Peter Sculthorpe: A roundup with String Quartets

From 'The Best of Peter Sculthorpe':
07. Djilili [5'09]
11. Two Easy Pieces - II. Left Bank Waltz [1'49]
13. Evocation  [2'30]
15. - 19. String Quartet No.18* [23'01]

Tamara-Anna Cislowska- piano; Flinders Quartet* [Shane Chen & Nicholas Waters- violins, Helen Ireland-viola, Zoe Knighton-cello]

ABC Classics 4818195  [recorded 2014 and June/July 2017*; digital download released 2018]

[digital download; flacs, cover scan only, no booklet]

Recording venues: Iwaki Auditorium, ABC Southbank Centre, Melbourne* & Eugene Goossens Hall, ABC Ultimo Centre, Sydney
Recording engineers:Russell Thomson* & Virginia Reed; Producers: Stephen Snelleman* & Virginia Reed

The Complete String Quartets with Didjeridu
01. String Quartet No.12 'From Ubirr'[12'20]
02. -  05. String Quartet No.14 'Quamby' [19'56]
06. - 10. String Quartet No.16 [23'43]
11. - 15. String Quartet No.18 [26'03]

Stephen Kent- didjeridu, Del Sol Quartet [Kate Stenberg & Rick Shinozaki- violins, Charlton Lee- viola, Kathryn Bates- cello]

Sono Luminus DSL92181  [recorded June 2013 & April 2014; digital download  released 2015]

[digital download; flacs, booklet, cover and back scans]
Recording venue: Sono Luminus Studio, Boyce, Virginia
Recording engineer: Daniel Shores; Producer: Dan Merceruio

Kronos Quartet
01. - 05. Peter Sculthorpe - String Quartet No.8 [12'51]
06. Aulis Sallinen - String Quartet No.3, op.19 'Some Aspects of Peltoniemi Hintrik's Funeral March' [14'12]
07. - 10. Philip Glass - Company [7'56]
11. -13. Conlon Nancarrow - String Quartet [11'06]
14. Jimi Hendrix (arr. Steve Riffkin) - Purple Haze [2'52']

Kronos Quartet [David Harrington & John Sherba- violins, Hank Dutt- viola, Jean Jeanrenaud- cello]

Nonesuch 7559 79111-2  [recorded June 1985; first CD release 1986, digital download released 2005]

[digital download; flacs, cover scan, part booklet - from internet]
Recording venue: American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York City
Recording engineer: John Newton; Producer: Thomas Frost

Here are two versions of the late String Quartet No.18 written for the Melbourne-based Flinders Quartet - with and without the obbligato didjeridu part. Sculthorpe revised three other quartets, No.12, No.14 and No.16, for Aboriginal player William Barton, adding optional didjeridu parts, and all four are included on the San Francisco-based Del Sol Quartet's disc.

I must say that I prefer the Flinders Quartet's performance of No.18 but the didjeridu parts, played by British- born Stephen Kent do add a certain piquancy and supplement the cello parts.

Sculthorpe wrote his String Quartet No.8 for the American  Kronos Quartet and this was the work's first recording. Sallinen's String Quartet No.3 and Nancarrow's String Quartet are fine additions to the Kronos' programme. Unfortunately, my own CD went missing during a house move so I have no booklet scan and only some poor internet sourced images.

Unfortunately, the excellent recordings by the Goldner Quartet of the complete string quartets for Belinda Webster's Tall Poppies label have never been issued as digital downloads and even the CDs are difficult to find nowadays.

I have added three solo piano works from "The Best of Peter Sculthorpe" twofer, beautifully played by Tamara-Anna Cislowska and extracted from her ABC set of the complete solo piano works (ABC 4811181). All of the other tracks are already included on other discs included in this download folder so you can recreate your own copy if you so wish. The complete track listing with associated download file is included in the download folder.

Another addition to this roundup is a rip from my own CD of James Judd's recordings with the New Zealand Symphony for Naxos - made when he was the orchestra's chief conductor..

Peter Sculthorpe:
01. Earth Cry* [13'55]
02. Memento Mori [14'29]
03. Piano Concerto^ [31'26]
04. From Oceania [5'32]
05. Kakadu [15'44]

William Barton- didjeridu*; Tamara-Anna Cislowska- piano^; New Zealand Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Judd

Naxos 8.557382  [recorded September 2003; CD issued 2004]

[CD-rip; flacs, booklet, cover and inlay scans]
Recording venue: Wellington Town Hall, New Zealand
Recording engineer & Producer: Tim Handley

The only work on this disc not already included in this Sculthorpe survey is From Oceania. The work is based on the last part of his Music for Japan, written in his Sun Music style with prominent percussion parts. This version of Earth Cry includes the obbligato didjeridu part that the composer added for William Barton and Cislowska's second go at the Piano Concerto - this time presented as a continuous work and slightly less propulsive than her earlier recording with Edo de Waart. But overall this is a fine collection of important works, beautifully played and recorded. Booklet notes are provided by the composer.

Download from MEGA.