Agony and Ecstasy - Australian Music from
the time of Arthur Boyd
Percy GRAINGER (1882-1961)
Spoon River (1919) [4:11]
Miriam HYDE (1913-2005)
Piano Concerto No.1 in E flat minor - II. Lento (1933) [9:54]
Alfred HILL (1869-1960)
Symphony No.2 'Joy of Life' - I. Grave-allegro (1941) [9:12]
John ANTILL (1904-1986)
Corroboree - III. Rain Dance (1946) [3:09]
Peggy GLANVILLE-HICKS (1912-1990)
Gymnopédie No.1 [4:04]
Peter SCULTHORPE (1929-2014)
Irkanda IV (1961) [11:16]
Malcolm WILLIAMSON (1931-2003)
Sinfonietta - II. Elegy (1965) [6:31]
David LUMSDAINE (b.1931)
Shoalhaven [12:05]
Ross EDWARDS (b.1943)
Arafura Dances - Concerto for Guitar and Strings - III. Second Maninya [5:16]
Carl VINE (b.1954)
Celebrare celeberrime - a celebration for orchestra (1979) [5:06]
Richard MEALE (1932-2009)
Lumen (1998) [6:57]
rec. no recording information provided
ABC CLASSICS 4811210 [78:54]
The rather melodramatic title of this CD links it to an
exhibition in Australia of the works of the artist Arthur Boyd. Boyd lived
from 1920 to 1999 so the music is rather neatly presented in chronological
order and as such can be listened to as a survey of a certain aspect Australian
music through the twentieth century. ABC Classics released a compilation
of similar works in 2004 (see
review).
Documentation is sparse with no recording information regarding year or location.
The performing artists are listed. A brief search online reveals that many
of the performances here have been taken from ABC's 'Australian
Composer Series' discs which were usually single composer overviews.
Outside Australia these discs are fairly hard to come by and when they can
be found they are often rather expensive. All of which inhibits the dissemination
of this fine music to a worldwide audience. That being said quite a few of
these same single composer collections are available as downloads from e-classical
ranging from approximately £3-£6 per 'disc'. Recording quality
is very variable from the outright poor through to good although none could
be termed demonstration quality. The disc opens with the obligatory Percy
Grainger - although not one of his most well-known pieces. Spoon River
is based on fiddle tune from Illinois but it is very much in the spirit of
his other Irish-inspired works such as Molly on the Shore. The performance
is neat and alert with the quirks of Grainger's scoring coming through
including the harmonium. Recording quality is acceptable with quite a lot
of background hiss and not as much clarity or depth as the finest recordings
possess.
An average recording inhibits the impact of the Miriam Hyde slow movement
from her first piano concerto (review;
review).
The particular interest lies in the fact that Hyde is also the soloist. This
is where no recording information is frustrating. Hyde was born in 1913 so
one wonders at her age when this performance was recorded. She was just twenty
years old and a student in London when the work was produced. By that standard
it is pretty impressive although rather derivative in a neo-romantic fashion
- Rachmaninov out of John Ireland sprung to mind. The recording does the solo
instrument few favours - rather harsh and clangorous. Also, the inclusion
of only the second movement is the fatal flaw of such compilations as this,
but certainly there is enough of interest in this excerpt to make one wish
to hear the remainder of the work. The opening movement only of Alfred
Hill's Second Symphony is next (review
of related work). My reaction to this is much the same as all the limited
amount of Hill I know - the title's of the works are more interesting
than the music itself. Remarkably this work was written in 1941 but would
be more at ease some fifty years earlier. It is perfectly pleasant music but
without the individuality to linger in the memory. The recording is one of
the worst in the set - indeed it sounds as if there was some mastering flaw
- on the disc I have, this track alone suffers from a rather strange phasing
sound that distorts the music from the very first bars. Which is a shame since
the South Australian Symphony Orchestra under Patrick Thomas give a spirited
performance. The more I hear it, it does sound bizarrely like latter-day Raff
which for 1941 must be one of the most 'outside-of-the zeitgeist'
works ever.
The excerpt from Antill's Corroboree is listed as 'historic
mono recording' (review).
Apparently it is from 1950 but I have heard recordings made a quarter of a
century earlier that sound better. Here the scale and detail of Antill's
substantial score are all but obscured in a swishing audio haze allowing almost
no real appreciation at all of this important work. Liner-note writer Natalie
Shea rather primly warns us that the work "may raise uncomfortable questions
about cultural respect and authenticity" which is simply foolish. By
that token, any piece of music that sourced material from folk or ethnic backgrounds
is to be dismissed. Percy Grainger better take care - why did Shea not raise
the same concerns regarding his 'cavalier' treatment of the
music from Illinois?
After a run of some rather disappointing selections Peggy Glanville-Hicks'
Gymnopédie No.1 is an attractive little gem. Very much in the spirit
of the Satie works which I assume were a source of inspiration. This is the
first of a group of three and it would be fascinating to hear them as a sequence
(review)
but it stands alone satisfactorily in a way that not all of the works presented
here do. The scoring for strings, harp and oboe gives the work a gently melancholy
pastoral atmosphere - the scoring is lucid and effective. Certainly enough
to have me seeking out the companion works.
