Listen & tracks

2 of 9 tracks have a preview · 7 works · 82:00

1 Winamin Michael Whiticker 3:34
2 Sonata for Violin and Piano (in one movement) Don Banks 14:52
3 Irkanda 1 for violin alone Peter Sculthorpe 10:10
4 The Ludlow Lullabies Vincent Plush 10:30
Sonata for Violin and PianoMargaret Sutherland 3 movements28:04
1. 5 Subdued but flowing; Allegro moderato, ma con brio 12:23
2. 6 Quasi improvisatione; Quasi allegretto; Adagio molto 9:21
3. 7 Scherzo-Finale Allegro vivace; Grave; Presto 6:20
8 Beta Globin DNA Martin Wesley-Smith 3:40
9 Jewel Robert Constable 11:10

Australian music written across the span of this programme shows a wide variety of styles and influences.

In the artist’s words

Our personal journey with Australian music for violin and piano began in the late 1980s at the urging of many of our composer colleagues. At that time we commenced a project of putting together some concert programmes which promoted both Australian compositions for violin and piano and ourselves as Australian performers with something a little different to say. The first fruits of this project came in 1989 when we embarked on a concert and lecture tour of the USA. Some of the repertoire we played on that tour now appears on this disc. We have had long friendships with all but one of the composers represented here (neither of us actually ever met Margaret Sutherland) and in most cases they have had some input over the years into our performances of their music.

— Elizabeth Holowell and Robert Constable

Artists

Elizabeth Holowell

violin

Robert Constable

piano

Robert Constable's piano anchors Australian violin-and-piano repertoire from Sculthorpe, Banks and Sutherland to his own Jewel, while Medea gives violin and cello a chamber drama held back for decades.

Don Banks

composer

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.

Peter Sculthorpe

composer

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

composer

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.

Michael Whiticker

composer

Michael Whiticker was born in Gundagai, Australia. He has received major commissions from leading Australian ensembles and organisations, and has won numerous awards in Australia and Germany for his compositions.

Vincent Plush

composer

Vincent Plush is an Australian composer, critic, teacher and musicologist. His chamber and ensemble works often draw on political history, place and song.

Martin Wesley-Smith

composer

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.

Buy now

$25.00 AUD

Compact disc

Buywell Music Australian Music Centre

Performers

Elizabeth Holowell · violin
Robert Constable · piano · all except track 3

Details

List price: $25.00 AUD
Total playing time: 82 minutes 0 seconds
Label: Atoll
Categories: Australian, Classical
Genre: Contemporary Classical
Catalogue: ACD 110
EAN: 9421000501105

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During the long still nights of Melbourne’s Covid lockdowns, pianist Len Vorster listened widely and thought hard about what he heard. Those evening ruminations became this programme of fifteen nocturnes and night pieces, from Schumann’s circle to Copland.