Don Bartley
Don Bartley's mastering shapes the sound of Tall Poppies discs. Live recital tapes, Australian chamber premieres, Westlake scores and Haydn on fortepiano reach the ear with clarity, warmth and unfussy presence.
His credit runs through decades of the catalogue, from digital remasters of fragile concert tapes to first releases of Australian chamber and orchestral scores. On Bruce Cale's orchestral works, drawn from the composer's own copies of ABC sessions years apart, the craft shows in how evenly the three recordings sit together. Whether the source is a 1970s London recital, a Nickson Room session in Brisbane, Studio 301 or a fortepiano in Canberra, the result is natural, detailed sound that keeps the music companionable and clear.
Credits
Wordless Meanings
In the beginning there was harmony – before anyone asked “What sort of music do you play?”, before everyone grew too busy to listen, before music became ‘the industry’. Somewhere along the way, harmony was lost in a cacophony of meaningless words.
Character Interludes
Virginia Taylor and Timothy Kain present a Southern Hemisphere program for flute and guitar, pairing Argentine and Bolivian guitarist-composers with Australian works by Phillip Houghton and Elena Kats-Chernin.
Love Reconciled
A landmark in Australian early-music performance, The Marais Project’s Love Reconciled is a recording to return to often and savour deeply.