Gillian Whitehead
Gillian Whitehead writes chamber, vocal and orchestral music that can feel like weather over land and water: atmospheric, dreamy, and rooted in the sounds and seasonal cycles of Aotearoa. Manutaki and The Journey of Matuku Moana show how fully she can hold a landscape in instrumental colour.
Her Māori heritage shapes the work, from early pieces built on sayings and the seasonal cycle to later scores that bring taonga pūoro into the ensemble. Manutaki, written for the Australia Ensemble, is a chamber landscape of New Zealand land and sea, often dreamy yet sharply drawn; reviewers have called it among the finest chamber works of its decade. The Journey of Matuku Moana, for solo cello, traces a long, concentrated arc written for Georg Pedersen. Elsewhere she arranges carols with the same ear for line and colour, and contributes concise vocal chamber pieces such as All One Water. The music moves between systematic craft and instinct, always toward direct, listen-able atmosphere rather than display.
Compositions by Gillian Whitehead appear on
Kingfisher
This CD is the result of a daring project to commission 21 composers to write new works for Halcyon's two singers, Jenny Duck-Chong and Alison Morgan. Presented over two concerts in their 15th anniversary year, and then recorded at Trackdown.
Australian Cello
Sydney-based Danish cellist Georg Pedersen’s first solo disc centres on three major Australian works for solo cello by Banks, Kos and Whitehead. The Kos and Whitehead pieces were written especially for him.
Christmas under Capricorn
The Australian Youth Orchestra, conducted by Graham Abbott, plays nineteen Christmas carols arranged for orchestra by Australian composers. Two carols appear in paired settings, inviting comparison. Listenable festive music, easy to give as a gift.
Café Concertino
The Australia Ensemble, Australia's foremost chamber group and in residence at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, presents commissioned and core Australian chamber works.