-29.03.08
The Melbourne-based Silo String Quartet (Aaron Barden, Andrea Keeble (violins), Ceridwen Davies (viola) and Caerwen Martin (cello)) have created a successful niche for themselves by only performing new music, especially Australian composition. This time their concert featured premieres by Queenslander Daniel Salecich and Melbourne-based composer David Chisholm...
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Perth International Festival: Craig Ogden, Paul Tanner // WA // 24th February
Any audience member, who was not already an avid admirer of this performance duo before their recent concert in Perth, would almost certainly have been converted by its conclusion. Guitarist Craig Ogden and percussionist Paul Tanner captivated the audience from first pluck to final punch...
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Perth International Festival: Goldner String Quartet // WA // 26.02.08
This concert, presented by Musica Viva, offered a combination of pieces by Claude Debussy, Robert Schumann, Dimitri Shostakovich and Richard Mills. It was fascinating to experience these works in the same program and contemplate their relationship, irrespective of the date of their composition...
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ACO and Genevieve Lacey // National // November 2007
Do people still cling to the limited perception of the recorder as infantile and defunct? Or have they moved past its longstanding reputation as amplified ammunition for toddler tantrums or as a relic of chillout music for Henry VIII? Australia’s concertgoers have much to assure them of the instrument’s vitality in early music and contemporary composition alike...
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Club Zho // WA // 15.10.07
Club Zho is a monthly event held in Perth that showcases new works by Western Australian composers and visiting guest artists. The October program, Axis 21, featured nine composers from The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts...
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Stephen Hough // National // 26.09.07
With reviews that praise pianist Stephen Hough for a technique and inventiveness that is ‘unparalleled’ (Carl Vine), as ‘ the greatest British pianist of his generation’ (Sydney Morning Herald), and for the ‘most perfect piano playing conceivable’ (The Guardian), it is tempting to engage in thesaurus searches for superlatives. Instead, I will stick with superb...
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Scale Variable: pi // WA // 11.11.07
In this latest performance offering by new music ensemble pi, audience members were privileged to witness why this group of talented musicians and composers is so highly respected and acclaimed in their field...
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Janet McKay (flute) // NSW // 20.09.07
The reconsideration of sound in recent times, and the concomitant re-evaluation of instrumental roles and techniques, sometimes seems better suited to instruments without a strong canon of conventional repertoire...
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Chambermade // Vic // 18.09.07
Polish-born, English sociologist Zygmunt Bauman has spent a considerable part of his academic career promoting the idea of ‘liquidity’ in an age of disposable culture. He suggests that as consumers we ask for instant gratification and as a consequence we accept accelerated social change...
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SLV Series // Vic // 21.09.07
Melbourne-born Peggy Glanville-Hicks’s fame in Australia rests mainly in being associated with significant American composers rather than with the music she wrote. She mingled in circles that, at their epicentres, had the likes of John Cage, Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson and Roy Harris. Glanville-Hicks gives mid-twentieth century Australian culture a tease of ‘sophistication’ that bypasses the imperial road map that her generation slavishly followed...
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Cage Uncaged // NSW // 15.09.07
A daylong exploration of John Cage’s unique sound aesthetic makes for a revelatory concert-going experience. The shared vision of Ensemble Offspring and Song Company has yielded an imaginative project, marking the 15 th anniversary of the composer’s death and celebrating the impact of his philosophies on subsequent generations of musicians and artists...
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Kawai Keyboard Series // QLD // 10.09.07
2007 seems to be the year of anniversaries. By happy coincidence, as Kawai Keyboard Series celebrates its tenth birthday, the Queensland Conservatorium attains its fiftieth and Kawai its eightieth...
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SVL series // Vic // 28.07 + 11.08.07
When one mentions Australian art music before World War II the response is less than supportive. Derivative, second-rate, too English are all terms that are bandied about...
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Box office returns will not usually allow the extravagance of having multiple repeats of the same new music concert. But composer David Chisholm took on a risky venture by allocating three concerts for his new song cycle the beginning and the end of the snow...
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Ensemble Offspring // NSW // 28.07.07
For Ensemble Offspring founder and artistic director Damien Ricketson, cultivating young talent is a rewarding experience close to home...
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Orchestras Victoria // Vic // 08.08.07
The 3MBS orchestral competition is now firmly established on the awards calendar. And with a performance for the winner, the competition is one that budding young composers take seriously...
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Kammer // NSW // 16.06.07
Sydney-based ensemble Kammer’s varied program mixed contemporary Australian ideas with their global lineage, anchored by classic works of the Second Viennese School...
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Liquid Architecture 8 // Nat. // 28-30.06.07
To my ears, contemporary experimental electronic music seldom strays far from its revered musique concrète origins...
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ASQ // QLD // 09.05.07
Whether acting on a feminine hunch or her trademark compositional intuition, Elena Kats-Chernin was inspired to create something with an ‘unromantic, dry, crisp and light sound’...
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MSO // Vic // 12.05.07
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s Metropolis concert series was initiated in 1997 at the Melbourne Town Hall with the primary objective of presenting contemporary orchestral repertoire...
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Various // Vic // 17 + 24.06.07
Melbourne-based composer Julian Yu has had a moment in the sun recently with two works being performed on back-to-back Sundays...
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ACMC // ACT // 19-21.06.07
For many years, the rest of the music world has, to some degree, looked on the computer music field as an area that is more involved with experiment than actual music making...
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Collusion // QLD // 15.06.07
Collusion is taking off, and with good reason. This hybrid-arts contemporary classical music ensemble enrapture audiences by championing new or rarely performed works...
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