TALL POPPIES RECORDS New and classical music by Australian composers and performers

Lift Off: Australian Piano Music for Children

An engaging collection of piano music by Australian composers written to spark young imaginations. Elpis Liossatos, an Australian pianist then living in Greece, brings charm and enthusiasm to these performances.

Elpis Liossatos piano
John Colborne-Veel composer
Ross Fiddes composer
Graeme Koehne composer
Martin Wesley-Smith composer
Colin Brumby composer
Ian Farr composer
Andrew Ford composer
Miriam Hyde composer
Julian Yu composer
Michael Hannan composer
Peter Sculthorpe composer
Ann Carr-Boyd composer
Mary Mageau composer
Eric Gross composer
Ross Edwards composer
Carl Vine composer
Phillip Wilcher composer

All in all, a delightful introduction to the many compositional styles co-existing in Australia. Short character pieces by Colborne-Veel, Fiddes, Koehne, Wesley-Smith, Brumby, Ford, Hyde, Yu, Hannan, Sculthorpe, Carr-Boyd, Edwards, Vine and others sit beside longer works such as Ian Farr’s The Babe under the Bridge.

Artist

No photograph: Elpis Liossatos

Elpis Liossatos

Tracks

    Fifteen Descriptive Pieces John Colborne-Veel

  1. Dreaming of Long Ago :35
  2. The Bicycle Boy :59
  3. A Lost Child 1:18
  4. Buskers Play the Harp and the Flute :47
  5. Song of the Rapids 1:11
  6. A Trooper on his Horse :44

    7. Kids Bits Ross Fiddes

  7. Andrew's March :30
  8. Song for Samantha 1:00
  9. Pedestrian :33
  10. Snakes and Ladders :31
  11. A Lullaby for the Residents of Taronga Park Zoo Graeme Koehne 1:08
  12. Jim Sees a Ray of Hope, but Decides it was an Optical Illusion Graeme Koehne 1:18
  13. Alien in Toorak Road Graeme Koehne :41
  14. Punctilio Prestidigitatus Graeme Koehne :50
  15. A Closed World of Fine Feelings Graeme Koehne 3:01
  16. Red Rag Martin Wesley-Smith 1:17
  17. Grey Beach Martin Wesley-Smith 2:12
  18. Griff's Riffs Martin Wesley-Smith 1:19

    19. Harlequinade Colin Brumby

  19. Arlecchino 1:05
  20. Columbina 1:38
  21. Pulcinella 1:19
  22. The Babe under the Bridge Ian Farr 5:32

    23. Eight Australian Birds Discover the Music of the 20th Century Andrew Ford

  23. 1. An Emu Emulates Alban Berg :18
  24. 2. A Brolga Behaves like Bartók :21
  25. 3. A Lyre-Bird in Love with Ligeti :53
  26. 4. A Parrot Preens to Arvo Pärt 1:26
  27. 5. A Kookaburra Considers John Cage :13
  28. 6. A Galah Gawps at Glass :17
  29. 7. A Scrub Fowl Succumbs to Sculthorpe :25
  30. 8. A Common Mynah Mocks Messiaen :28
  31. Lyrical Moments Miriam Hyde 1:00
  32. Frost Fairies Miriam Hyde :53

    33. Six Pieces for Young Pianists Julian Yu

  33. The Alarm Clock on the Table 1:11
  34. The Puppet :38
  35. Dance of the Mice :24
  36. A Winter Reverie Phillip Wilcher 2:19
  37. Summer Dance Phillip Wilcher :46

    38. Fortune Pieces Michael Hannan

  38. Autumn Wind :31
  39. River of Dreams :37
  40. Catch as Catch Can :21
  41. Walkin' Blues :56

    42. A Book of Hours Peter Sculthorpe

  42. i. Evening Star :56
  43. ii. Koori Dreaming 1:25
  44. iii. Morning Star :48
  45. iv. Sun Singing 1:28
  46. v. Koori Dancing 1:08
  47. vi. Singing Sun 1:13

    48. Look at the Stars Ann Carr-Boyd

  48. Pluto :57
  49. Mars 2:05
  50. Spiral Galaxy 1:24
  51. Earth :44
  52. Elite Syncopations Mary Mageau 2:37
  53. Sydney Harbour Blues, Op. 169 No. 4 Eric Gross 2:53
  54. Little Jazzeroo, Op. 169 No. 5 Eric Gross 1:24

    55. Five Little Piano Pieces Ross Edwards

  55. i. Allegretto 1:20
  56. ii. Andante 1:10
  57. iii. Andante con moto 1:04
  58. iv. Lento 1:33
  59. v. Vivace 1:02
  60. Red Blues Carl Vine 1:12
  61. Spartacus Carl Vine 1:11

Performers

Composers

Photograph of Colin Brumby

Colin Brumby

Colin Brumby (1933–2018) was an Australian composer and conductor whose prolific catalogue ranges across opera, concertos, chamber music, choral works and songs.

