Onomatopoeia

Long-awaited performances of Nigel Westlake’s most acclaimed chamber works, with outstanding Australian players. One of Tall Poppies’ most successful releases.

Nigel Westlake bass clarinet, clarinets, piccolo clarinet, soprano saxophone, keyboards, sampler, programming, digital delay
Dene Olding violin
Geoffrey Collins flute, alto flute, piccolo
Irina Morozova viola
David Pereira cello
Michael Askill marimba, log drums, cymbal, shaker, percussion
Ian Cleworth percussion
Lisa Moore piano
Rita Manning violin
Colin Piper percussion
Rebecca Lagos percussion
Chris Laurence double bass
John Williams guitar
Timothy Kain guitar
Paul Hart piano
Greg Sheehan percussion
Australia Ensemble ensemble
Tall Poppies Ensemble ensemble
Synergy Percussion ensemble
Attacca ensemble

Nigel Westlake composer

Eight chamber works written between the mid-1980s and early 1990s gather bass clarinet, percussion, guitar, and mixed ensemble forces. Several pieces fold in sampled sound and digital delay; others are purely acoustic.

The programme ranges from solo and duo writing to larger groups, including the Australia Ensemble, Synergy Percussion, and Attacca with John Williams.

Reviews

This Tall Poppies anthology of music by Nigel Westlake deserves to become one of the most popular of new music records and to do so - in my opinion - without any need to apologise for its agreeableness.

Westlake has the rare quality of being able to preserve the freshness of a first inspiration in a final draft. He helps to give minimalism a good name when he conforms to its aesthetics; mostly, however, he constructs his dancing melody patterns and his bright, elated rhythms on far more developed lines ... The quality of the performers is very high throughout ... All in all, this is the most companionable disc of new music to come my way for a long time.

— Roger Covell, Sydney Morning Herald

Effectively Sydney composer Nigel Westlake's greatest hits, it will restore in the faint-hearted faith in contemporary music by offering over an hour of intelligent, colourful, exciting and listener-friendly works. The key to the album's success is a free-spirited rhythmic near-funkiness which combines with an irrepressible lyricism and a taste for the instrumentally bizarre to transport Westlake's brand of minimalism a galaxy away from the comparative sterility of his American compatriots.

— James Mullighan, Capital Q

Westlake's music is clearly aimed at enjoyment, and that is wonderfully refreshing when so many of his composing peers seem constantly intent on persuading us that the world is a terrible place...

With top quality recordings ... the disc is a pure delight. Go out and buy it, not to support your local composer, but simply because you will love it.

— Laurie Strahan, The Australian

Artist

Nigel Westlake

Westlake has played in fusion bands and soundtrack sessions, with Australia’s leading instrumental groups, and as a soloist with orchestras and classical ensembles in Australia and in major cities worldwide, from London and Paris to Tokyo, Beijing and New York.

Tracks

Onomatopoeia Nigel Westlake 7:28
Omphalo Centric Lecture Nigel Westlake 8:48

Refractions Nigel Westlake

i. 1:25
ii. 2:24
iii. 1:24
Entomology Nigel Westlake 12:08
Malachite Glass Nigel Westlake 11:01
Tall Tales Nigel Westlake 8:21
Call of the Wild Nigel Westlake 5:12
Our Mum was a Waterfall Nigel Westlake 6:28

Performers

Nigel Westlake · bass clarinet, clarinets, piccolo clarinet, soprano saxophone, keyboards, sampler, programming, digital delay · all except track 2
Dene Olding · violin · tracks 3–5
Geoffrey Collins · flute, alto flute, piccolo · tracks 3–6
Irina Morozova · viola · tracks 3–5
David Pereira · cello · tracks 3–6
Michael Askill · marimba, log drums, cymbal, shaker, percussion · tracks 2, 7–9
Ian Cleworth · percussion · tracks 6 and 7
Lisa Moore · piano · track 6
Rita Manning · violin · tracks 6 and 8
Colin Piper · percussion · track 7
Rebecca Lagos · percussion · track 7
Chris Laurence · double bass · track 8
John Williams · guitar · track 8
Timothy Kain · guitar · track 8
Paul Hart · piano · track 8
Greg Sheehan · percussion · track 10
Australia Ensemble · ensemble · tracks 3–5
Tall Poppies Ensemble · ensemble · track 6
Synergy Percussion · ensemble · track 7
Attacca · ensemble · track 8

Contributors

Production Co-ordination

Belinda Webster

Belinda Webster is the founder of Tall Poppies Records and a leading Australian producer and recording engineer whose work has documented classical, contemporary and jazz performance across decades of catalogue releases.