Sunburnt Aftertones
Katy Abbott’s chamber music, spanning her career to date, shows her gift for drawing listeners straight into an evocative sound world. Place, travel and instrumental colour shape these direct, pictorial scores.
Joseph Lallo saxophone
Jessica Voigt saxophone
Caerwen Martin cello
Collision Theory ensemble
Mark Gaydon bassoon
Halcyon ensemble
Aaron Barnden violin
Syzygy Ensemble ensemble
Works include the saxophone trio Egyptian Wish, Sunburnt Aftertones and Making Angels with Syzygy Ensemble, the song cycle No Ordinary Traveller written for Halcyon, and MultiSonics for solo bassoon.
Abbott’s chamber writing is direct and pictorial. It is often tied to a place, a traveller’s story, or a single instrumental colour.
Reviews
Katy Abbott writes, “in my music I am trying to capture the little things that make us human or happen to us because we are human. I seek to unpack the human side of life; humour, foibles, quirky things we do and say, beauty, grief and friendship”. In this, she has succeeded. The pieces on this CD range from an examination of the life of a female traveller in ‘No Ordinary Traveller’ for mezzo-soprano, to reminiscences of hearing calls to prayer in ‘Egyptian Wish’… If you’re interested in contemporary Australian composition, this CD provides an excellent example of approachable new music. ★★★
Each one has a strong sense of place or person, crafted with assertive clarity. Human qualities of beauty, melancholy and satire radiate from pieces like MultiSonics and No Ordinary Traveller while her landscapes shimmer with heat waves (Sunburnt Aftertones) or resound with calls to prayer (Egyptian Wish). This is poetic, assertive music that is jubilantly of its time.
Artist
Katy Abbott
Katy Abbott’s music is refreshingly genuine. She is part of a new wave of composers who emerged after the style wars that dominated Australian music in the nineties, and her work has no hint of either forced intellectualism or fluffy popularism.
Audio previews
Tracks
- Egyptian Wish Katy Abbott 7:22
- Sunburnt Aftertones Katy Abbott 5:25
- Making Angels Katy Abbott 7:18
- No Ordinary Traveller 7:12
- Ship Life 3:25
- One Dark Sky 7:36
- An End That Marks a Start 5:04
- The Empty Quarter Katy Abbott 15:37
- MultiSonics Katy Abbott 8:45
No Ordinary Traveller Katy Abbott
Performers
- Barry Cockcroft · track 1
- Joseph Lallo · track 1
- Jessica Voigt · track 1
- Caerwen Martin · tracks 2 and 8
- Collision Theory · tracks 2 and 8
- Mark Gaydon · track 9
- Halcyon · tracks 4–7
- Aaron Barnden · track 2
- Syzygy Ensemble · tracks 2 and 3
Where to listen
Sunburnt Aftertones 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
- MCD 441
- List price
- $25.00 AUD
- Total playing time
- 67 minutes 44 seconds
- Release date
- 2010
- Musical work
copyright - © 2010 Katy Abbott
- Sound recording
copyright - ℗ 2010 Move Records
- Categories
- Australian, Classical
- Genre
- Contemporary Classical
- Barcode
- EAN 9314574044126