Released to coincide with International Women’s Day on Friday 8 March, ABC Classic presents Women of Note: A Century of Australian Composers – the first in a new series celebrating Australian female composers.
Australia has always punched above our weight musically, our female musicians especially – Nellie Melba, Joan Sutherland and Eileen Joyce in particular loom large among the finest musicians of the twentieth century. But beyond these celebrated performers, the history of Australia’s female composers is equally outstanding.
Miriam Hyde, Dulcie Holland and Margaret Sutherland were hugely influential in the early years of Australia’s musical development. Peggy Glanville-Hicks and Anne Boyd looked beyond our borders to the musical traditions of other cultures, and sought to find a place for Australia among the community of musical nations.
Elena Kats-Chernin is a phenomenon unto herself, arguably Australia’s most popular and best known composer. Yuin woman Brenda Gifford brings insights from her Indigenous culture to the Western classical tradition. And composers such as Sally Whitwell, Maria Grenfell, Kate Moore, Nicole Murphy and Olivia Bettina Davies represent the myriad ways in which classical music is developing in the 21st century.
This two CD compilation is a fascinating journey through the history of Australian composition, highlighting just how much of that history has been written by women.
Women of Note: A Century of Australian Composers is available from all leading music retailers and iTunes from Friday 8 March 2019.
Image: Women of Note: A Century of Australian Composers (supplied)
Women of Note: A Century of Australian Composers track listing:
CD 1
MIRIAM HYDE (1913 – 2005)
Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat minor (1934)
Miriam Hyde (piano), West Australian Symphony Orchestra – Geoffrey Simon (conductor)
DULCIE HOLLAND (1913 – 2000)
Piano Trio (1944)
Eggner Trio
PEGGY GLANVILLE-HICKS (1912 – 1990)
Etruscan Concerto (1954)
Caroline Almonte (piano), Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra – Richard Mills (conductor)
CD 2
MARGARET SUTHERLAND (1897 – 1984)
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1960)
Leonard Dommett (violin), Melbourne Symphony Orchestra – Patrick Thomas (conductor)
ANNE BOYD (b. 1946)
As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams (1975)
The Contemporary Singers – Antony Walker (conductor)
ELENA KATS-CHERNIN (b. 1957)
Russian Rag (1995 / 1996)
Sydney Alpha Ensemble – David Stanhope (conductor)
MARIA GRENFELL (b. 1969)
Di Primavera (Of Spring) (1998 / 2001)
Claire Edwardes (marimba), Karin Schaupp (guitar)
SALLY WHITWELL (b. 1974)
Road Trip (2012)
Sally Walker (flute), Sally Whitwell (piano)
KATE MOORE (b. 1979)
Fern (2012)
Ensemble Offspring
NICOLE MURPHY (b. 1983)
Spinning Top (2016)
Benaud Trio
BRENDA GIFFORD (b. 1965)
Bardju (Footprints) (2017)
Ensemble Offspring – arranger: Jessica Wells
OLIVIA BETTINA DAVIES (b. 1988)
Crystalline (2018)
ACO Collective