Neale Sandbach
Neale Sandbach's engineering sits behind some of Tall Poppies' most vivid Australian chamber, choral and jazz sessions, from percussion storms and solo bass lyricism to Vine concertos and Edwards's ecstatic dances, captured with clarity and presence.
His microphone work and mixes take in Synergy cooking with Dave Samuels, Machine for Making Sense's interlocking voice and electronics, Song Company on environmental choral scores, and premiere Vine and Lumsdaine concertos. He multi-tracked Steve Hunter's five-string bass into spare chamber colours, produced Sonic Fiction's rhythm-rich debut, and mixed Westlake anthologies where bass clarinet, delay and percussion need room to dance. Balances stay natural and detail keen, so the music's brightness, grit and lyricism arrive intact.
Credits
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.
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.
Raft Song at Sunrise: Chamber Music, Vol. 2
Following the best-selling first volume of Ross Edwards’s chamber music (TP051), this disc gathers some of his most enduring works, recorded here for the first time.
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).
A Garden of Earthly Delights
Three Australian concertos in exuberant performances by the Australian Youth Orchestra, conductor Diego Masson, and soloists David Nuttall, Ian Munro and David Pereira.
Carl Vine: Inner World
Written especially for David Pereira, Inner World pairs live cello with a tape part drawn only from his own playing. Vine transforms that material into an integrated accompaniment. Australia's first classical CD single.
Powerful Medicine
One of Australia's most interesting jazz groups plays original material that is rhythm-rich and performed with virtuosity and style.
Recording Engineer
Viola Power
It's hard to imagine a CD of Australian music for the viola, but here it is. From Grainger's chirpy love song through Ross Edwards' intricate dance to Peter Sculthorpe's masterful work with percussion.
Spinning: New Australian Flute Music
Geoffrey Collins has single-handedly shaped the Australian flute repertoire, and this is his third solo recording. Five of these works were written for him, and they show how freely composers respond to his playing.
The Green CD
In a climate of rising concern for the planet, this programme of Australian choral works turns on nature and protest. Wesley-Smith's Who Killed Cock Robin? stands as a landmark of Australian choral writing, and one of its most popular.
Night People
An unusual disc and a claimed world-first: an entire album for solo five-string electric bass. Steve Hunter’s instrument gives him wide creative range, and this is a true solo recording, with some pieces multi-tracked.
Ecstatic Dances: Chamber Music, Vol. 1
One of Tall Poppies' most successful releases, this collection of Ross Edwards's chamber music sets his meditative sacred style beside the buoyant energy of his Maninya pieces.
Onomatopoeia
Long-awaited performances of Nigel Westlake’s most acclaimed chamber works, with outstanding Australian players. One of Tall Poppies’ most successful releases.
Machine for Making Sense: On Second Thoughts
Twenty-six short pieces lettered A to Z. By 1994 Machine for Making Sense had toured worldwide for several years. The five players weave dense, highly textured material that fuses music and text in startling ways.
Synergy With Samuels
This CD grew from a concert collaboration between Australia’s best-known percussion quartet and America’s finest vibraphonist, Dave Samuels. Together they cook up a storm.
Mixing Engineer