Graeme Koehne
Graeme Koehne (born 1956) is an Australian composer and music educator, known for orchestral and ballet scores of direct, communicative style. His solo, ensemble and orchestral music is widely performed.
Ballet has been central to his catalogue. The Selfish Giant (TP115), after Oscar Wilde’s fairy tale, was written for the Sydney Dance Company; the same disc pairs it with the orchestral suite Once Around the Sun. Later dance scores fed chamber excerpts such as the garden scene and pieces from Nearly Beloved.
Across the catalogue his concert music favours clarity and song. The Bach homage To His Servant Bach, God Grants a Final Glimpse: The Morning Star (MD 3148) appears for organ and in harp arrangement; guitarists take up A Closed World of Fine Feelings (TP169); short piano character pieces and a violin lullaby sit beside the popular orchestral vein of works such as Powerhouse.
He studied composition in Adelaide, held a Harkness Fellowship in the United States, and later led composition teaching at the Elder Conservatorium. In 2014 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia.
Graeme Koehne is featured on the following titles
The Selfish Giant: Ballet Music
Graeme Koehne is among Australia’s most successful ballet composers. Work for the Sydney Dance Company in the 1980s opened a distinguished career in the form. The Selfish Giant, written for that company, appears here complete.
Compositions by Graeme Koehne also appear on
Close Your Eyes and I'll Close Mine: Lullabies Old and New
Lullabies (or berceuses) have been around as long as humans have been singing their children to sleep. This CD presents a unique collection of mostly modern lullabies, many written for this project.
Blue Rags
Ian Munro plays contemporary piano rags by Elena Kats-Chernin, Ann Ghandar and himself, with Graeme Koehne’s Blues and Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky’s composer-portrait Silhouettes.
Mirrors of Fire
Every now and then a CD comes along that makes you glad to be alive: the music is so infectious and the performances brilliant. This is one such disc, featuring Timothy Kain, Australia’s virtuoso guitarist.
Graeme Murphy's Body of Work: A Retrospective
For 25 years the Sydney Dance Company under Graeme Murphy dominated Australian dance. Murphy made it a mission to commission new Australian scores; this disc gathers some of the most successful, issued to mark a national tour celebrating his work.
Lift Off: Australian Piano Music for Children
An engaging collection of piano music by Australian composers written to spark young imaginations. Elpis Liossatos, an Australian pianist then living in Greece, brings charm and enthusiasm to these performances.
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.
Awakening
Marshall McGuire is a formidable asset to Australia’s contemporary music scene, and the only harpist specialising in both baroque harp and all forms of modern music. This Tall Poppies disc remains a catalogue best-seller.