Listen & tracks
6 of 17 tracks have a preview · 6 works · 77:58
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1 Broadway Boogie-Woogie Andrew Ford 2:31
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Six DancesAndrew Byrne 6 movements19:13
- 2 first dance 2:41
- 3 second dance 4:05
- 4 third dance 2:53
- 5 fourth dance 2:09
- 6 fifth dance 4:03
- 7 sixth dance 3:22
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8 Toccata da Nielico John McCaughey 2:47
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Piano Sonata IINigel Westlake 2 movements9:37
- 9 first section 3:30
- 10 second section 6:07
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Piano Sonata No. 1Mark Pollard 3 movements23:13
- 11 first movement 3:14
- 12 second movement 11:53
- 13 third movement 8:06
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Piano Sonata, 2006Michael Kieran Harvey 4 movements20:37
- 14 Maestoso 10:24
- 15 mm60 3:26
- 16 Presto 4:15
- 17 Epilogue 2:32
All works on this disc are premieres: Andrew Ford’s Australian premiere at the Feast Festival, Adelaide (11 November 2005); Andrew Byrne at Federation Concert Hall, Hobart (25 July 2004); John McCaughey on this recording; Nigel Westlake at Festival Hall, Adelaide (1 August 2005); Mark Pollard at Federation Hall, VCA (16 June 2006); and Michael Kieran Harvey at the Port Fairy Festival, Victoria (8 October 2006).
A discussion on composing with Andrew Byrne and Michael Kieran Harvey is on YouTube:
In the artist’s words
Broadway Boogie is an assemblage of recent Australian piano music selected for its allusions – sometimes extremely tenuous – to New York. A major international centre of ideas and creativity, this city maintains a galvanizing effect on Australian intellectual life in a way that, say, Washington never could. Andrew Ford's Broadway Boogie-Woogie finds musical parallels to Mondrian's famous painting, the epitome of non-symmetrical balance, and itself a paean to New York's artistic diversity. Andrew Byrne, a resident of New York, has written an unsentimental exploration of the surreal sounds of chaos and succour after the destruction of the Twin Towers. Byrne's mentor, John McCaughey, possibly the most self-effacing and reluctant Australian composer, yet one of Australia's busiest and most original musicians, gives us a glimpse into the multi-layered nature of his thinking with Toccata de Nielico. Nigel Westlake's brilliant (if brief!) follow-up to the magnificent first sonata contrasts ethereal improvisations with driving rhythms which would not sound out of place in downtown Manhattan. Mark Pollard's homage to Euclid shows his fascination with post-minimalism (a New York hallmark) and the re-emergence of emotion, and finds fresh stimulus in the nostalgic language of Chopin. My own sonata is offered in gratitude to Saxby Pridmore, who in turn owes his inspiration to the great New York Stoic psychologist Albert Ellis.
Reviews
Who better to interpret and play this splendidly engineered and lengthy recital of contemporary music than one of Australia's finest pianists, Michael Kieran Harvey? . . . For those with flexible and enquiring minds it provides an insight into the creative thinking of some of Australia's most foremost composers
Australia's own piano maestro makes modern classical music arrestingly acceptable
possibly the most self-effacing and reluctant Australian composer, yet one of Australia's busiest and most original musicians
Artists
Michael Kieran Harvey
piano
Australian pianist and composer Dr Michael Kieran Harvey FAHA is among the foremost interpreters of contemporary piano music of his generation. A champion of Australian music, he regularly commissions new work and has performed with the country’s leading contemporary ensembles and orchestras.
Andrew Byrne
composer
Andrew Byrne is a Australian composer based in New York, who has written works for film, dance, theater, and the concert hall. His music, which always betrays a fascination with polyrhythm, is influenced by American experimental music and non-Western music.
Andrew Ford
composer
Andrew Ford is an Australian composer, writer and broadcaster whose work ranges from chamber and vocal scores to opera and piano cycles. He has won the Paul Lowin Prize for the song cycle Learning to Howl and a Green Room Award for the opera Rembrandt’s Wife.
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.
Nigel Westlake
composer
Westlake has played in fusion bands and soundtrack sessions, with Australia’s leading instrumental groups, and as a soloist with orchestras and classical ensembles in Australia and in major cities worldwide, from London and Paris to Tokyo, Beijing and New York.
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.
Digital booklet
Digital booklet Notes, texts and credits — read online or download the PDF Download the PDFPerformers
- Michael Kieran Harvey · piano
Technical credits
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Recording Engineer
Martin Wright
Vaughan McAlley
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Editing Engineer
Vaughan McAlley
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Mastering Engineer
Martin Wright
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Venue
Move Records Studio (tracks 1–13)
Tasmanian Conservatorium (tracks 14–17)
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Thanks to
Creative Australia
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Credit
Graeme Lee
Details
- List price
- $25.00 AUD
- Total playing time
- 77 minutes 58 seconds
- Release date
- 10 Oct 2007
- Categories
- Australian, Classical, Keyboard
- Musical work copyright
- © 2007 Move Records
- Sound recording copyright
- ℗ 2007 Move Records
- Catalogue
- MD 3315
- EAN
- 9314574331523
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