Review: Bird Spirit Dreaming (HD Duo)
High-res performances from HD Duo with all-Australian repertoire.
High-res performances from HD Duo with all-Australian repertoire.
Cameron Lam celebrates a kaleidoscope of colours across Classical, Jazz and Sound Art in this month’s Australian Art Music playlist.
With two world premieres in the pipeline – including one by Carl Vine – Nexas Quartet's Michael Duke sees the limited classical sax repertoire as an opportunity.
The Sydney-based saxophone quartet brings to life its album Tango de Saxos in a performance that transports us to the dance halls of Buenos Aires.
Commonwealth composers, uncommon talent in world premiere recordings.
Cameron Lam explores music for two in this month's playlist of Australian art music.
The much-lauded saxophone quartet celebrates its second decade with concerts featuring Ravel, Debussy, Jennifer Higdon, Lyle Chan and Nicholas Vines among other composers.
December’s playlist is entirely constructed from 2021 releases. It’s been a great chance to look through what’s been happening through an intense and stressful year – and the amazing work our composers and performers have done.
An impressive evening with pieces by two Australian composers, and persuasive performances by the young players.
Look no further than the title. Australian Portrait is a collection of recent Australian pieces for saxophone and piano that are mostly recorded here for the first time. Alongside composers Matthew Hindson, Anne Boyd, Brenton Broadstock and Michael Smetanin are less-familiar names worth getting to know: Andrew Batterham and Mark Zadro. It’s a diverse and compelling set from the Sydney-based HD Duo. The repertoire ranges from breezy post-minimalism and jazz-inflected tunes to meatier fare with the emphasis on the melodic and rhythmic interplay between the two players. Hindson’s Repetepetition is a buoyant opener that matches the confident flair of Batterham’s Duke’s Crusade. Broadstock’s Not too near … not too far is uncharacteristically bouncy for a composer best known for his bold and elegiac orchestral works. Equally surprising is Anne Boyd’s edgy Ganba which, unlike her more meditative pieces, isn’t afraid to let off steam, its raucous sax calls inspired by Indigenous responses to early steam trains. Likewise the Smetanin is gritty and chiseled, setting out as a sort of demonic warm-up exercise before easing into more florid climes. The disc concludes with an extended suite by Mark Zadro that fuses a kind of angular jazz with crisp colouristic passages. Australian…