CD: Reverie / The Australian Voices ; Gordon Hamilton. [2016] : Product : Australian Music Centre

CD

Reverie / The Australian Voices ; Gordon Hamilton.

Published by ABC Classics — 2016 [481 4060] — 1 CD (54 min.)
Sales Availability: Buy Reverie on the iTunes Store
Library Availability: CD 2778 — Reference (not for loan) copy only

Featured Australian works

Work	Composer	Performers	Duration
Not now, not ever (2014) for recorded Julia Gillard speech and chorus Recorded/performed at: Nickson Room, University of Queensland, on 17 Feb 14.	Robert Davidson	The Australian Voices, Gordon Hamilton	3 mins, 41 sec.
Total political correctness for choir Recorded/performed at: Nickson Room, University of Queensland, on 14 Dec 15.	Robert Davidson	The Australian Voices, Gordon Hamilton	4 mins, 21 sec.
Dark hour (2015) for SATB choir Recorded/performed at: Nickson Room, University of Queensland, on 14 Dec 15.	Gordon Hamilton	The Australian Voices, Gordon Hamilton	4 mins, 30 sec.
Waltzing Matilda for choir Recorded/performed at: Xinghai Concert Hall, China, on 1 Dec 12.	Gordon Hamilton	The Australian Voices, Gordon Hamilton	3 mins, 55 sec.
Who are we? for choir Recorded/performed at: Nickson Room, University of Queensland, on 16 Jun 14.	Gordon Hamilton	The Australian Voices, Gordon Hamilton	3 mins, 5 sec.
Elegy for string orchestra arranged for choir by Gordon Hamilton Recorded/performed at: Nickson Room, University of Queensland, on 14 Dec 15.	Frederick Septimus Kelly	The Australian Voices, Gordon Hamilton Gordon Hamilton	6 mins, 25 sec.
Yuè ér ming (Moon is bright) for choir Recorded/performed at: Xinghai Concert Hall, China, on 1 Dec 12.	Nicholas Ng	The Australian Voices, Charles Hacker, Gordon Hamilton	4 mins, 14 sec.

Also includes: Misra Chappu / Lisa Young -- A Reverie of Bone / Graham Lack -- O Attic Shape / Isabella Gerometta -- Words that turn into other words / Isabella Gerometta -- Underwater basket weaving / James Morrison.

Product details

The Australian Voices, known globally for vibrant performances that reflect on contemporary themes, present their tenth album: Reverie.

Reverie is a collection of twelve works that bring together themes both banal and transcendent, juxtaposing music that is by turns deeply lyrical and ecstatically ludicrous. A highlight of the album is a setting by the group's conductor, Gordon Hamilton, of the Elegy - In memoriam Rupert Brooke, written by Australian soldier Frederick Septimus Kelly on the battlefields of Gallipoli and set here to words by Kelly's close friend Rupert Brooke.

Total Political Correctness fast-forwards to politics of the 21st century, presenting Donald Trump's statements on women set to music by Robert Davidson - which sits alongside Not Now, Not Ever!, a setting of then Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard's Misogny Speech - a parliamentary condemnation of sexism.

The absurd becomes even more literal than Trump himself in Isabella Gerometta's Words That Turn Into Other Words - a list of words and phrases linked by sound alone. But pure sound is also pure beauty, and in the album's title track, the choir take on the tradition of konnakol - a South Indian art of singing single syllables.

Jazz trumpeter James Morrison is the first of two guest artists, in his own composition Underwater Basket Weaving; percussionist Claire Edwardes features in Graham Lack's titular A Reverie of Bone.

Reverie is a deeply engrossing journey through a kaleidoscope of contemporary culture, politics and sensibility; it's also a celebration of the humour, nuance and sheer beauty of the human voice.

Duration: 54 min.

Liner booklet includes programme notes and biographical information about the composers and performers.