Australian Composers

Started by ComposerOfAvantGarde, July 16, 2016, 07:30:55 PM

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springrite

Just watched Dean's opera Hamlet. Quite like it.
Do what I must do, and let what must happen happen.

Roy Bland

Quote from: vandermolen on January 12, 2020, 08:59:16 PM
What is the music like please?
Robert Hughes's symphony is  a modern angular work with a strong Holst flavor.
Brumby's work despite has been composed in 1981 is traditional and IMHO resembles to Respighi (Brumby had studied in Rome).

Christo

Quote from: vandermolen on January 12, 2020, 06:40:18 AM
New release. Think Christo will be interested in this one as well  8)

Oh dear, oh dear. #lookingintowallet  :(
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

jess

Quote from: springrite on January 12, 2020, 09:24:27 PM
Just watched Dean's opera Hamlet. Quite like it.
I like it very much too! Stylistically it's a lot more consistent than his earlier work, and a lot more focussed, but I think Bliss has a bit of extra colour and weirdness that I tend to like it just a bit more.

vandermolen

Quote from: Roy Bland on January 13, 2020, 02:35:58 PM
Robert Hughes's symphony is  a modern angular work with a strong Holst flavor.
Brumby's work despite has been composed in 1981 is traditional and IMHO resembles to Respighi (Brumby had studied in Rome).
Thank you! Brumby by sounds more my cup of tea.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

vandermolen

"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

vandermolen

From WAYLTN thread:
Symphony No.2
Fabulous new recording of this darkly urgent, Baxian, war-inspired work:
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Christo

Quote from: vandermolen on January 14, 2020, 05:31:36 AM
From WAYLTN thread:
Symphony No.2
Fabulous new recording of this darkly urgent, Baxian, war-inspired work:


Really?? Just ordered it, most expensive cd in months.  ;D
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

Symphonic Addict

Sorry for differing with you guys this time, but Goossens is a composer who has been ellusive to me. I've tried his two symphonies with no much success. Definitely there is a Baxian feel to the music, but these works are too diffuse and few cohesive to my ears. Not sure if there is some work whose appeal is really noticeable.
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

Christo

Quote from: Symphonic Addict on January 14, 2020, 04:09:03 PM
Sorry for differing with you guys this time, but Goossens is a composer who has been ellusive to me. I've tried his two symphonies with no much success. Definitely there is a Baxian feel to the music, but these works are too diffuse and few cohesive to my ears. Not sure if there is some work whose appeal is really noticeable.
Ah. You think Goossens = nuts. Like much of the Musical Establishment. You may, of course, but both of his symphonies are among the most epic, deeply felt, sincerely sincere war symphonies written by any British composer around WWII, the only period in which British composers wroth symphonies worth noticing at all for a total outsider like me, IMHO & very sorry.

Goossens is special, if you think otherwise, you better emigrate to Australia - like Goossens himself did.  ???
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

Mirror Image

I'm with Cesar. I've heard a few of Goossens' works (I believe the first symphony and some other orchestral work) and thought very little of the music. I'm not sure if there's a Baxian feel to the music or not since I dislike Bax. :-\ I will say that I find him to be a composer that lacks a compositional voice of his own. He was one hell of an orchestrator, but orchestration alone doesn't add up to good music, which, again, is why I dislike Bax.

Christo

Quote from: Mirror Image on January 14, 2020, 08:31:30 PM
I'm with Cesar. I've heard a few of Goossens' works (I believe the first symphony and some other orchestral work) and thought very little of the music. I'm not sure if there's a Baxian feel to the music or not since I dislike Bax. :-\ I will say that I find him to be a composer that lacks a compositional voice of his own. He was one hell of an orchestrator, but orchestration alone doesn't add up to good music, which, again, is why I dislike Bax.

Quote from: Christo on January 14, 2020, 04:25:40 PM
Ah. You think Goossens = nuts. Like much of the Musical Establishment.
;)
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

vandermolen

#32
Well, I'm with Christo  ;D

I find both symphonies powerful and darkly moving. The return of the motto theme at the start of the last movement of Symphony No.2, in the new Andrew Davis recording, had me on the edge of my seat. I am also fond of the rather charming Oboe Concerto.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

relm1

Quote from: vandermolen on January 15, 2020, 10:17:03 PM
Well, I'm with Christo  ;D

I find both symphonies powerful and darkly moving. The return of the motto theme at the start of the last movement of Symphony No.2, in the new Andrew Davis recording, had me on the edge of my seat. I am also fond of the rather charming Oboe Concerto.
+1

Roy Bland


Roy Bland