Women of Note - A Century of Australian Composers Volume 2
rec. 1979-2019
Reviewed as a digital download from a press preview
ABC CLASSICS 482 9111 [2 CDs: 138:46]
I had the good fortune to review the third volume of this series by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation celebrating female composers from that country last year (review). The bulk of that third volume was focused on contemporary composers where this second volume goes further back in time. The remarkable thing about that third volume was its consistency in terms of both the music and the performances. Whilst I found lots to enjoy in the second of the series, I did find it much more uneven.
Composers like Liza Lim (who was included in the third volume) demonstrate that the impression of compositional conservatism given by this series is not the whole picture when it comes to the Australian contemporary classical scene. Lim’s contribution is certainly very much the exception. I do not really believe that distinctions between conservative and radical are even terribly relevant in 2021 anyway. The issue is much more about whether or not a composer has found their voice and had something to say with it. Lim certainly has and does as evidenced by the stunning set of her operas, Singing in Tongues, which I got to review recently. By these criteria, this present set is much more of a mixed bag.
The comprehensive booklet notes are full of extraordinary stories about the struggles faced by woman composers. I doubt many composers have had to contend with a psychiatrist husband who believed that a woman wanting to compose was evidence of her insanity as Margaret Sutherland had to. After sensibly and bravely divorcing him in 1948, she returned to composition. I would love to round out this tale by hailing her work as lost masterpieces but her Haunted Hills, like a lot of the older music included here, seems derivative and old fashioned even for its day. This set tends to demonstrate the truth that composition is a full time not an amateur occupation- the likes of Borodin notwithstanding. Certainly as it becomes more possible for women to become professional composers the quality of the work improves proportionately. Dulcie Holland’s elegantly crafted neoclassical Sonata for Violin and Piano from 1937, which kicks off proceedings, is the exception to the rule.
I found this set only really hit its stride on the second CD, though an aria from Elena Kats-Chernin’s opera Wild Swans may be familiar to UK listeners from its use in an ad for Lloyds Bank. My favourite piece was Dancing on Tiptoes by Rachel Bruerville. As with most of the music here, it is not particularly adventurous but this is a well made, open hearted piece expertly written for strings. The same could be said of We Won’t Let You Down by Natalie Nicholas.
The influence of film and TV music is apparent throughout this second disc. Mary Finsterer’s Lake Ice, inspired by bedtime stories for her daughter, is highly visual and ingenious music that seems in search of an unmade fantasy movie. I was less convinced by Time and Tide by Miriama Young though it does take us on an very effectively rendered trip back in time through the history of Sydney Harbour via archive tape recordings, brass and percussion. It is effective piece but I would have liked a bit more adventure in terms of its musical elements.
Deborah Cheetham’s Eumeralla: A War Requiem for Peace, even though some of its joins are audible, seemed to me to rise to the occasion much better with music of real vision. One of the most recent pieces, The Space Between Stars by Ella Macens, is also one of the most evocative even though its lush scoring is wholly post Romantic in nature. Nardi Simpson’s wry brass piece, Wilga’s Last Dance rounds out affairs appropriately.
Even though I missed the exuberant burst of sunlight I experienced listening to volume 3, I congratulate ABC not just for their commitment to women composers but to demonstrating to the nervous that contemporary music doesn’t bite.
David McDade
Contents
Disc 1
DULCIE HOLLAND (1913–2000)
Sonata for violin and piano (1937) [14:52]
Asmira Woodward-Page violin, Scott Davie piano
LINDA PHILLIPS (1899–2002)
Exaltation (Chassidic Air and Dance)(1930s) [13:30]
Anne Gilby oboe, Isin Cakmakcioglu violin, Rachel Atkinson cello, Robert Chamberlain piano
MIRIAM HYDE (1913–2005)
Village Fair (1943) [11:18]
Sydney Symphony Orchestra/Dobbs Franks
MARGARET SUTHERLAND (1897–1984)
Haunted Hills (1950) [15:19]
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra/John Hopkins
MOYA HENDERSON (b. 1941)
Kudikynah Cave (1987) [6:16]
Acacia Quartet (Lisa Stewart and Myee Clohessy violins, Stefan Duwe viola, Anna Martin-Scrase cello)
KATIA TIUTIUNNIK (b. 1967)
The Quickening (2004) [5:55]
Laura Chislett flute, Stephanie McCallum piano
ELENA KATS-CHERNIN (b. 1957)
Eliza Aria from Wild Swans – Concert Suite (2004) [3:17]
Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Jessica Cottis conductor
Disc 2
KATY ABBOTT (b. 1971)
Punch (2013) [2’15]
Geoff Payne, Shane Hooten and Joel Walmsley trumpets, Saul Lewis, Jenna Breen, Alden Cai and Melissa Shirley horns, Jessica Buzbee and David Farrell trombones, Mike Szabo bass trombone, Tim Buzbee tuba, Robert Cossom timpani/Brett Kelly
MARY FINSTERER (b. 1962)
Lake Ice – Missed Tales I (2013) [19’21]
Kees Boersma double bass, Sydney Symphony Orchestra/Jessica Cottis
AMANDA COLE (b. 1979)
3 Glocken Blocken (2014) [ 4’48]
Claire Edwardes marimba and Almglocken (cowbells)
MIRIAMA YOUNG (b. 1975)
Time and Tide (2018) [10’11]
2018 Sydney Symphony Fellows (Aidan Gabriels horn, Jenna Smith trumpet, Amanda Tillett trombone, Sami Butler percussion)
RACHEL BRUERVILLE (b. 1991)
Dancing on Tiptoes (2018) [3:02]
ACO Collective
ELLA MACENS (b. 1991)
The Space Between Stars (2018) [13’14]
Sydney Symphony Orchestra/Jessica Cottis
DEBORAH CHEETHAM (b. 1964)
Eumeralla, a war requiem for peace – excerpts (2019) [6:01]
Deborah Cheetham soprano (Yorta Yorta), Linda Barcan mezzo-soprano, Don Bemrose baritone (Gungarri), Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus (Warren Trevelyan-Jones chorusmaster), The Consort of Melbourne, Dhungala Children’s Choir, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (with Masters students from Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and young talent from Melbourne Youth Orchestras)/Benjamin Northey
NARDI SIMPSON (b. 1975)
Wilga’s Last Dance (2019) [3:36]
Royal Australian Navy Band
