Listen & tracks

8 works · 56:53

1 Fable Helen Gifford 5:03
Sonata for HarpPeggy Glanville-Hicks 3 movements10:40
1. 2 Saeta 4:14
2. 3 Pastorale 2:46
3. 4 Rondo 3:40
5 Sunlit Waterfall Miriam Hyde 4:06
6 Chamber of Horrors Elena Kats-Chernin 7:04
7 The Sun Behind It, Burning It Eve Duncan 2:23
8 Threaded Stars 2 Jennifer Fowler 10:47
9 Spindrift Johanna Selleck 8:19
Three Pieces for HarpAlicia Grant 3 movements8:31
1. 10 i. Sea breezes 3:47
2. 11 ii. Footprints in the sand: Homage to Debussy 3:03
3. 12 iii. Ocean floor 1:41

The programme makes plain how widely these composers differ in style, and how fully the harp can carry that variety.

Works range from Helen Gifford’s pioneering Fable (1967) and Peggy Glanville-Hicks’s Sonata for Harp through pieces by Miriam Hyde, Elena Kats-Chernin, Eve Duncan, Jennifer Fowler, Johanna Selleck and Alicia Grant, recorded at the Ian Potter Southbank Centre.

Reviews

Jacinta Dennett characterises the remarkable variety of soundscapes she accesses in her new disc of music by female Australian composers as ‘swimming with sound’. She’s got that right; Fable is brimming in variety with shades all the way from shadowy to brilliant and everything in between, and is a distinctive and valuable addition to the recording library. This is a superb collection of seldom-heard works that deserve a platform by a virtuosic performer taking the time and dedication to bring all the possibilities of their sounds to our ears—and the ideal musician to take on that challenge is Jacinta Dennett. ★★★★★★★★★

— Alison Young, Harp Column

Fable features harpist Jacinta Dennett performing a collection of works by Australian women – mostly living, save for Miriam Hyde and Peggy Glanville-Hicks. (The album) is an athletically virtuosic and sublimely colourful display of artistry from Dennett. The disc also serves as a compelling anthology of Australian works composed over the last 70 years for solo harp. Helen Gifford’s Fable (1967) is a captivating work in which rhapsodic gestures cover the full range of the instrument. Dennett imbues the harp with impressive coloristic dimensions across its different registers, from a gnarly bass timbre to an ethereal, floating high twinkle. Harmonically this work slides between states of harmonious ambiguity, lending the ‘storytelling’ aspect that the title promises. Like a bolt of lightning, Elena Kats-Chernin’s Chamber of Horrors (1995) thunders into being with a dramatic opening statement. This is perhaps the most programmatically inclined work on the album, providing musical provocations for the listener to imagine their own fantastical creepy wonderland. My personal favourite work of the album followed, Johanna Selleck’s Spindrift (2008). Organised in seven through-composed sections, the work is captivating and joyous. Fable is an excellent album of Australian solo harp music, featuring masterful artistry from Jacinta Dennett. Highly recommended as an inviting, colourful, and enriching listening experiences for all listeners.

— Alex Raineri, Loudmouth

Artists

Jacinta Dennett

harp

From the outset of her creative education, Jacinta Dennett has intrinsically entwined movement and music. The responsive nature of the harp and its unique capacity to continue resounding after it has been played have led Jacinta to research the essence of gesture in harp playing and develop her idiosyncratic performance style.

Eve Duncan

composer

Eve Duncan has composed chamber, orchestral and vocal music, with performances at festivals throughout Australia, Asia and Europe. Her catalogue ranges from intimate solo and ensemble pieces to larger vocal and orchestral scores.

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.

Peggy Glanville-Hicks

composer

Peggy Glanville-Hicks (1912–1990) was an Australian composer, born in Melbourne, whose career carried her through London, New York and Greece. She wrote operas, chamber music, song cycles and a concise Sonata for Harp that remains widely played.

Alicia Grant

composer

Alicia Grant has had works performed by many orchestras and ensembles both in Australia, Europe and North America.

Miriam Hyde

composer

Miriam Hyde (1913–2005) was an Australian composer, pianist and teacher whose lyrical, post-romantic voice is especially known through her piano music and works for students.

Elena Kats-Chernin

composer

Elena Kats-Chernin AO (born 1957) is an Australian composer whose piano rags, chamber miniatures, ballet and stage scores have become central to contemporary Australian repertoire.

Johanna Selleck

composer

Johanna Selleck is a composer, musicologist, and flautist. She holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne, where she is an honorary fellow. Her compositions have been performed by internationally renowned artists across Australia, Europe, the USA, Asia, and the Middle East.

Jennifer Fowler

composer

Jennifer Fowler’s Threaded Stars for solo harp treats tempo and rhythm as star patterns. Quiet reflectiveness alternates with glassy swirls and trills, motifs that stream outward and pull the surrounding notes into their field.