The Complete Solo Piano Works Of Sculthorpe To Be Released On CD

The piano music of the late Peter Sculthorpe AO, OBE, Australia’s most recognised and revered composer, will be honoured in a 2-CD set to be released by ABC Classics on Friday September 5, 2014. The album, Peter Sculthorpe: Complete Solo Piano Music recorded by Tamara Anna Cislowska features Sculthorpe’s piano works composed between 1945 and 2011.

Peter Sculthorpe’s was the first Australian composer to move away from the influence of European ideas in music and create a distinctively Australian music inspired by the land, the sounds and the history of Australia, and by the aesthetics of the region. 

 This double-album opens with Falling Leaves, written when Sculthorpe was just 16; other tracks include Djilile, based on an Indigenous Arnhem Land melody, LeftBank Waltz, Koto Music I and II, The Rose Bay Quadrilles and Riverina Dreaming. The recording includes all of Sculthorpe’s published pieces, as well as previously unpublished, unrecorded and unperformed works.

There is an important personal touch to this CD – the track list was compiled with the collaboration of the composer. As well, the pianist, Tamara Anna Cislowska was the composer’s own choice for this recording, having been close friends since Cislowska performed Sculthorpe’s piano concerto with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the age of 14.

The 34 tracks amounting to 159 minutes of music were recorded at the Eugene Goossens Hall on June 14, 2014 and include three tracks with pre-recorded sound. It is engineered and produced by the ARIA Award-winning Virginia Read.