NEWS RECENT RELEASES NEWS

Recent Releases (click on the "TP" number for more detail)
TP201 - Joseph Haydn Complete Keyboard Sonatas, Vol. 1	Geoffrey Lancaster (fortepiano)
2009 is the bicentenary of the death of Joseph Haydn, and to commemorate this anniversary Tall Poppies and Geoffrey Lancaster have embarked upon the complete keyboard sonatas. Lancaster has performed the complete sonatas in concert series in Melbourne and Canberra this year, and has been recording the works in Canberra using instruments from the collection of historic keyboard instruments housed in the Canberra School of Music.
TP200 - Merry-Go-Round	Australia Ensemble Timothy Constable (percussion)
A winning combination of Australia's best chamber ensemble and one of Australia's most appealing composers, Martin Wesley-Smith. His music comes from many concerns - political (especially East Timor and Afghanistan), literary (his fascination with Lewis Carroll) and personal (two of the pieces are dedicated to old friends - Don Banks and Prof Peter Platt). The music is tuneful, quirky, virtuosic for the players and always appealing for the listener. Snark-Hunting is one of the great pieces in Wesley-Smith's oeuvre, and in this new recording the piece shines. Timothy Constable is one of the current generation of hot young percussionists in Australia, and he gives a terrific performance in this piece.
TP189 - Café Fiddle	Ben Breen (violin) Milton Kaye (piano)
Following the success of Ben Breen's first CD for Tall Poppies (Brahms Sonatas, TP172), he has teamed up again with veteran pianist Milton Kaye, for their second recording together. Sadly Milton Kaye has now passed away, so this CD is the last in his long legacy of contributions to the recording industry. The music presented here is a selection of the salon music popular in the early 20th century. This music serves to present the personality and virtuosity of the performers, and each piece was often used as an encore after a strenuous recital. The works fitted well on the early twelve-inch 78 rpm discs, and these were often played on the radio. It is through these pieces that the musicians often gained a huge and devoted following.
TP206 - Peter Sculthorpe The String Quartets Vol. 3	Goldner String Quartet
Tall Poppies is delighted to present this third volume of Peter Sculthorpe's string quartets as a tribute to him on the occasion of his 80th birthday in April 2009. This recording was made in the Sydney City Recital Hall in Angel Place in December 2008. The four quartets presented here were written between 1998 and 2007, and present a showcase of Peter's compositional interests, from close four-part harmony through to dramatic contemporary rhythms and on to melodies of love and anguish.
TP205 - Abrazo Tango	Compass Ensemble
Hear the sensual chemistry, evocative of the streets of Argentina played by a remarkable ensemble. Combining the diverse paths of two pairs of saxophone players, 'Compass' - Christina Leonard, Jeremy Rose, Matthew Ottignon, Luke Gilmore - is one of the most interesting and dynamic groups to emerge in Australia's music scene. Inspired by the idea of breaking down barriers between classical music and improvised jazz, Compass takes an innovative and flexible approach to the Saxophone Quartet, combining influences that are distinct, new and unusual.
TP202 - Bright Vessel Recent Australian Oboe Music	Stephen Robinson (oboe, oboe d'amore)
This disc, the first-ever recording of Australian oboe music, contains some superb music written by Australia's best composers and performed by a star-studded gathering of Stephen Robinson and his colleagues. Robinson is Principal Oboe with Orchestra Victoria, and in his spare time performs with the contemporary music ensemble ELISION and teaches oboe at the University of Melbourne, Monash University and at the Victorian College of the Arts.
TP198 - David Lumsdaine Complete Music for Piano	Mark Knoop (piano)
Tall Poppies Records is proud to release this important recording of the Complete Works for Solo Piano by Australian composer David Lumsdaine. The music, spanning nearly 30 years of Lumsdaine's compositional life, contains important markers of his compositional concerns and how they have changed through the years. It reveals David Lumsdaine as one of our most important compositional voices, and how important Australia is to him, especially during his residence in the UK. He is clearly fascinated with Australian birdsong, and has a profound relationship with the music of Bach.
TP203 - On Fire Sydney Musicians' Club, 1980	Bruce Cale Quartet
Tall Poppies Records is proud to release this fine recording of the Bruce Cale Quartet, consisting of Dale Barlow (flute and saxophones), Roger Frampton (piano), Bruce Cale (bass) and Phil Treloar (drums), each an exceptional creative musician. Recorded 24 years ago at the Sydney Musicians's Club, these performances document a unique musical journey. This recording is testimony to the kind of interpretive diversity Roger Frampton and Phil Treloar, in particular, were capable of creating. They were possibly the only musicians in Australia at the time exploring this level of free expression and who were capable of doing so within tightly structured contexts. They created a precedent, one which a number of the younger generation players are only now exploring.
TP197 - Raymond Hanson Complete Works for Violin and Piano	Susan Collins (violin), David Miller (piano)
Raymond Hanson (1913-1976) is one of Australia's most neglected composers. His music is rarely heard on the concert platform, and even more rarely on CD. Part of the problem is access to the scores. Most of the works recorded here exist only in manuscript in the Sydney Conservatorium library. Susan Collins has written an illuminating doctoral thesis about Hanson's violin music, and as part of this she has painstakingly edited violin parts for performance. The only previous recordings were made by the ABC, and the original 78s have been destroyed. This CD will go a small way towards rectifying that situation, and hopefully will encourage others to take up the mantle.

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