Peter Sculthorpe: A Retrospective Collection
01. - 06. Songs of Sea and Sky, for flute and piano [16'15]
Derek Jones & Leigh Harrold
07. - 10. From Kakadu for guitar * [11'30]
Jonathan Paget
11. Wagogo Plains, for throat-singer and piano duet (originally 'Morning Song' for piano duet) [2'16]
Dean Frenkel, Max Cooke and Darryl Coote
12, Dream Tracks, for clarinet, violin and piano ^ [14'10]
Floyd Williams, Michele Walsh and Stephen Emmerson
13. Night Song for piano trio [7'09]
Trio Melbourne [Roger Heagney- piano, Isin Cakmakcioglu- violin and Rachel Atkinson- cello]
14. - 16. Little Suite for Strings [7'31]
Concordia Mandolin and Guitar Ensemble conducted by Basil Hawkins
17. String Quartet No.9 [12'26]
Melbourne String Quartet [Carl Pini and Gerard van der Weide- violins, Jane Hazelwood- viola and Arters Ezergallis- cello]
18. 11:59 PM, for throat-singer and piano (originally 'Nocturnal' for piano) [6'54]
Dean Frenkel and Robert Chamberlain
19. Sea Chant, for two guitars [2'13]
Duo 19
Move MD3378 [recorded 1994 to 2014; digital download released 2014]
[digital download; flacs (excepting bonus track 19 - mp3), booklet, cover and inlay scans]
Recording venues: Move Records Studio, Melbourne excepting Colgate-Rochester Divinity School Chapel, Rochester, New York* and Nickson Room, Queensland University, Brisbane^
Recording engineers & Producers: Martin Wright, Vaughan McAlley, Anton Machleder*, David Starr and David Spearritt^
Here is an interesting collection of Sculthorpe's chamber works and music for small ensemble. The final track 19, Sea Chant (an alternative version of the first movement of Little Suite), would have extended the programme to more than 80 minutes and, at the time, could not be contained on one CD. So it is offered as a download from the Move website but only in mp3 format. but it seems strange that it couldn't have been directly included in a digital download in FLAC,
Dean Frenkel who features on two tracks, Wagogo Plains and 11.59 PM, is described as a throat-singer - but the sounds that he producers sound nothing like the traditional throat-singers from Mongolia that I have heard. More like whistling and a deep hum.
Songs of Sea and Sky is the same music (derived from the islands of the Torres Strait between Queensland and Papua New Guinea) heard in the version for didjeridu and small orchestra, the title work on William Barton's album already posted in the download folder. From Kakadu is performed here in the original version for solo guitar and also uses Torres Strait melodies.
It should also be noted that in 1994, the Melbourne String Quartet giving this very fine performance of String Quartet No.9 had Carl Pini as its first violin.
Although set down over a period of 20 years, the recorded sound is fine throughout.