Vocal & Opera
Jan Friedl sings Brecht
Jan Friedl and pianist James Voss present Bertolt Brecht theatre songs with music by Kurt Weill, Hanns Eisler and Paul Dessau, among the sharpest of the twentieth century.
Hymne à l’amour
Hymne à l’amour is an exquisite collection of art songs from soprano Siobhán Stagg and pianist Amir Farid. The programme traces the frailty of the human condition through flirtation, deep love and heartbreaking truths.
Ambient Voice
Ambient Voice places Dean Frenkel’s haunting harmonic vocals over and within works by outstanding Australian composers, among them Mark Clement Pollard, George Dreyfus, Andrew MacGregor and Invention in Time.
A Shropshire Lad
Baritone Blake Fischer and pianist Claire Cooper, winners of the 1998 Song Recital Award, present English and American folk, traditional and art songs by Butterworth, Copland, Finzi and Britten.
Tyrannick Love
The Orpheus Ensemble with Vivien Hamilton. Songs for soprano, harpsichord, baroque cello (viola da gamba and baroque violins on occasion), each written for famous singers and actresses in popular Restoration dramas of late 17th-century England.
ABC of American Art Song
Melanie Duncan blitzed the 1999 Mietta Song Recital Award, taking the Popular Choice award and the Musical Partnership with accompanist Claire Cooper as well as the Award itself. This is her recital of twentieth-century American art song.
Adele Johnston sings Wagner and Korngold Lieder
Adele Johnston, 1997 winner of the City of Melbourne Song Recital Award, sings rarely heard Wagner and Korngold lieder with pianist Andrew Greene, including Australian and world premiere recordings.
A Classic Case of Love
Soprano Helen Noonan and guitarist Peter Constant present an intimate programme of love songs spanning centuries, from folk and early music to Schubert, Satie, Villa-Lobos and the twentieth-century stage and songbook.
Louise Page sings Richard Strauss
Soprano Louise Page, with pianist Phillipa Candy, sings lyrical and romantic Strauss lieder spanning early Op. 10 songs, the Op. 48 cycle, the Ophelia songs and the late Fünf kleine Lieder. Winner of the 1995 City of Melbourne Song Recital Award.
Bards of Faith and Passion
Jim Minchin sets poems by writers at play or at odds with eternity: soul-poet lyrics across the centuries, from anonymous Latin verse and the metaphysicals to Yeats, Shakespeare and living voices.
Night and Dreams
Soprano Merlyn Quaife and guitarist Jochen Schubert present songs by Mozart and Schubert, among them the Serenade and Nacht und Träume, with Spanish and Argentinian folksong settings by Moretti, Gerhard and Guastavino.
A Night at the Opera
Highly acclaimed wind arrangements of favourite operatic excerpts, given as they were heard in Vienna between 1792 and 1821, when Harmonie ensembles carried the latest stage hits beyond the opera house.
Australia Who? – America's Cup winner 1983
In 1983 Australia won the America's Cup, the first time a non-American yacht took the trophy in the race’s 132-year history.
Australia's Billy Williams
Recorded between 1907 and 1914, these 23 songs offer a fascinating historical overview of one of Australia's first pop recording stars and music-hall favourites.
Fly: An Australian Opera
Barry Conyngham’s opera Fly, to a libretto by Murray Copland, dramatises the life of inventor and explorer Lawrence Hargrave. The Victoria State Opera premiere recording is conducted by John Hopkins.
Le Rossignol
Margaret Lynch, soprano, and Peter Lynch, guitar, present works from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. The recital was recorded in the natural acoustic of the Great Hall at Montsalvat in Eltham, Victoria.
Polyphony
The Phones were an a cappella group with a comedic bent. This 1984 album largely reflects their interest in contemporary music of the preceding twenty-five years, mixing pop classics with Australian songs and original pieces.
Great Bass Ballads
Baritone Alan Light brings operatic presence to fourteen popular bass ballads, from drinking songs and sea shanties to Australian bush songs, in orchestral and choral arrangements by Eric Gross.
Moonlight Reflections
A recital album full to the brim with exquisite art song, this recording gathers hidden treasures and classic favourites performed by Opera Australia star Stacey Alleaume.
Amy Castles: Court Singer
Amy Castles, the Australian dramatic soprano once hailed as the “Australian nightingale”, left landmark gramophone sides from London and Australian sessions in the early twentieth century. This disc gathers eighteen restored arias, salon songs and ballads.
Lotus Dreams
Soprano Shu-Cheen Yu and pianist Katherine Day present eighteen favourite songs and ballads, from Brahms and Schubert to Chinese and Irish folk airs, a personal path through Lieder and art song.
Dream Song
A charming collection of well-known songs, sure to delight. Immortal sacred favourites sit beside theatre and film themes, from Franck’s Panis Angelicus and Lloyd Webber’s Pie Jesu to Blake, Rodgers and Bart.
