Peter Sculthorpe:
01. Earth Cry [11'14]
02. Mangrove [15'16]
03. - 08. Songs Of Sea And Sky [16'13]
09. Kakadu [16'23]
10. From Ubirr (String Quartet No.12) [12'10]
William Barton- didjeridu, The Queensland Orchestra conducted by Michael Christie
ABC Classics 4761921 [recorded September 2004; digital download issued 2013]
[digital download; flacs, booklet, cover and inlay scans]
Recording venue: ABC Studio 420, BrisbaneRecording engineer: Gary Yule; Producer: Stephen Snelleman
William Barton is generally considered the finest exponent of the Australian indigenous instrument, the didjeridu and the sounds that he can draw from the simple long tube of wood are extraordinary.
The Queensland Orchestra was formed at the end of 2000 by the merger of the Queensland Symphony and Queensland Philharmonic Orchestras. 10 years later the orchestra reverted to the Queensland Symphony name and still contained many members drawn from both orchestras. The American conductor, Michael Christie, was the orchestra's first chief conductor - from 2002 to 2007.
All of the works played in this collection are earlier compositions which Sculthorpe revised to include prominent parts for the didjeridu, especially for William Barton.
In their earlier forms, Earth Cry, Mangrove and Kakadu appeared on the Stuart Challender Earth Cry album. As far as I know there is no other recording of Songs of Sea and Sky and From Ubirr is the name of String Quartet No.12 (Sculthorpe's first with obbligato didjeridu) which is still to be posted here. [Although The Fifth Continent, written in 1963, was actually his first work with didjeridu, the number of capable players at the time was extremely limited and a pre-recording had to be used. That, of course, is no longer necessary.]
In the case of Songs of Sea and Sky. the work was originally written for solo clarinet and piano and this is its first arrangement for orchestra. The work contains many themes originating in the Torres Strait Islands, situated between mainland Queensland and Papua New Guinea. Although the work is divided into six sections, they are played without a break. This arrangement with orchestra of the String Quartet No.12, developed from Earth Cry for the Kronos Quartet, was also made specially for this recording and works especially well.
As usual with ABC Classics, no booklet is provided with the download but I chanced upon the digital booklet on the internet and have included the PDF file here. Part of the notes are provided by the composer himself. I have also included Ivan Moody's well-reasoned review for the February 2005 issue of Gramophone magazine. He also considers James Judd's Sculthorpe recording with the New Zealand Symphony for Naxos. The latter recording is available to download from a number of websites.
Overall the performances here are exceptionally dynamic and finely judged by Michael Christie with splendid playing by Barton and the Queensland Orchestra.The recording quality is also noticeably superior to the earlier recordings of these works for ABC Classics.