Another powerful work - written as a musical expression of the composer's
feelings on the death of his father is Peter
Sculthorpe's Irkanda IV. Essentially a slow lamenting
movement for solo violin, strings and percussion this is an austerely impressive
work compellingly played by violinist Donald Hazelwood and conductor Stuart
Challender. Again, a fuller recording would have paid dividends - I see this
is a work recorded on Chandos by the Australian Chamber Orchestra. I have
not heard that performance but I am guessing it benefits from a more sympathetic
recording technically. Malcolm Williamson seems to be on the verge of a revival/reassessment.
Here we are given the second movement Elegy from his 1965 Sinfonietta.
Shea's curious liner states; "it was ... written for the launch
of the final stage of the BBC's Music Program [sic]". she further
states the commission required the piece to be "extravert" [sic].
I've no idea what any of that means. The piece itself is very fine
and this excerpt certainly encourages me to hear more - it appears on Vol.
1 of the Chandos Williamson edition - will that ever get beyond Volume
2 I wonder? The structure of the movement is quite simple with a hypnotic
slowly circling motif from wind and strings in contrast to a rhythmic section
led by the brass. The closing part of the movement combines these seemingly
unrelated elements in different orchestrations. The playing of the Tasmanian
Symphony Orchestra is very good with the brass in particular relishing their
clashing chordal writing.
The following three works are more consciously light-hearted but all are well
written and strikingly individual. David Lumsdaine's Shoalhaven
is rather unusual in that it opens with four or so minutes of what might be
called nature-painting; a rather epic soundscape that has echoes of a kind
of Coplandesque 'open plains' character which suddenly and very
unexpectedly morphs into an extended blues for full orchestra. The liner explains
that this is the composer's tribute to his friend Don Banks who composed
in a jazz as well as contemporary/classical idiom. This section disappears
into the distance and the music returns to the landscape of the opening. It
makes for an odd juxtaposition and one that I am not wholly convinced works
but it is played with great gusto. The closing movement of Ross Edwards'
Concerto for Guitar and Strings follows. This is lighter-hearted than other
Edwards I have heard; a Malcolm Arnold out of Rodrigo feel to the music. Edwards
gives the section the title Maninya - a description he has pretty
much made his own and combines elements of indigenous Australian music with
dance and chant. In the incarnation it has here the music is lightly textured
and buoyantly rhythmic - characteristics well projected by guitarist Karin
Schaupp and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra once more (review).
Carl Vine's Celebrare celeberrime completes this mini-triptych
of more upbeat works (review).
Vine seems to share in this work at least a similar aesthetic to Michael Daugherty
where he fuses elements of classical music with the spirit and energy of popular
culture. There is a cinematic quality to Vine's writing that is undoubtedly
exciting. Propulsive rhythms and powerful orchestration makes this an excellent
five minute display piece for orchestra. Certainly the Sydney Symphony Orchestra
play it with enormous energy and skill. Unfortunately the recording is too
opaque for the work with the resonance clouding much of the inner detail with
the result being simply noisy rather than uplifting. However, enough of the
work's quality shines through to know that in more skilfully engineered
performances this would be a superb concert-opener or orchestral show-piece
- I see the Australian Youth Orchestra used it to open their debut concert
at the 2004 BBC Proms.
This well-filled programme ends with Richard Meale's contemplative
Lumen. This is an impressive work too and one that brings the disc
to a satisfyingly reflective conclusion. I have no knowledge of any other
work by Meale - according to online sources he is "Australia's
neglected grandmaster" which is enough of a reference to make me wish
to hear more. The same reviewer - Chris Latham - refers to Lumen as a work
in which "in which all subject matter seems to fall away to be replaced
by waves of pure sound, embodying another famous Basho haiku “the temple bells
stops, but the sound keeps coming out of the flowers”." Certainly there
is a simple timelessness about the work that is both meditative and rather
moving. My only grouch is another rather unsubtle recording which undermines
the fine advocacy of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and renders the work
surely less atmospheric than it is meant to be.
As a survey of Australian music this is certainly stimulating and interesting
albeit compromised by the average recording quality. The composers selected
- with the exception of Alfred Hill - have strongly individual voices. There
is a lack of contemporary music which does not fall into the easily assimilated
post-modern idiom. Perhaps that is because the works chosen resonate better
with the art of Arthur Boyd. As an introduction to the richness and diversity
of twentieth century Australian music this is a valuable survey.
Nick Barnard
Performers
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra/John Hopkins (Grainger), Miriam Hyde (piano),
The West Australian Symphony Orchestra/Geoffrey Simon (Hyde); South Australian
Symphony Orchestra/Patrick Thomas (Thomas); Sydney Symphony Orchestra/Eugene
Goossens (historical recording) (Antill); Sydney Symphony Orchestra/Myer Fredman
(Antill); Donald Hazelwood (violin), Sydney Symphony Orchestra/Stuart Challender
(Sculthorpe), Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra/Richard Mills (Williamson); West
Australian Symphony Orchestra/Albert Rosen (Lumsdaine); Karin Schaupp (guitar),
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra/Richard Mills (Edwards); Sydney Symphony Orchestra/Edo
de Waart (Meale)
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