Viola Power
It's hard to imagine a CD of Australian music for the viola, but here it is. From Grainger's chirpy love song through Ross Edwards' intricate dance to Peter Sculthorpe's masterful work with percussion.
Margaret Sutherland composer
Ross Edwards composer
Nigel Sabin composer
Robert Davidson composer
Peter Sculthorpe composer
Andrew Schultz composer
Margaret Sutherland's music was enjoying a resurgence in Australia, and this performance of her Viola Sonata helps that cause. The disc also contains two works by Andrew Schultz written for Patricia Pollett, who plays throughout with gusto and aplomb.
Several pieces are heard in first recordings, among them Ross Edwards' solo Enyato II and Schultz's Attack, set beside Sculthorpe's Sonata for Viola and Percussion with Michael Askill.
Artist
Patricia Pollett
Patricia Pollett plays the viola with passion and a big, warm tone that makes the instrument sing. Her recordings run from Brahms and Bruch with orchestra to Australian chamber scores written expressly for her.
Tracks
- Arrival Platform Humlet Percy Grainger 3:49
- Sonata for Viola and Piano (1949) Margaret Sutherland 8:57
- i. (1993–4, for solo viola) 4:51
- ii. (1993–4, for solo viola) 4:07
- Resting Point Nigel Sabin 5:36
- Arch Robert Davidson 6:50
- Sonata for Viola and Percussion Peter Sculthorpe 10:25
- Attack Andrew Schultz 5:16
- Duo Variations Andrew Schultz 18:07
Enyato II Ross Edwards
Performers
- Michael Askill · percussion · track 7
- Colin Spiers · piano · track 9
- Patricia Pollett · viola
- Jenni Fleming · piano · tracks 2 and 5
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.
Percy Grainger
Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882–1961) was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist. A brilliant folk-song collector and arranger, he was also a restless experimenter whose work ranged from tuneful percussion to Free Music machines that foreshadowed electronic synthesis.
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.
Andrew Schultz
Andrew Schultz, a graduate of the Universities of Queensland and London, has received numerous awards and commissions for chamber, orchestral and vocal works, and is Emeritus Professor of Music at UNSW Sydney.
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.
Margaret Sutherland
Margaret Sutherland (1897–1984) was an Australian composer whose work ranged across almost every form, with a particular gift for chamber music. She remains one of the most distinctive voices in twentieth-century Australian composition.
Robert Davidson
Robert Davidson writes music that listens hard to speech and turns its rise and fall into line, pulse and colour. His chamber pieces for viola and guitar sit beside larger speech-driven works, always clear in contour and alive to how words already sing.
Where to listen
Viola Power is available for streaming through Apple Music. It can also be purchased through the iTunes Music Store.
Viola Power 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
- TP098
- Total playing time
- 67 minutes 58 seconds
- Producer
- Belinda Webster
- Recording Engineer
- Belinda Webster
Christo Curtis
Neale Sandbach - Mixing Engineer
- Christo Curtis
- Release date
- 1 Jun 1997
- Label
- Tall Poppies
- Musical work
copyright - © 1997 Tall Poppies Records
- Sound recording
copyright - ℗ 1997 Tall Poppies Records
- Category
- Australian Classics
- Genre
- Contemporary Classical
- Barcode
- EAN 9399001109821
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