Move Records Australian classical & art music, est. 1968
Front cover art for Sun Fun and other Disappointments: The music of Michael Easton

Sun Fun and other Disappointments: The music of Michael Easton

This compilation gathers British–Australian composer Michael Easton’s output from 1981 to 1993: solo and duo piano, a flute sonata, a piccolo concerto, song cycles, and four songs from his one-woman show Dorothy Parker Says.

Michael Eastonpiano Len Vorsterpiano
  • CatalogueMCD 657
  • Released1 Mar 2024
  • Playing time61 minutes 11 seconds

Listen & tracks

9 works · 61:11

  1. Moods for PianoMichael Easton 4 movements6:30
    1. 1 In Reflective Mood 2:04
    2. 2 High Spirits :55
    3. 3 Alone and Lonely 2:17
    4. 4 Practical Jokes 1:14
  2. Deux Chansons pour l’Arrière-SaisonMichael Easton 2 movements3:12
    1. 5 Colloque Sentimentale 2:18
    2. 6 Dans le Bois :54
  3. Cocktail SuiteMichael Easton 3 movements5:36
    1. 7 Whisky Sour Waltz 1:56
    2. 8 Martini Melody 1:53
    3. 9 Schneider Cup Charleston 1:47
  4. Sun Fun and other DisappointmentsMichael Easton 4 movements8:26
    1. 10 Song of a Night-Club Proprietress 2:21
    2. 11 Harvest Hymn 2:34
    3. 12 In a Bath Tea-Shop 2:08
    4. 13 How to Get On in Society 1:23
  5. Flute SonataMichael Easton 3 movements9:55
    1. 14 Allegro Malizioso 3:47
    2. 15 Nocturne: Andante Cantabile 4:09
    3. 16 Finale: Presto 1:59
  6. How Pleasant to Know Mr LearMichael Easton 5 movements5:17
    1. 17 There was an Old Man who said Hush :28
    2. 18 Old Man of the Hague :41
    3. 19 Old Man of Whitehaven :56
    4. 20 Mrs Jaypher :36
    5. 21 How Pleasant to Know Mr Lear 2:36
  7. 22 Conversations for Piano Michael Easton 2:08
  8. Piccolo ConcertoMichael Easton 3 movements12:45
    1. 23 Allegro 4:46
    2. 24 Andante con moto 3:43
    3. 25 Rondo 4:16
  9. Dorothy Parker SaysMichael Easton 4 movements7:22
    1. 26 General Review 1:41
    2. 27 Song of Perfect Propriety 1:27
    3. 28 Fulfillment 1:53
    4. 29 But Not Forgotten 2:21

Michael Easton was a composer and pianist, and also a music critic, pre-concert speaker, lecturer, and co-founder with Len Vorster of the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival.

The disc title comes from poems by British poet laureate John Betjeman. Kathleen Southall-Casey gives a fine account of the song-cycle drawn from those poems.

The 2024 reissue marked Easton’s seventieth year and twenty years since his death in 2004. It also pays tribute to soprano Kathleen Southall-Casey (1961–2024).

Pianists Len Vorster, Michael Easton and Rebecca Chambers appear with Kathleen Southall-Casey (soprano), Ian Cousins (baritone), actress Deidre Rubenstein (vocals), Frederick Shade (piccolo), Richard Thurlby (flute), and Brett Kelly conducting the Academy of Melbourne.

Reviews

... he was a complete musician, far more at ease in his work than any other writer I have come across, except Peter Sculthorpe who shared with Easton a courtesy and ease with his fellow man that was most appealing in the context of Australian composition during the latter half of the last century. The CD’s most substantial work is the Piccolo Concerto of 1986, written for Melbourne Symphony Orchestra flautist Frederick Shade and here recorded at the Port Fairy Spring Festival of 1992 with the Academy of Melbourne and its founder Brett Kelly conducting. Easton’s ... Nocturne: Andante cantabile offers a fine fusion of sentiment and power; the emotional language sounds more determined and sincere than much on this CD. The composer was never one to scale the heights of modernity and the spices he employed in his work were usually mild; these pages in particular speak to the man’s professionalism and the ability to find a particular spectrum of operations, then explore it effortlessly. ... it is hard, at least for some of us, to forget Easton and his unflappable skill.

— Clive O'Connell, O'Connell the Music

Artists

Photograph of Michael Easton

Michael Easton

piano

Michael Easton (1954–2004) was a British-born composer, pianist and arranger who settled in Melbourne in 1982. His music is accessible, wickedly witty and finely crafted, drawing on French models and jazz.

 Photograph of Len Vorster

Len Vorster

piano

Len Vorster is one of Australia's finest accompanists, and artistic director of Classical Palette (a Naxos series devoted to contemporary music), of the Schirmer Ensemble, and of the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival.

Digital booklet

Digital booklet Notes, texts and credits — read online or download the PDF Download the PDF

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Compact disc

Buywell Music Australian Music Centre

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Performers

Details

List price
$25.00 AUD
Total playing time
61 minutes 11 seconds
Release date
Category
Classical
Genres
Contemporary Classical, Vocal & Opera
Musical work copyright
© Move Records
Sound recording copyright
℗ 2024 Move Records
Catalogue
MCD 657
EAN
9314570465727

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