Review: Opening Gala (Canberra International Music Festival)
The Festival hits the ground running with music from home and abroad.
The Festival hits the ground running with music from home and abroad.
William Barton left the audience deeply moved by an experience that had touched them to the core.
Newly commissioned works by Bakrnčev, Barton and Wolf will form the centre-piece of Maddilyn Goodwin’s interdisciplinary project.
★★★★½ A moving lunchtime celebration and fusion of cultures. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Ahead of his lunchtime recital, the inspirational musician reveals his own inspirations. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
★★★★☆ A procession of first-rate artists and ensembles with a few fascinating surprises. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
The good news and the bad news... but mostly the good news.
Aussie Maestro Daniel Smith will conduct the Mariinsky Orchestra in Hindson and Barton’s Kalkadungu.
Here is a really indispensible set of recordings.
William Barton is well known for his cross-genre collaborations and adventurous performance style. We see both on this disc that features his famous didgeridoo playing, married with his talents as a composer. He’s joined here by a formidable line-up of musos, including the Kurilpa String Quartet, vocalist Delmae Barton (William’s mother) and violinist John Rodgers, in a stunning album that sees a blending of classically notated, popular and Indigenous Australian musical styles. Barton explores the full range and virtuosity of his instrument, with rumbling drones and colourful animal calls – we’re even treated to the expressively plaintive voice of Barton himself. The title track Birdsong at Dusk opens with him singing over rich murmurs in the cello that build to encompass the full quartet. There’s a haunting beauty in this free, open music, before it is transformed into a vibrant dance through the rhythmic spirit of the didgeridoo and clapping sticks. Petrichore features an impossibly fast dialogue between violin and didgeridoo, with the rapid, bullet- like staccato in the didge answering the busy passagework of John Rodgers’ impressive violin playing. 7/8 not too late is a fascinating, improvisatory didgeridoo solo that at one point breaks out into a sort of pop-inspired beatboxing. Here Barton is…