The Australian Voices - Gordon Hamilton
Release Date: 05 July 2021
Label: Abc Classic / Australian Broadcasting Corp
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 0028948140602
Genres: Classical
Description
The Australian Voices, known globally for vibrant performances that reflect on contemporary themes, present their tenth album: Reverie.
Reverie is a collection of twelve works that bring together themes both banal and transcendent, juxtaposing music that is by turns deeply lyrical and ecstatically ludicrous. A highlight of the album is a setting by the group's conductor, Gordon Hamilton, of the Elegy – In memoriam Rupert Brooke, written by Australian soldier Frederick Septimus Kelly on the battlefields of Gallipoli and set here to words by Kelly's close friend Rupert Brooke.
Total Political Correctness fast-forwards to politics of the 21st century, presenting Donald Trump's statements on women set to music by Robert Davidson – which sits alongside Not Now, Not Ever!, a setting of then Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard's Misogny Speech – a parliamentary condemnation of sexism.
The absurd becomes even more literal than Trump himself in Isabella Gerometta's Words That Turn Into Other Words – a list of words and phrases linked by sound alone. But pure sound is also pure beauty, and in the album's title track, the choir take on the tradition of konnakol – a South Indian art of singing single syllables.
Jazz trumpeter James Morrison is the first of two guest artists, in his own composition Underwater Basket Weaving; percussionist Claire Edwardes features in Graham Lack's titular A Reverie of Bone.
Reverie is a deeply engrossing journey through a kaleidoscope of contemporary culture, politics and sensibility; it's also a celebration of the humour, nuance and sheer beauty of the human voice.
Founded in 1993, The Australian Voices is dedicated to championing new Australian vocal music. The ensemble tours internationally every year, and is also known to millions across the globe through its programme of new works intended specifically for performance on YouTube.
Tracklisting
The Wiggles
The Rumjacks
Emily Sun
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra | Markus Stenz
William Crighton
Orchestra Victoria ; Barry Wordsworth
Melbourne Ska Orchestra
The Rumjacks
Anastasia Yasko
Hans-Jurg Strub; Wurttembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen; Christian Erny
Sinfonieorchester Gottingen
Mona Hartmann
Ignace Michiels
Anna Reichert
Tomasz Skweres, Ensemble Reconsil, Osterreichisches Ensemble fur Neue Musik, Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej
Martyn Brabbins, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers
