re-sound
re-sound's first, self-titled album gathers chamber works by John Cage and five Australian composers – Brendan Colbert, Paul Moulatlet, Ken Murray, Thomas Reiner and Harvey Sollberger – in a programme of late twentieth-century sound.
Brendan Colbert composer
Paul Moulatlet composer
Ken Murray composer
Thomas Reiner composer
Harvey Sollberger composer
Eight tracks chart a sonic journey through the music of our time: new sound worlds that challenge conventional ideas of what music can be. The disc is not “easy listening”, yet its uncompromising directness and sensual colour give it an immediate pull. Intellectual deliberation is not required; the range of timbres and unusual forms can draw any attentive ear.
The most substantial work is John Cage's late SEVEN, a slow, almost static meditation for seven chamber instruments. Brendan Colbert's flute solo Agite follows – fast, agitated and played with audible drive by Melanie Chilianis. Thomas Reiner, the group's artistic director, contributes Septet, built on harsh dissonances and irregular rhythms. Guitarist Ken Murray both writes and plays Bash, mixing popular and classical techniques into vivid gestures. Colbert's trio Spiel weaves flute, violin and guitar into a shifting web of sound. Harvey Sollberger's Sunflowers sets flute (and alto flute) against vibraphone in a warm, elegant dialogue, before Paul Moulatlet's fragile, expressive Chamber Work #2.
Reiner's clarinet solo Grace Notes closes the programme at its most radical: silences, soft short gestures and sustained tones that seem to live on their own. Beyond the individual pieces, the album documents re-sound's work between 1996 and 1999.
Artist
re-sound
re-sound has established itself as one of Australia's most progressive contemporary music ensembles. Its thought-provoking, challenging and dynamic performances explore the sounds of our time across a wide range of genres, styles, and performance contexts.
Tracks
- SEVEN John Cage
- Agite Brendan Colbert
- Septet Thomas Reiner
- Bash Ken Murray
- Spiel Brendan Colbert
- Sunflowers Harvey Sollberger
- Chamber Work #2 Paul Moulatlet
- Grace Notes Thomas Reiner
Performers
Composers
John Cage
John Cage’s prepared-piano Sonatas and Interludes turn the instrument into a gamelan of pings, thuds and quiet resonance. His late chamber piece SEVEN is a slow, almost static meditation; Dream floats in mellow sustained colour.
Brendan Colbert
Brendan Colbert was born in Ballarat, Victoria, in 1956. After moving to Melbourne in the 1970s he worked with progressive-rock bands as keyboard player and songwriter, and in the 1980s studied composition with Brenton Broadstock and Riccardo Formosa.
Paul Moulatlet
Paul Moulatlet is a Melbourne-based Australian composer of contemporary chamber and electro-acoustic music. His works have been performed across Australia and in England, Italy, Norway and the USA.
Ken Murray
Ken Murray (b. 1968) is a Melbourne guitarist and composer working across classical and electric guitar in contemporary chamber music.
Thomas Reiner
Artistic Director of the ensemble re-sound, Thomas Reiner has received numerous awards for his compositions, including second prize in the International Witold Lutosławski Composers' Competition for Two Movements for Orchestra, the Dorian Le Gallienne Award, and the Albert H. Maggs Composition Award.
Where to listen
re-sound 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
- MCD 255
- List price
- $25.00 AUD
- Musical work
copyright - © Move Records
- Sound recording
copyright - ℗ Move Records
- Category
- Australian
- Barcode
- EAN 9314574025521
Related recordings
The Flowers
All works on this recording are Australian compositions exploring the aesthetics of contemporary art music. The disc offers a fresh perspective on Australian music-making through starkly varied new pieces.
Quiet on the Bridge
As with the group's previous recordings, this CD combines a range of contemporary styles and approaches, including electronic and electro-acoustic music, contemporary chamber and interactive computer music, indeterminate (open) works and improvisation.
Ephemeral Densities
ephemeral densities is re-sound's third CD. It focuses on new Australian work by re-sound members Steve Adam, Melanie Chilianis, Paul Moulatlet, and Thomas Reiner. It integrates contemporary chamber music, computer music and popular electronic music.
Conversations
The recording of Conversations is one of the outcomes of a research project initiated by the School of Music in the Faculty of Arts at Monash University. Six composers have collaborated to produce this recording, performed by six performers.