Move Records Australian classical & art music, est. 1968
Front cover art for A Sympathetic Resonance

A Sympathetic Resonance

Peter Constant presents classical guitar works by Australian composers, joined by Marion Schaap on guitar, Mardi McSullea on flute and Helen Noonan, soprano.

Peter Constantguitar
  • CatalogueMCD 105
  • Released1998
  • Playing time57 minutes 51 seconds

Listen & tracks

12 works · 57:51

  1. 1 Rain Phillip Houghton 4:26
  2. 2 just a moment … Mark Pollard 3:43
  3. 3 one sweet moment … Mark Pollard 2:56
  4. 4 in the heat of the moment … Mark Pollard 2:46
  5. 5 Prelude no.1 Richard Vella 7:46
  6. 6 Wildflower Phillip Houghton 5:15
  7. 7 Pluck It! Gerard Brophy 3:27
  8. Valses MelodiqueRichard Charlton 4 movements6:25
    1. 8 waltz one 1:21
    2. 9 waltz two 1:30
    3. 10 waltz three 1:52
    4. 11 waltz four 1:42
  9. 12 Black Cat Tango Mark Viggiani 4:22
  10. 13 Prelude, Book 1 #3 in G Donald Hollier (homage to Chopin) 3:27
  11. 14 Matilda's Song Mark Pollard 3:44
  12. 15 A Sympathetic Resonance Mark Pollard 9:34

Much has been said about the explosion of activity around the classical guitar in Australia over the preceding decade. This disc samples a wide range of Australian guitar music, assembled by an Australian artist on an Australian-made instrument.

Borrowing its title from Mark Pollard’s A Sympathetic Resonance, Peter Constant offers a personal view of the guitar through works by composers with whom he has had a (sympathetic) working relationship.

Every piece was written with the guitar’s unique voice in mind. Many draw on the instrument’s natural resonances, and all explore colouristic or contextual traits peculiar to the guitar. Some, such as Gerard Brophy’s Pluck It!, take their cue from the instrument itself. Others look back to earlier composers, among them Richard Charlton’s Valses Melodique and Donald Hollier’s Prelude, Book 1, #3. Landscape and heritage shape Phillip Houghton’s Rain and Wildflower, and Mark Pollard’s “Matilda’s Song” from Matilda’s Dream, for guitar with flute (Mardi McSullea) and soprano (Helen Noonan). Richard Vella’s Prelude No. 1 is included, as is Mark Viggiani’s guitar duo Black Cat Tango, which Constant plays with his Z.O.O. Duo partner and wife, Marion Schaap.

In 1998 Constant was among a new generation of Australian guitarists, with solo work in Italy, America and Holland as well as across Australia. He performed as half of the Z.O.O. Duo with Marion Schaap, and as a founding member of Guitar Trek, a four-person troupe then touring Australia, Asia and the U.S.A., including a Musica Viva circuit through Tasmania, Queensland, NSW, Adelaide, Perth and the Northern Territory. He had recorded five CDs, four of them on Move, and was Head of Guitar at the Victorian College of the Arts.

Reviews

something that is far from the ordinary … Australian composers can boast of a highly effective interpreter in Peter Constant … he is totally in command of the material. His playing displays a comprehensive palette of expression and color …

— James Reid, Guitar Foundation of America

Artists

Photograph of Peter Constant

Peter Constant

guitar

Peter Constant is one of the new breed of fine young guitarists this country has produced in recent years, with a solo performing career extending to Italy, America and Holland as well as to capital cities and regional centres across Australia.

 Photograph of Gerard Brophy

Gerard Brophy

composer

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.

 Photograph of Phillip Houghton

Phillip Houghton

composer

Phillip Houghton’s guitar music has been performed and recorded by leading musicians, including John Williams and Timothy Kain. A self-taught composer, he drew on classical, jazz, rock, ambient and world music.

 Photograph of Mark Pollard by photographer Steve Wyld

Mark Pollard

composer

Australian composer Mark Clement Pollard has an eclectic style that draws on improvisation, jazz, pop, minimalism and the indigenous musics of South-East Asia.

 Photograph of Mark Viggiani

Mark Viggiani

composer

Mark Viggiani is a classical and contemporary guitarist and composer who performs widely as a soloist and in ensembles. His compositions, inspired by nature and spirituality, have been taken up by groups including Z.O.O. Duo and the new-music ensemble Sonance.

 No photograph: Richard Charlton

Richard Charlton

composer

Richard Charlton writes for the guitar with a player's knowledge of its colour and resonance. His music ranges from melodic waltzes and serenades to landscape suites that paint Australian skies, bushfire haze and bay-side dreams.

 No photograph: Donald Hollier

Donald Hollier

composer

Donald Hollier is a Sydney-born Australian composer, organist and choral director whose work spans opera, choral and orchestral music, chamber works and solo keyboard pieces.

 No photograph: Richard Vella

Richard Vella

composer

Richard Vella writes with a sharp ear for colour and drive. His guitar piece Mirrors of Fire rides a relentless walking bass; the clarinet Tango is flamboyant and free; Memory Pieces let the piano glance back at Czerny, mazurka and cinema.

Digital booklet

Digital booklet Notes, texts and credits — read online or download the PDF Download the PDF

Buy now

$25.00 AUD

Compact disc

Buywell Music Australian Music Centre

Stream now

Apple Music

Also available to download from the iTunes Store.

Performers

Technical credits

  • Producer Peter Constant
  • Recording Engineer Vaughan McAlley
  • Co-Producer Marion Schaap
    Martin Wright

Details

List price
$25.00 AUD
Total playing time
57 minutes 51 seconds
Release date
Categories
Australian, Classical
Genre
Contemporary Classical
Musical work copyright
© 1998 Peter Constant
Sound recording copyright
℗ 1998 Move Records
Catalogue
MCD 105
EAN
9314574010527

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