Sometimes a month comes along packed with new music – or at least new discoveries – that restores one’s faith in the recording industry. Take ABC Classic’s latest disc dedicated to the music of senior Australian composer Carl Vine. Recorded by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra under then Chief Conductor Sir Andrew Davis during Vine’s time as Resident Composer in 2018, The Enchanted Loom – his Symphony No 8 – heads a diverse program of orchestral works (ABC Classic ABCL2201).
The term ‘Enchanted Loom’ was coined by British neuroscientist Sir Charles Sherrington to depict the function of the human brain as it weaves together internal and external impressions. It’s a typically savvy piece of work by an artist who Will Yeoman admires as one of Australia’s most cerebral, yet most accessible composers.
“Of the other works, Concerto for Orchestra is a real showcase for Vine’s fluent orchestrating and dialogic momentum,” he continues. “The MicroSymphony is a marvel of density and compactness, while the orchestral fanfare V . . . counterbalances the more complex . . . Smith’s Alchemy.”
A generous showcase of orchestral music by a composer utterly unknown to me provided this month’s ear opener. Thomas...
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