Listen & tracks

5 of 5 tracks have a preview · 5 works · 48:58

1 Concertino (1988) David Joseph 11:35
2 Through Tropical Stars (1977) David Joseph 9:04
3 Sonata for Clarinet and 2 Percussionists (1978) David Joseph 10:35
4 String Trio No. 2 (1991) David Joseph 14:08
5 The Afternoon (1991) David Joseph 3:36

Performed by leading ensembles including the Seymour Group, Zdeněk Bruderhans, Jennifer Newsome, and Trio Classico, this album showcases Joseph’s unique ability to evoke beauty and emotion through music.

The album opens with Concertino for flute, viola, and percussion, performed by the Seymour Group. This vibrant piece offers a musical window into a lush garden, full of colour, light, and life, where the sounds of birds, sunlight, and nature’s rhythms are woven into intricate melodies and gestures. The title track, Through Tropical Stars, for 2 flutes performed by flautists Zdeněk Bruderhans and Jennifer Newsome, takes a more abstract approach, unfolding in three short movements that explore the flautists’ technical prowess while capturing the essence of shifting patterns and textures.

Next, Sonata for Clarinet and 2 Percussionists provides a delicate exploration of the clarinet’s warm, woody tones, enhanced by the mallet percussion work of marimba and xylophone, creating a rich interplay of timbres. String Trio No. 2, performed by the Holland Trio, further evokes the natural world, drawing on the sounds of birds, foliage, and the gentle hum of a garden throughout the day. The album concludes with The Afternoon, a contemplative work for piano trio performed by Trio Classico, which evokes the stillness and quiet melancholy of the late afternoon, bringing the collection to a serene close.

Through Tropical Stars is a testament to Joseph’s unique ability to translate the natural world into music, capturing moments of beauty, movement, and stillness with subtlety and sophistication.

Reviews

The flute duet Through Tropical Stars is an astonishing work … Joseph has a vivid imagination and the skill to write a work that is bursting with energy and still he finds time to be lyrical. Indeed, it is this composer’s lyricism that is evident in the 5 works presented here … Sonata for Clarinet and 2 Percussionists is an absolute ripper! Here we hear a composer brimming with ideas and exploring music with a virtuosic approach. Joseph references music from the early to mid 20th century and fashions it into his own voice. Both these works have stunning performances that bring the music alive. Zdenek Bruderhans and Jennifer Newsome in the flute duet dazzle whilst the clarinettist Nigel Sabin and percussionists Ian Cleworth and Michael Howell take your breath away in the Sonata for Clarinet and 2 Percussionists. A little breath of fresh air, indeed, a little gem is The Afternoon for piano trio. Barely three and half minutes it finishes just as it seems to be settling in for the long haul.

— Alan Holley, ClassikON

David Joseph’s Concertino for flute, viola and percussion (revised from a 1984 version of the score) (is) full of pulsations, figurations and continuities of traditional concert music. I certainly don’t mean that as a subtle form of denigration. While it is always possible that a creator with vigorous concepts will outdistance a more naturally music inventor, I see no reason to discount the significance of the musicality that may disclose itself abundantly in the work of a young composer.

— Roger Covell, Sydney Morning Herald

Through Tropical Stars eschewed all avant-garde technical experimentation, concentrating on good tone, pitch flexibility and aural awareness of changing patterns. (It is) one of the most effective duets for two flautists I have heard.

— Johannes Roose, Adelaide Advertiser

Artists

David Joseph

composer

David Joseph (b. 1954) is a Melbourne-born Australian composer whose orchestral and chamber music is marked by vivid colour, lyric invention and a keen ear for texture. His catalogue ranges from concertos and string studies to ballet scenes and intimate chamber scores.