Classical Editor: Rob Barnett                               Music Webmaster Len Mullenger: Len@musicweb-international.com


Points in a Changing Circle - Music of New Zealand Composers

Douglas LILBURN
Brass Quartet (1992)
John ELMSLY
Triptych for trumpet and electronic sounds (1993)
John RIMMER
Sonata 5
John RIMMER
Seaswell for trumpet and electronic sounds (1993)
Ross HARRIS 
Echo for trumpet with tape loop
John ELMSLY
Gestauqua for brass quintet and electronic tape

Concord Brass
ATOLL A9806 [63.10]

Lilburn (whose Lilburn Trust bankrolled this disc) does not mess with archaism - at least not in his quartet. Instead he writes, over five movements, a smooth, reedy serenade with some glances towards Hovhaness and Copland. Elmsly first impressed me with his contribution to the Atoll Fanfares disc (also reviewed here) and in Triptych (misspelt on the label) the electronic sounds are musical and blend well, if gothically, with a defiant trumpet line. More successfully still his Sonata a 5 is patterned with complexity within a game harmonic frame. Seaswell, for me, misses the mark, the effects are too intrusive, discontinuous and do not blend with the trumpet. Ross Harris's Echo is a more resolved piece with clever use of the loop subtly to extend the range and line of the trumpet. It is not a difficult avant garde piece unlike Gestauqua although it is clever and convinces you that repeated listenings will draw you closer.

Rob Barnett

In case of difficulty available from
Atoll ltd, PO Box 99039, Newmarket, Auckland, New Zealand.
www.atoll.co.nz
atoll@atoll.co.nz

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