Lyle Chan String Quartet. An AIDS Activist’s Memoir in Music
Acacia QuartetClassical, New Music
2 CDs, Vexations 840 1401
www.vexations840.com
Reviewed by Gwen Bennett, July 1st, 2015
Lyle Chan was an activist at height of the AIDS catastrophe and his musical responses to events at that time are the basis of this work. Whilst not being program music in the usual sense, the background described in the accompanying booklet provides insights and a deeper understanding. His story is dramatic, of brave men… continue reading »
Seven Stations. Love poems for Sydney
Alison Morgan and Anna Fraser, sopranos; Josh Hill, percussion; Joe Manton, bass; Stefan Duwe, viola; Ezmi Pepper, celloClassical, New Music
Hospital Hill HHCD12130741
Reviewed by Gordon Kerry, April 1st, 2015
When I first saw the title of this new song-cycle I wondered whether it might not be a cut down version of the Good Friday ritual with its 14 Stations of the Cross. But no. Billed as ‘love poems for Sydney’, Seven Stations is thoroughly and (mostly) cheerfully profane, using some of the railway stations… continue reading »
