Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

"Together, we are better. That simple understanding sits at the heart of the Hush project." Developed by medical pioneer Dr Catherine Crock AM to reduce the stress and anxiety felt by young patients and their families in hospitals, the Hush music collection transforms that difficult environment with carefully curated music from some of Australia's foremost musicians and talents, and is now played in hospitals and homes across the globe. ABC Classics is proud to announce the release of Volume 18 in the Hush series, Collective Wisdom, performed by the musicians of ACO Collective, the Australian Chamber Orchestra's mentoring and regional touring ensemble. For this project, Hush sent twelve Australian composers to do residencies and workshops in adolescent health units in Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth: established composers Stuart Greenbaum, Matthew Hindson, Maria Grenfell, Paul Stanhope, Elena Kats-Chernin and James Ledger fostering these rewarding experiences with six emerging composers, Caerwen Martin, Katia Beaugeais, Thomas Misson, Natalie Nicolas, Rachel Bruerville and Olivia Bettina Davies. The composers and the teenagers played music together, talked, shared experiences and explored how music might help people during hard times. Based on what they saw, heard and learnt during those collaborative sessions, the twelve composers then wrote the pieces that appear on this disc. The music is honest and heartfelt, acknowledging the fears and anxieties of the hospital experience yet full of hope, joy and optimism. As composers Caerwen Martin and Stuart Greenbaum point out, 'Music can remind patients that they are more than their illness…and what they might be when they are better.'