Photograph of Ann Carr-Boyd

Ann Carr-Boyd

Ann Carr-Boyd has been involved in music and its many manifestations all her life. Born in 1938 into a family of professional musicians, she studied piano from an early age with her father, Norbert Wentzel and violin and viola with her Uncle, Charles Wentzel.

Photograph of Ross Edwards

Ross Edwards

One of Australia's best known and most performed composers, Ross Edwards lives and works in Sydney. His commitment to music as a positive and regenerative force has led him to explore beyond the confines of Western art music.

Photograph of Andrew Ford

Andrew Ford

Andrew Ford is an Australian composer, writer and broadcaster whose work ranges from chamber and vocal scores to opera and piano cycles. He has won the Paul Lowin Prize for the song cycle Learning to Howl and a Green Room Award for the opera Rembrandt’s Wife.

Photograph of Eric Gross

Eric Gross

Eric Gross (1926–2011) was an Austrian-born Australian composer, pianist and teacher. After settling in Sydney in 1958 he wrote concert, film and broadcast music marked by a cosmopolitan ear and a lasting fondness for jazz.

Photograph of Michael Hannan

Michael Hannan

Michael Hannan (born 1949) is an Australian composer, pianist and musicologist. His work ranges from concert music and layered piano-interior soundscapes to shorter character pieces, alongside a substantial body of writing on Australian composition.

Photograph of Miriam Hyde

Miriam Hyde

Miriam Hyde (1913–2005) was an Australian composer, pianist and teacher whose lyrical, post-romantic voice is especially known through her piano music and works for students.

Photograph of Graeme Koehne

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.

Photograph of Mary Mageau

Mary Mageau

Mary Mageau (1934–2020) was an American-born Australian composer and harpsichordist whose catalogue spans orchestra, chamber music, solo works and voice. From 1974 she made her home in Queensland and became a distinctive voice in Australian contemporary music.

Photograph of Peter Sculthorpe

Peter Sculthorpe

Peter Sculthorpe (1929–2014) was a Tasmanian-born composer whose orchestral and chamber music drew the Australian landscape, neighbouring Asian traditions and Indigenous materials into a clear, personal language. He wrote extensively for strings, piano and voice.

Photograph of Carl Vine by photographer Keith Saunders

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.

Photograph of Julian Yu

Julian Yu

Julian Yu is a multi-award-winning Australian composer whose musical language is imbued with elegance and expressiveness, both enhanced by impeccable craft and a special attention to detail.

No photograph: John Colborne-Veel

John Colborne-Veel

No photograph: Ian Farr

Ian Farr

Ian Farr (1941–2006) was an Australian composer. His spare, atonal writing includes a one-movement cello sonata from 1969 and piano character pieces written for young players.

No photograph: Ross Fiddes

Ross Fiddes

No photograph: Martin Wesley-Smith

Martin Wesley-Smith

Martin Wesley-Smith wrote music audiences actually like: electronic pieces that stay human, choral parables that turn nursery rhymes into environmental inquests, and chamber scores laced with Lewis Carroll fantasy and hard political irony.

No photograph: Phillip Wilcher

Phillip Wilcher

Contributors

No photograph: David Kinney

Piano technician

David Kinney

David Kinney is the piano technician whose preparation underpins a wide stretch of Tall Poppies piano sound, from late Beethoven and Debussy to Janáček, Schubert and contemporary Australian repertoire. The instrument arrives ready for the music’s full colour and weight.

No photograph: Sunday McAllister

Artwork [Cover]

Sunday McAllister

Where to listen

Lift Off: Australian Piano Music for Children is available for streaming through Apple Music. It can also be purchased through the iTunes Music Store.

Lift Off: Australian Piano Music for Children 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
TP143
Total playing time
70 minutes 59 seconds
Venue
ABC Studios, Sydney
Credit
David Kinney
Sunday McAllister
Release date
Label
Tall Poppies
Musical work
copyright
© 2001 Tall Poppies Records
Sound recording
copyright
℗ 2001 Tall Poppies Records
Categories
Australian Classics, Modern Masterpieces
Genres
Children's, Contemporary Classical
Barcode
EAN 9399001114320

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