Stroke
A striking programme of contemporary Australian piano music, superbly played by New York–based Australian pianist Lisa Moore. Smetanin's formidable title work, among the most demanding in the repertoire, was captured here in a single take.
Don Banks composer
Elena Kats-Chernin composer
Julian Yu composer
Andrew Ford composer
Ross Edwards composer
Gerard Brophy composer
Peter Sculthorpe composer
Martin Wesley-Smith composer
The disc gathers contemporary Australian piano works recorded between 1987 and 1993 in Newcastle, Canberra and Sydney. Smetanin's driving title piece sits beside quieter and more reflective scores, among them Banks's Commentary, Kats-Chernin's Tast-En, Yu's Impromptu, Edwards's Etymalong, Brophy's Angelicon, and Sculthorpe's Djilile.
The release was supported by the Performing Arts Board of the Australia Council.
Reviews
… a fascinating recital from a master pianist.… The great track of this CD is surely the one which produced its title: Michael Smetanin's amazing Stroke. Alas, a recording cannot capture the theatre of witnessing this petite tornado attacking the keyboard in this formidable music. I believe that this performance was done in a single "take" and, really, it is difficult to conceive that this driving, percussive and glittering experience would be achieved in any other way – provided that the pianist has the essential combination of unfaltering stamina and unflinching technique, as Lisa Moore has without question.
Australian pianist Lisa Moore is another extraordinary champion of contemporary music. Her playing is both powerful and sensitive. Among the highlights of her Tall Poppies disc of Australian piano music is the title piece, Stroke, by Michael Smetanin. The music reflects two meanings of the word "stroke" (a violent medical event, or a caress), moving between the two types of feeling seamlessly and poetically. Other good pieces on the program are Julian Yu's Impromptu, Ross Edwards's Etymalong, and Gerard Brophy's Angelicon. The sound is good, the notes informative.
Artist
Lisa Moore
Lisa Moore brings colour, stamina and sharp rhythmic sense to piano music that runs from Janáček’s brooding paths to the percussive glitter of new Australian scores and the charged partnership of Russian and American cello sonatas.
Tracks
- Stroke Michael Smetanin 8:26
- Commentary Don Banks 13:00
- Tast-En Elena Kats-Chernin 10:21
- Impromptu Julian Yu 3:36
- A Kumquat for John Keats Andrew Ford 8:00
- Etymalong Ross Edwards 7:53
- Angelicon Gerard Brophy 10:54
- Djilile Peter Sculthorpe 5:39
- Grey Beach Martin Wesley-Smith 2:38
Performers
- Lisa Moore · piano
Composers
Don Banks
Don Banks (1923–1980) was an Australian composer of concert, jazz and commercial music. Serial craft, electronics and a lifelong pull toward jazz shaped chamber works, concertos and scores central to mid-century Australian modernism.
Gerard Brophy
Gerard Brophy is a contemporary Australian composer whose colourful, rhythmically alert scores range from solo miniatures to orchestral works and have been heard widely at home and abroad.
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.
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.
Elena Kats-Chernin
Elena Kats-Chernin AO (born 1957) is an Australian composer whose piano rags, chamber miniatures, ballet and stage scores have become central to contemporary Australian repertoire.
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.
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.
Michael Smetanin
Michael Smetanin's music hits hard and thinks sideways: Stroke is a driving, percussive piano assault that also knows how to caress, while Finger Funk asks two players to work a marimba with bare fingers for eight relentless minutes.
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.
Where to listen
Stroke is available for streaming through Apple Music. It can also be purchased through the iTunes Music Store.
Stroke 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
- TP040
- Total playing time
- 70 minutes 27 seconds
- Producer
- Belinda Webster
- Recording Engineer
- Belinda Webster
- Editing Engineer
- David Macquarie
- Release date
- 1 Jun 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 9399000004028
Related recordings
Icarus
The Icarus myth has long drawn Andrew Ford, and this disc gathers the works it inspired. The Kowmung Music Festival Players appear alongside Terra Australis, recorded at the Aspen Festival.
Purple Black and Blues
Herself a pianist, Elena Kats-Chernin has built a substantial body of piano works. Expatriate Australian pianist Lisa Moore has long championed this music, and here gives vivid accounts of the major pieces, including Sonata Lost and Found, written for her and this recording.
A Day in the Life of a Clarinet
Peter Jenkin presents the clarinet in its many modern guises, equally at home with Alban Berg, multi-tracked Bach, klezmer, tango, jazz and electronics.
Janáček: Piano Music
Lisa Moore breathes fresh life into these Czech piano masterpieces. Less familiar on the concert platform than his operas, Janáček's keyboard writing ranges from darkly brooding to cheerful dancing, with all the drama of one of the twentieth century's most-loved opera composers.
Prokofiev & Carter: Cello Sonatas
David Pereira and Lisa Moore, winners of the ABC Australian Record of the Year for The Wild Russians (TP017), bring the same shared vision, ensemble polish and passion to two cornerstones of the cello and piano repertoire.
Onomatopoeia
Long-awaited performances of Nigel Westlake’s most acclaimed chamber works, with outstanding Australian players. One of Tall Poppies’ most successful releases.