Peter Sculthorpe:
01. - 08. Requiem* [42'04]
09. - 12. My Country Childhood [15'54]
13. Earth Cry (1999 abridged version) [5'57]
14. - 18. Great Sandy Island [22.47]
19. New Norcia [5'07]
20. - 23. Quamby [23'26]
William Barton- didjeridu; Adelaide Chamber Singers, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arvo Volmer*
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Judd
ABC Classics 4765692 [recorded November 2005* and June 2000; original CD issue 2006]
[digital download; flacs, booklet, cover and inlay scans]
Recording venue: Adelaide Town Hall, AustraliaRecording engineers: Wayne Baker & Graham Milne; Producer: Kevin Roper
Originally issued as a 2CD set, the digital booklet still shows track numbers for that arrangement, rather than the continuous numbering of the download.
The Requiem is a late work, one of Sculthorpe's largest and most important. His first major choral work is as usual infused with the Australian outback landscape and Aboriginal culture but also has strong hints of the English choral tradition - think Britten and Walton at times. The Estonian conductor, Arvo Volmer, was the orchestra's chief conductor from 2004 to 2013 and raised the orchestra to the very high standard it has today. Here he leads a very fine performance by choir and orchestra. [He also recorded a fine set of the Sibelius Symphonies and Violin Concerto with the Adelaide Symphony for ABC.]
The second section of this download has orchestra-only recordings made five years earlier under British conductor, James Judd, and is a slightly odd collection. Earth Cry and Quamby are played in revised versions and Earth Cry is also abridged so much that it becomes a different work altogether. Quamby is in a new arrangement for chamber orchestra (two flutes, two horns and strings). This work also exists as the String Quartet No.14.
Not to be confused with Great Sandy Island located off the Pilbara coast of Western Australia, the orchestral work Great Sandy Island depicts characters and scenes from Sidney Nolan's "Mrs Fraser" series of paintings and Patrick White's related writing. The island is more likely to be what is now known as Fraser Island, off the Queensland coast and which features in Nolan's paintings.
New Norcia is scored for brass and percussion and is an arrangement of the choral setting of Psalm 150 written in 1996 for the sesquicentenary of Launceston Church Grammar School where Sculthorpe sung as a boy in the Anglican chapel choir. New Norcia is the name of the Spanish Benedictine Monastic town located north of Perth in Western Australia which was known for its fine Abbey choir and brass band.
Ivan Moody's review for the July 2007 issue of Gramophone magazine is included in this download folder. The page also includes an interview with the composer about his Requiem. The booklet includes very informative notes and full texts for the Requiem.