CD Review: A Celtic Christmas/Australian Brandenburg Orchestra And Choir
With all the frisson of a live recording, the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra’s newest release A Celtic Christmas, from their 2013 Christmas concerts at Sydney’s City Recital Hall and released on the ABC Classics label (ABC 481 1317), is a refreshing collection of seasonal music that goes beyond traditional fare. Paul Dyer’s indefatiguable capacity to curate…
CD Review: This Time/ Grigoryan Brothers
“Nothing is more beautiful than a guitar, save perhaps two” – a quote attributed to Fredric Chopin. When those two guitars are played by brothers who have shared a journey in both life and music the combined effect is something special. This Time the CD released by the Grigoryan brothers, Slava and Leonard is the …
Concert Review: Songs Of Remembrance/The Choir Of St James’ King Street
Over the past few years, Remembrance Day seems to have grown in the public heart. Of a more universal scope than its January counterpart, ANZAC Day, Remembrance Day’s theme is of the senseless suffering worldwide caused by war. With the increasing prominence of the commemoration comes a similar realisation of the quality of the associated…
Concert Review: An Evening with the Viennese Titans/orchestra seventeen88
orchestra seventeen88 An Evening with the Viennese Titans New Hall, Sydney Grammar School, Darlinghurst 22 November 2014 orchestra seventeen88 is continuing to establish itself as a welcome addition to Sydney’s musical life. Its aim is to present music from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries using historically informed practice and playing on instruments…
Concert Review: Tout Français/Thoroughbass
Tout Français Thoroughbass St Luke’s Anglican Church, Mosman November 16, 2014 Courtly dance music by lesser-known French composers was the focus for this concert given by Diana Weston – founder of early music ensemble Thoroughbass, with viola da gamba player, Shaun Ng and soprano Anna Fraser. Most of the works performed were composed during the…
Concert Review: The Company We Keep/Acacia Quartet
The Company We Keep, Acacia Quartet, The Australian Hall, Sydney November 6, 2014 Stepping away from the peak hour bustle on Sydney’s Elizabeth Street, the hidden gem that is the Australian Hall hosted the Acacia Quartet’s programme The Company We Keep, featuring music by Gershwin, Glass, Kreisler and Brisbane born, Hollywood based composer Joe Twist….
Concert Review: Hatched/Ensemble Offspring
Ensemble Offspring: Hatched Music Workshop, Sydney Conservatorium of Music Thursday, October 30 at 8pm Callum G’Froerer, trumpet/ Jeremy Rose, saxophone/ Claire Edwardes, percussion/ Jason Noble, clarinet/ Lamorna Nightingale, flute The Hatched Academy has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience for its two inaugural ‘hatchlings’, Melbourne-based trumpeter Callum G’Froerer and composer/saxophonist Jeremy Rose. Ensemble Offspring artistic directors Claire…
Concert Review: The Magic Of Paul Dean/The Flinders Quartet
The Magic of Paul Dean The Flinders Quartet The Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House October 29, 2014 The waves of Sydney harbour – at times serene, at times restless – provided the perfect backdrop to the themes of the Flinders Quartet’s presentation The Magic of Paul Dean in the Utzon Room of the Sydney…
Concert Review:Ottoman Baroque/Australian Brandenburg Orchestra
The sounds of the music and chanting ebbed away; the shadows on the stage faded. There was no applause, no cheering, no curtain calls. The audience rose and silently filed out of the City Recital Hall. This silence was no expression of displeasure; rather it was an acknowledgement that the concluding item on the Australian…