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.
Queensland Symphony Orchestra orchestra
Icehouse ensemble
Barbara Woolley cello
Max Lambert piano
Andrea Ulrich viola
Gordon Bennett violin
Robert Ingram violin
John Hopkins conductor
Australian Youth Orchestra orchestra
Michael Kieran Harvey piano
Iva Davies performer
Graeme Koehne composed by
Iva Davies composed by
Robert Kretschmer composed by
Barry Conyngham composed by
Martin Armiger composed by
Max Lambert composed by
The selection ranges widely: the cheeky tango from Vine’s celebrated score to Poppy, Iva Davies’s night-club idioms, Graeme Koehne’s gentle melodic invention, and Conyngham’s powerful orchestral writing.
Chamber and orchestral pieces sit beside the night-club and synthesizer textures of the Icehouse-related scores, showing the breadth of music Murphy drew into the Sydney Dance Company repertoire.
Reviews
Since becoming Artistic Director of the Sydney Dance Company in 1974, Graeme Murphy has commissioned many works by Australian composers. Here is a representative sampling. Carl Vine (b 1954) wrote Tango (from Poppy, 1978) when he was Sydney Dance's composer in residence. The terrific little piece is subtle, witty, tuneful, and nicely orchestrated. The excellent reading is by, amazingly, "performers Unknown"—a group of woodwinds and brass with piano. Vine's two-movement Piano Sonata (1992) sandwiches a madly whirling perpetual-motion study between a calm beginning and ending of I. II begins with a frenzied staccato, takes on a character not unlike Debussy's Sunken Cathedral, then becomes demonic again. Michael Harvey gives the sonata an outstanding reading.
Graeme Koehne (b 1956) studied at Yale with Louis Andriessen and Jacob Druckman, and also worked with Virgil Thompson. His Selfish Giant (1983) is represented here by the lovely 'Garden Scene', played by the Queensland Philharmonic. From the piano quintet Nearly Beloved (1986) is a 'Valse Noble' that sounds like something from 1920s musical theater, a rather hackneyed 'Blues', and an earnest 'Elegy and Valse Sentimentale'. The artists are violinists Robert Ingram and Gordon Bennett, violist Andrea Ullrich, cellist Barbara Woolley, and pianist Max Lambert.
'No Promises' (from Boxes, 1985) is by Iva Davies and Robert Kretschmer, and the performance is by their eclectic Australian rock band Icehouse. It's nice to hear some variety, but the selection is rather ordinary. More interesting are two excerpts from Berlin (1995), by Davies and Max Lambert, also performed by Icehouse. Big, synthesized string sounds and piano improvisations are heard in 'Pas de trois', circus music in 'Trapeze'.
Barry Conyngham (b 1944) studied composition with Peter Sculthorpe and Toru Takemitsu. The Australian Youth Orchestra, conducted by John Hopkins, plays three movements from Vast (1988). 'Vast III: The Centre, Part 2' is a melancholy piece for violin and orchestra. 'Vast II: The Coast, Part 2—To the Mountains' is sometimes atmospheric, sometimes intense, while 'Vast IV: The Cities, Part 3—Towards Stars' is splashy.
Three portions of Martin Armiger's Fornicon (1995) are included. Synthesized trumpet sounds are gradually overtaken by rock-style ones in 'Author and His Critic'. 'Fornicon' has Mark Williams singing with a rock band, while 'Opium' is spacey electronic music.
Commissioning new music is laudable, of course, and so is supporting Australian composers. I am not convinced, though, that this "body of work" is truly significant.
Artists
Stephen Barlow
Stephen Barlow conducts the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra in Graeme Koehne's ballet music: the complete Selfish Giant after Oscar Wilde, and Once Around the Sun, scores written for Australian dance companies and cast in a cheerful, melodic, stage-ready idiom.
Queensland Symphony Orchestra
Queensland Symphony Orchestra is the professional symphony orchestra of Queensland, based in Brisbane. It gave its first concert in 1947 and has become a central voice for orchestral music in the state.
Barbara Woolley
Barbara Woolley is a cellist whose chamber playing is heard on Tall Poppies recordings connected with Australian dance scores.
