Crossing a Bridge of Dreams

Anne Boyd is currently regarded as one of Australia's leading composers. She studied music in both Australia and England. She also worked under Peter Sculthorpe. Crossing a Bridge of Dreams includes eight works (from 1975-85) for various subsets of the Tall Poppies Ensemble and the title track for chamber choir. Boyd makes no excuses for her interest in Asian music, especially classical music from Vietnam and Japan. She doesn't need any. Most composers who consciously try to mix traditions end up writing silly, derivative music--not quite Asian, not quite Western, but quite embarrassing. Boyd's works go much further. Her harmonic and melodic vocabulary relies almost entirely on modes, so the Asian influence is inescapable. But her delicate, pretty music invites the listener in for a chat and then converses thoughtfully. The Tall Poppies Ensemble responds well. Of particular note is harpist Alice Giles, who plucks a virtual cornucopia of colors from her harp. I also enjoy soprano Kathy Marsh's delivery. She sings with a dry and light tone. While her sound would be too thin for a larger work, it fits perfectly with Boyd's sensitive writing on the first track, My Name is Tian.

Crossing a Bridge of Dreams brings together eight compositions – recorded at various times – that clearly show the affinities with Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese and Balinese music.…[re My Name is Tian] The beauty and objectivity of the musical style and the simple and moving stoicism implicit in the words elevate this cycle well above the level of obvious anti-war propaganda and ensure that is has not dated in the slightest since its composition in 1978. Kathy Marsh's singing, though blurred sometimes in enunciation, is almost ideal for its task in it musicianly straightforwardness and the instrumental playing is of a high order.

Focus attention on any object, however simple, and over time the perception of it undergoes myriad changes spawned by the interaction of object and mind. The pentatonic modes of Japan, China, and Bali are the simple, but fertile objects of attention in composer Anne Boyd’s seventy-six minute CD Crossing a Bridge of Dreams. What she discovers in them is a deep world of variety, color, and expression.

Although Ms. Boyd’s pitch pallet is often restricted to just a few tones, her ongoing timbrel, accentual, and contrapuntal redistribution of those tones creates exquisite textures of great interest and transparency.

The compositions date from 1975 to 1988 and include two atmospheric multi-movement pieces for singer and small instrumental group (to texts by Don’o Kim); two inventive sets of works (five pieces in all) for flute and piano, the first set influenced by the Japanese shakuhachi flute, the second combining the sound of Balinese gamelan with a beautiful lyricism; and, finally, a lovely choral work with soft, gentle clusters and glissandos reminiscent of the sho, a Japanese mouth organ.

The excellent performers are: Kathy Marsh, soprano; Hartley Newnham, counter tenor; Geoffrey Collins, flute; David Miller and Nicholas Routley, pianists; Tall Poppies Ensemble (with Mr. Collins, flute; John Harding, viola; David Pereira, cello; Alice Giles, harp; Daryl Pratt, percussion; Mr. Routley, piano; and David Stanhope, conductor); and the Sydney Chamber Choir (Mr. Routley, conductor).

This CD is like a suspended crystal, rotating in the light.