Points of Departure
Perihelion, the Brisbane chamber group of clarinet, viola, piano and cello, built its repertoire largely through commissions. This disc gathers some of the ensemble’s most successful new Australian works.
Gwyn Roberts cello
Perihelion ensemble
Patricia Pollett viola
Michele Walsh violin
Jenni Fleming piano, voice
Ross Edwards composer
Quentin Grant composer
David Joseph composer
Nigel Sabin composer
Sarah Hopkins composer
The programme brings together six Australian scores written for the ensemble, from Moya Henderson’s G’Day Africa and Ross Edwards’s Ecstatic Dance No. 2 to Nigel Sabin’s three-movement title work and Sarah Hopkins’s Reclaiming the Spirit.
The performances were recorded in 1993 in the Nickson Room at the University of Queensland.
Reviews
Sabin's work is an engaging composition and its unfussy style should win it many admirers.
Artist
Perihelion
Perihelion's rare lineup of clarinet, viola, piano and cello made the Brisbane chamber group a commissioning engine for Australian composers. Their recordings catch scores written for that mix at full colour and bite.
Tracks
- G'Day Africa Moya Henderson 6:50
- Ecstatic Dance No. 2 Ross Edwards 5:30
- The Fish 3:43
- Canudos 2:15
- The Moon 2:29
- Fanciful Fancies David Joseph
- Embarkation 7:44
- Resting Point 4:58
- Arrival
- Reclaiming the Spirit Sarah Hopkins
Three Pieces from The Magical Death of History Quentin Grant
Points of Departure Nigel Sabin
Performers
- Nigel Sabin · clarinet · all except track 2
- Gwyn Roberts · cello · all except tracks 7–9
- Perihelion · ensemble
- Patricia Pollett · viola
- Michele Walsh · violin · tracks 7–9
- Jenni Fleming · piano, voice · all except track 2
Composers

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.

David Joseph
David Joseph (b. 1954) is a Melbourne-born Australian composer whose orchestral and chamber music is marked by vivid colour, lyric invention and a keen ear for texture. His catalogue ranges from concertos and string studies to ballet scenes and intimate chamber scores.

Nigel Sabin
Nigel Sabin is an Australian clarinettist and composer. A founding force behind the chamber ensemble Perihelion, he has performed widely as a soloist and orchestral musician, and his own works have been taken up by leading ensembles and symphony orchestras.
Moya Henderson
Moya Henderson's music is warm, sincere and distinctively Australian: chamber works such as G'Day Africa and Cross Hatching, art songs and carols, and scores that remember Gallipoli and the land with directness.
Sarah Hopkins
Sarah Hopkins writes Reclaiming the Spirit as pure sonority: didgeridoo colour under the cello, open harmonic space, and a sound-piece that hums, drones and breathes rather than argues. The music answers landscape and ceremony with atmosphere first.
Contributors
Cover art
Carol Rudyard
Where to listen
Points of Departure is available for streaming through Apple Music. It can also be purchased through the iTunes Music Store.
Points of Departure 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
- TP043
- Total playing time
- 33 minutes 29 seconds
- Producer
- Belinda Webster
- Recording Engineer
- Belinda Webster
Don Bartley - Mastering Engineer
- Don Bartley
- Venue
- The Nickson Room
- Credit
- Carol Rudyard
- Release date
- 16 Aug 1994
- Label
- Tall Poppies
- Musical work
copyright - © 1994 Tall Poppies Records
- Sound recording
copyright - ℗ 1994 Tall Poppies Records
- Category
- Australian Classics
- Genre
- Contemporary Classical
- Barcode
- EAN 9399000004325
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