John Harding
John Harding's violin brings lyric fire and chamber poise to horn trios by Brahms, Banks and Berkeley, to Carl Vine's Third Quartet, and to Arthur Benjamin's neglected sonatinas and miniatures, played with characteristic élan.
The Tall Poppies sessions catch him as a chamber player of real heat: radiant against Hector McDonald's horn and Ian Munro's Stuart piano in the three Bs of the horn-trio repertoire; driving ostinatos and serene modal lyricism in Vine's Quartet No. 3 with the Tall Poppies Quartet; Howells-like ecstasy, a grotesque scherzo and a carefree rondo in Benjamin's Violin Sonatina, plus the Heifetz Jamaican Rumba arrangement. He steps to viola for Anne Boyd's My Name is Tian, joins the Tall Poppies Ensemble for Kats-Chernin's Velvet Revolution and the crisp brilliance of Red Earth's Australian scores, and leads the Sydney Symphony in live Schreker and Rachmaninoff of near-flawless energy. The sound is generous, precise and fully alive.
John Harding is featured on the following titles
Horn Trios
A dazzling trio in horn trios by Banks, Berkeley and Brahms. Anyone who caught their Australian performances in 1998 will know how wonderfully these musicians work together.
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.
John Harding also appears on
David Stanhope: Live in Concert
In an era of ubiquitous digital streaming, it is good to be reminded of the energy and excitement of live performance. This concert, with its scintillating late-Romantic repertoire, recalls what a diet of studio recordings can leave out.
Chamber of Horrors
Tall Poppies presents chamber music by Elena Kats-Chernin, one of Australia’s most loved composers, in works written for the musicians who play them here.
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.
Crossing a Bridge of Dreams
This CD gathers some of Anne Boyd's most enduring works, mostly from the 1980s. Many pieces reflect her passion for Asian music, heard especially in the flute writing. Premiere performers return for the recording, among them John Harding on viola in My Name Is Tian.
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.
John Harding 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.