Listen & tracks

1 of 14 tracks have a preview · 14 works · 72:02

1 Arch (Fantasia No. 4) Larry Sitsky 4:09
2 Cantillation Helen Gifford 1:56
3 Elite Syncopations Mary Mageau 2:17
4 Prelude Lawrence Whiffin 7:41
5 Sonata 1 Keith Humble 2:37
6 Sonata 2 Keith Humble 4:10
7 Masks Haydn Reeder 9:34
8 Uttering Joyous Leaves Nigel Butterley 4:27
9 Five Small Pieces John McCaughey 6:31
10 Ragings of a One Pot Screamer Theodore Dollarhide 10:45
11 Eshelgharam Ann Ghandar 3:54
12 Krebs Mark Pollard 5:44
13 The Spell Helen Gifford 1:50
14 Fantasia No. 1 (in memory of Egon Petri) Larry Sitsky 6:27

A disc of extreme contrasts, ranging from Keith Humble’s fiery Sonatas 1 and 2 to Mary Mageau’s Joplinesque Elite Syncopations. It includes Sitsky’s own rhapsodic Fantasia No. 1 and No. 4; Helen Gifford’s The Spell and Cantillation; Lawrence Whiffin’s Prelude; Haydn Reeder’s Masks; Nigel Butterley’s Uttering Joyous Leaves; John McCaughey’s Five Small Pieces; Theodore Dollarhide’s Ragings of a One Pot Screamer; Ann Ghandar’s Eshelgharam; and Mark Pollard’s Krebs. A truly valuable collection.

Reviews

An essential disc

— Greg Borrowman, Australian Hi-Fi

Artists

Larry Sitsky

piano

Larry Sitsky's activities as a composer, pianist, writer, broadcaster and teacher place him among the foremost ambassadors of contemporary Australian piano music. His work has made a lasting contribution to the Australian musical tradition.

Nigel Butterley

composer

Nigel Butterley (1935–2022) was an Australian composer and pianist. His catalogue ranges from radiophonic and choral scores to chamber, vocal and orchestral works, and as a pianist he was closely identified with contemporary music and the prepared piano.

Theodore Dollarhide

composer

As a composer Theodore Dollarhide developed a close working relationship with local Melbourne goups and performers, especially Elision, receiving many commissions and performances.

Ann Ghandar

composer

Ann Ghandar has been refining and simplifying her compositional style, assisted by the inspiration of Middle Eastern music. Her greatest wish is to give others the joy that she herself receives from music.

Helen Gifford

composer

Helen Gifford OAM is an Australian composer whose music often draws on Balinese and Javanese elements. She writes for stage, orchestra, chamber ensemble and solo instruments.

Keith Humble

composer

Keith Humble won the National Critics Award in 1977 as the most outstanding recitalist working in Australia, and was appointed AM in 1982 for services to music. He was a constant champion of Australian contemporary music and of Percy Grainger.

Mary Mageau

composer

Mary Mageau (1934–2020) was an American-born Australian composer and harpsichordist whose catalogue spans orchestra, chamber music, solo works and voice. From 1974 she made her home in Queensland and became a distinctive voice in Australian contemporary music.

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.

Haydn Reeder

composer

Haydn Reeder (b. 1944) is an Australian composer, pianist and teacher whose chamber, orchestral, vocal, choral and live-electronic works have been commissioned and performed in Australia and abroad.

Lawrence Whiffin

composer

Lawrence Whiffin (1930–2012) was a Melbourne-born composer, pianist and teacher. After years abroad he returned to Australia as Senior Tutor at La Trobe University, where teaching harmony and analysis also freed him to write more concert music.

John McCaughey

composer

John McCaughey is a Melbourne conductor and composer, and long-serving musical director of the Astra Chamber Music Society, known for adventurous programmes of Australian music.