Moya Henderson
Moya Henderson's music is warm, sincere and distinctively Australian: chamber works such as G'Day Africa and Cross Hatching, art songs and carols, and scores that remember Gallipoli and the land with directness.
Her writing ranges across chamber, vocal, choral, orchestral and electronic music, and often carries a music-theatre instinct. Cross Hatching opens colour and light at the piano; G'Day Africa drives with rhythmic bite for clarinet, viola, piano and cello. She sets Judith Wright in an intriguing multi-voice Woman's Song, contributes carols and arrangements that sit easily in the ear, and marks national memory without grandstanding. The opera Lindy, on the Azaria Chamberlain case, turns a travesty of justice into staged music. She also invented percussion instruments including the alemba and Tosca Bells, and a string 'noose' that frees natural harmonics across the orchestra's range.
Compositions by Moya Henderson 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.
Woman's Song: Australian Settings of Poetry by Judith Wright
Elizabeth Campbell has long been a tireless promoter of Australian art song. With Tony Fogg in the 1980s she presented the recital series From Nathan To Now; two decades later she brought that energy to a recording of settings of poetry by Judith Wright.
Christmas Day
Ranging from a cappella singing to full orchestral colour, these carols make an ideal gift for music-loving friends. The programme is mostly modern, yet warmly listenable.
Points of Departure
Perihelion, the Brisbane chamber group of clarinet, viola, piano and cello, built its repertoire largely through commissions. This disc gathers some of the ensemble’s most successful new Australian works.
Notations
Stephanie McCallum is a Sydney-based pianist who specialises in contemporary music. Her performances bring light and colour to these works. Music by Xenakis and Boulez sits well beside a generation of Australian composers.
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.