Fantasie Australis
Compositions by living Australian composers, most based in Melbourne, performed by the Monash University Flute Ensemble under Peter Sheridan. Australia’s flute-ensemble repertoire is still small beside other national traditions, yet the country has a rich store of fine woodwind writing.
Vincent Giles composer
Vaughan McAlley composer
Thomas Reiner composer
Russell Gilmour composer
Emma Rogers composer
Michal Rosiak composer
A strong and growing interest in the extended flute ensemble is taking hold in Australia and worldwide, as multi-award-winning composers explore the sonic possibilities of the extended flute family with fresh ears. This album ranges from driving rhythmic pieces to works of pure lyricism and improvisation. The music can lead the listener into the Australian landscape: wild bird-calls, driving waves, and the howling southern winds of a land as old as time. Australia is filled with natural sounds that permeate the psyche and open new thoughts of sonic possibility.
The recording gives student performers and composers a chance to show their training and aptitude on an international stage. The vision is that it will inspire new generations to explore the traditional sounds of the Western flute, and to showcase the power and sensitivity of the entire flute family.
Reviews
Rarely does a recording come close to this level of eclecticism. And yet, with the eight rich octaves provided by the sub contrabass to piccolo … this compilation of Australian works explores its own innate eclecticism with such musicality that it is impossible not to be wooed by it. ★★★★½
Full credit to Monash Uni. ensemble for a top recording. This is a collection of the most recent and exciting flute music. The inclusion of all the biggest members of the flute family creates an enormous sound with a depth and feel of bass that is now changing the sound of flute group playing and public perception of flute sound. Credit is due to Peter Sheridan for commissioning many of these works and collecting them for us all to hear. We owe him thanks too for his inspired work with the students at Monash… Fantasie Australis the CD is a credit to all involved. I can’t wait to see what next year’s group of talent provides.
While there is some variability in compositional quality, all the performances are clearly first-class. I highly recommend this CD for the flute choir section of your library.
Artists
Monash University Flute Ensemble
The Monash University Flute Ensemble is directed by Peter Sheridan. The flautists perform on the wide array of instruments from the modern day flute ensemble (from piccolo to hyperbass flute).
Peter Sheridan
Peter Sheridan is a low-flute specialist whose bass, contrabass, subcontrabass and hyperbass playing has opened a new sound world through more than seventy commissions and a substantial body of recordings.
Tracks
- Fanfare for Uncommon Flutes Houston Dunleavy 2:59
- Fantasie Australis Vincent Giles 4:19
- Chaconne for double flute choir Vaughan McAlley 5:59
- Aerofoil Thomas Reiner 4:37
- Milford Fall Houston Dunleavy 5:16
- Blow Pipes Russell Gilmour 3:49
- i. Elegant Utterances 3:16
- ii. Breath 2:26
- iii. Crimson 4:02
- iv. Fragments of Dance 2:26
- Fragments Vincent Giles 6:33
- Angry Tunes Michal Rosiak 3:40
- Improvised Fragments (take two) Vincent Giles 1:50
Roses: Potpourri of Pain and Peace (2011) Emma Rogers
Performers
- Monash University Flute Ensemble
- Peter Sheridan · director
Composers
Houston Dunleavy
Houston Dunleavy was born in Ulster and has pursued a wide-ranging international career as a musician, conductor and composer, working across Australia and the United States.
Vaughan McAlley
Vaughan McAlley is a composer and arranger, alto and tenor, a capable flautist and French horn player, and the recording engineer behind countless Move releases.
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.
Vincent Giles
Vincent Giles is an Australian composer whose music explores the extended flute family, from intimate low-flute textures to works for larger flute ensemble.
Russell Gilmour
Russell Gilmour is an Australian composer. His music includes Bach-inspired counterpoint for solo guitar and writing for the extended flute family.
Michal Rosiak
Michal Rosiak is a composer of contemporary works for flute ensemble, writing for the full range of the extended flute family from the familiar concert instruments to the deepest low flutes.
Contributors
Artwork
Benjamin Thomas
Benjamin Thomas is a graphic designer and illustrator whose cover artwork, illustration and design appear on many Move Records releases.
Photography
Kerryn McDonald
Photography
Vincent Giles
Vincent Giles is an Australian composer whose music explores the extended flute family, from intimate low-flute textures to works for larger flute ensemble.
Where to listen
Fantasie Australis is available for streaming through Apple Music. It can also be purchased through the iTunes Music Store.
Fantasie Australis 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
- MD 3366
- List price
- $25.00 AUD
- Total playing time
- 51 minutes 12 seconds
- Recording Engineer
- Martin Wright
- Editing Engineer
- Vaughan McAlley
- Mastering Engineer
- Martin Wright
- Venue
- Monash University School of Music Auditorium
- Credit
- Benjamin Thomas
Kerryn McDonald
Vincent Giles - Release date
- 3 Sep 2013
- Musical work
copyright - © 2013 Move Records
- Sound recording
copyright - ℗ 2013 Move Records
- Category
- Classical
- Genre
- Contemporary Classical
- Barcode
- EAN 9314574336627
Related recordings
Dances and Delights
Premiere recordings of Australian and American works for modern flute ensemble fill this album with spirit and serenity, from waltzes and two-steps to cherished song arrangements.
Continental Drift
Continental Drift features compositions for two bass flutes and cello. As the Earth’s continents drift across the ocean floor, new music makes its own slow migration around the globe, across time and space into various lands and cultures.
Sonorous Sonatas
Peter Sheridan set out to bring the larger, lower flutes to centre stage, testing their sound and colour within one of Western music’s most traditional forms: the sonata. Commissioned works and substantial duo writing put alto, bass, contrabass and subcontrabass flutes in the foreground.
Monologues & Dialogues
This recording features the resonant, meditative colours of modern low flutes. Austere, breathy and at times eerie, these deep registers open a sound-world still little explored in woodwind writing, and invite a wide range of musical imaginings.