Max Lambert
Max Lambert composes for Australian theatre and dance, from Icehouse-linked synthesiser scores to musicals and film. Berlin mixes big synthetic strings, piano improvisation and circus swagger; at the piano he steadies chamber dance music.
Robert Ingram
Robert Ingram’s violin brings elegant melodic invention to Mozart’s complete piano trios and vivid colour to Australian film and dance scores, from Westlake’s Antarctica to Koehne’s Nearly Beloved.
John Hopkins
John Hopkins has held major conducting posts with the BBC in Scotland and the BBC Northern Orchestra (now the BBC Philharmonic), the New Zealand National Orchestra and New Zealand Opera, and became Director of Music of the ABC.
Australian Youth Orchestra
The Australian Youth Orchestra brings disciplined, exuberant force to Australian orchestral writing, from Christmas carols reimagined by living composers to concertos and dance scores that sit at the heart of the national repertoire.
Michael Kieran Harvey
Australian pianist and composer Dr Michael Kieran Harvey FAHA is among the foremost interpreters of contemporary piano music of his generation. A champion of Australian music, he regularly commissions new work and has performed with the country’s leading contemporary ensembles and orchestras.
Iva Davies
Iva Davies brings rock-band energy and synthesizer colour to the ballet stage. With Icehouse he scored Boxes and Berlin for the Sydney Dance Company, night-club textures and circus swagger sitting beside big synthetic strings.
Tracks
- Poppy Tango Carl Vine 6:09
- The Selfish Giant Garden Scene Graeme Koehne 4:41
- Boxes No Promises Iva Davies Robert Kretschmer
- Valse Noble 2:57
- Blues 5:01
- Elegy & Valse Sentimentale 9:26
- Vast III: The Centre, Part 2 for violin 5:08
- Vast II: The Coast, Part 2 – To the Mountains 3:33
- Vast IV: The Cities, Part 3 – Towards Stars 1:49
- i.
- ii.
- The Author and His Critic 3:01
- Fornicon
- Opium
- Pas de trois 3:01
- Trapeze 2:59
Nearly Beloved Graeme Koehne
Vast Barry Conyngham
Piano Sonata Carl Vine
Fornicon Martin Armiger
Berlin Iva Davies Max Lambert
Performers
- Stephen Barlow · conductor · track 2
- Queensland Symphony Orchestra · orchestra · track 2
- Icehouse · ensemble · tracks 3, 15 and 16
- Barbara Woolley · cello · tracks 4–6
- Max Lambert · piano · tracks 4–6
- Andrea Ulrich · viola · tracks 4–6
- Gordon Bennett · violin · tracks 4–6
- Robert Ingram · violin · tracks 4–6
- John Hopkins · conductor · tracks 7–9
- Australian Youth Orchestra · orchestra · tracks 7–9
- Michael Kieran Harvey · piano · tracks 10 and 11
- Iva Davies · performer · tracks 15 and 16
Composers
Barry Conyngham
Barry Conyngham, born in Sydney, has received numerous awards and fellowships for composition, among them Churchill, Harkness, Australia Council and Senior Fulbright grants. He holds an ARIA, two Sounds Australian Critics Awards and two Maggs Awards.
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.
Carl Vine
Carl Vine AO is one of Australia's best-known and most often performed composers, with an orchestral catalogue of eight symphonies and thirteen concertos. His piano music is played widely around the world, and recordings of his work appear on more than seventy albums across the major streaming services.
Contributors
Choreographer
Graeme Murphy
Photography By
Hugh Hamilton
Where to listen
Graeme Murphy's Body of Work: A Retrospective is available as a CD. It can be purchased online through Buywell Music or the Australian Music Centre which both offer online ordering.
Product details
- Catalogue number
- TP146
- Total playing time
- 47 minutes 45 seconds
- Mastering Engineer
- Belinda Webster
- Credit
- Graeme Murphy
Hugh Hamilton - Release date
- 2000
- Label
- Tall Poppies
- Categories
- Australian Classics, Voice / Soundscape
- Genres
- Contemporary Classical, Stage & Screen
- Barcode
- EAN 9399001114627
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