Esther van Stralen
Esther van Stralen brings a nutty, assertive viola tone to solo fantasies spanning Telemann, Cage, Penderecki and Piazzolla, and darkens Australian chamber lines with grit, warmth and precision.
On Fantasies she moves between baroque viola and twentieth-century grit: Cage’s Dream for viola ensemble, Britten’s early Elegy, Penderecki’s Cadenza, Vine miniatures, Kerry’s Etude, Marbé with tape, and her own arrangements of Telemann and Piazzolla tangos. She plays with temperament and conviction, and a relaxed musicality that holds long unaccompanied stretches without strain. In Arthur Benjamin’s Viola Sonata she caresses the elegiac lines, darkens the tone for the work’s foreboding, and drives a blistering toccata. As the inner voice of Vine’s Third Quartet and within the Tall Poppies Ensemble she supplies clean colour through outback pulse, insect-still nocturnes, sinewy bagatelles and political chamber scores.
Esther van Stralen is featured on the following titles
Fantasies
Dutch-born Esther van Stralen, principal violist of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, shapes this recital from her own wide-ranging tastes: earlier works on baroque viola sit beside a broad sweep of twentieth-century solo writing.
Arranger
Performing as Tall Poppies Ensemble
An occasional studio ensemble of Australian chamber musicians, the Tall Poppies Ensemble records Australian chamber music with crisp brilliance and outstanding precision: outback pulse, contemplative stillness, Asian-inflected lyricism and political colour.
Red Earth
A world-premiere recording of important Australian works for instrumental ensemble. Performers and repertoire were hand-selected for the project, which was funded by the Australia Council.
Esther van Stralen also appears on
Jamaican Rumba, Vol. 2
Pianist Ian Munro's devotion to Arthur Benjamin drives this second volume of chamber music, recorded with colleagues from the Tall Poppies Ensemble. Major and long-neglected works for violin, viola, cello and clarinet finally receive their due.
Carl Vine: Chamber Music, Vol. 2
World premiere recordings of Carl Vine's Second Piano Sonata, played by Michael Kieran Harvey, and Third String Quartet, by the Tall Poppies Quartet (John Harding, Georges Lentz, Esther van Stralen and David Pereira).
An Australian Collection
Nineteen tracks drawn from the Tall Poppies catalogue, chosen to show the range and depth of Australian composition and performance across the label’s first decade.
Esther van Stralen is a member of
Tall Poppies Ensemble
An occasional studio ensemble of Australian chamber musicians, the Tall Poppies Ensemble records Australian chamber music with crisp brilliance and outstanding precision: outback pulse, contemplative stillness, Asian-inflected lyricism and political colour.