Birds Bees and Butterflies
Songs of love and springtime sung by Pamela Wainwright and accompanied by Andrew Frampton.
The Shepherd and the Mermaid
The winning combination of voice, clarinet and piano delighted intimate gatherings and inspired many lovely works. Australian soprano Elena Xanthoudakis is joined by clarinettist Jason Xanthoudakis and pianist Clemens Leske as TrioKROMA.
I Heard You Singing: Songs My Father Taught Me
Baritone Jonathan Morton's first solo album is a personal programme of English art song, drawn from cycles and favourites his father once sang around the family piano.
Silver: Celebrating 25 Years
Pot-Pourri marks twenty-five years with Silver, a seventh album that mixes contemporary classics, Broadway, and opera into one sparkling programme.
Fortune My Foe
Roger Heagney’s song cycle Fortune My Foe sets poems by Graeme Ellis. Soprano Merlyn Quaife and pianist Andrea Katz also perform Schumann’s Liederkreis, Op. 39, on this fund-raising recital.
Burns and Beyond
This recording, Burns and Beyond, gathers art songs for voice and modern piano drawn from Robert Burns, and includes Percy Grainger’s Three Scotch Folksongs, built on ancient Scottish tunes.
The Magic of Operetta
Soprano Louise Page and pianist Phillipa Candy have long delighted Australian audiences with a partnership of varied and entertaining programmes for Musica Viva, the ABC and many other organisations.
Voyage
"Life is not about the beginning of the end, but rather the journey from one to the other . . . the Voyage." The songs are dedicated to the artists’ children Isabel, Natasha, Ricky and Macushla – who, for better or worse, are constantly inspirational.
Repose
Beautiful lullabies and cradle songs by Australian composers from 1890–1999. Soprano Linda Thompson and pianist Deviani Segal present world premiere recordings drawn from a century of Australian cradle song.
Maid in Sweden
Swedish-Australian soprano Monique Brynnel brings cabaret intimacy to a programme of musical theatre, jazz standards, Swedish art song and operetta, spanning Arlen, Gershwin, Stenhammar, Lehár and Strauss.
Something Familiar! Something Peculiar!
Pot-Pourri’s second Move album ranges freely across Broadway, opera, musical theatre and popular song, pairing cherished favourites with sharper comic turns in chamber-scale arrangements.
Rhythm of Life
A delicious blend of highlights from Broadway shows, popular music theatre, traditional songs and operatic hits, sung with style by Melbourne vocal ensemble Pot-Pourri.
Where have you been all these years?
Claire Patti (vocal and harp), Louise Godwin (cello) and Tony Gould (piano) join in a warm tribute to musical friendship, bringing fresh interpretive colour to traditional songs they love.
Elephantasy: Orchestral and Operatic Music of Eve Duncan
Orchestral, chamber and operatic works by Eve Duncan spanning 2012–2018: a piano concerto shaped by the Sydney Opera House, excerpts from her Malouf–James opera The Aspern Papers, and smaller chamber pieces for varied forces.
Life Cycle
Life Cycle traces the emotional journey of impending motherhood in music by the highly regarded British composer Emily Hall and words by the acclaimed poet Toby Litt. Gian Slater (vocals), Sonya Lifschitz (piano) and Zoe Knighton (cello) present the cycle.
Home
Pianist Tony Gould and singer Emma Gilmartin offer intimate voice-and-piano readings of cherished songs, including three Gould originals, centred on home, family and childhood memory.
Laughing
The internationally acclaimed Choir of Ormond College, directed by Douglas Lawrence, turns to the lighter side of a cappella singing across jazz, madrigal and spiritual repertoire.
Cosmosis
The album explores the many combinations throat singing can take. Dean Frenkel pairs overtone singing with a children’s choir, guitar and mandolin, Australian birds, contemporary piano, vibraphone duet, and a female vocal duo in song form.
Anna Magdalena Bach's Book
Harpsichordist Elizabeth Anderson and boy soprano Jacob Lawrence present the complete musical contents of the 1725 notebook of Anna Magdalena Bach, from the beloved Bist du bei mir to suites, chorales and the aria later known from the Goldberg Variations.
George Dreyfus ... Live!
In 1978 George Dreyfus staged a live one-man show of his own music, with Paul Grabowsky at electric piano and synthesiser. The long-out-of-print LP has been remastered and reissued on CD.
Songe
Emma Gilmartin’s follow-up to her collaboration with Tony Gould, Tomorrow, just you wait and see, is a poised jazz vocal set: standards, two of her own songs, and a clear, understated delivery.
Sing Together Alleluia
Hymns sung by the Sing Alleluia Music Ministry Team, drawn from Sing Alleluia, appear in Together in Song: Australian Hymn Book II. The selection favours material not already on the earlier two-disc companion set.
Prism
Years in the making, Tabula Rasa’s debut Prism blends thought-provoking lyrics with a strikingly original mix of classical, Celtic and jazz, coloured by Spanish influences and Brazilian rhythms.