The Australian String Quartet and Sydney Dance Company have won Best Classical Record at the Libera Awards, the world’s largest independent music awards ceremony.

The winning work was Impermanence/Disintegration, by acclaimed indie star/composer Bryce Dessner, which the two companies co-commissioned for SDC choreographer Rafael Bonachela’s critically acclaimed work Impermanence, which premiered in 2021 and is currently touring Australia.

Reviewing it for Limelight, Editor Jo Litson called Impermanence  “a hypnotically beautiful work,” and Dessner’s music “visceral and moving”.

“The choreography is driven by Dessner’s visceral score,” wrote Litson. “The mood of the production changes across the 12 movements from ferocity to lyricism, from intense, frenetic energy to poignant melancholy.”

“Raw, pulsing chords culminate in staccato notes that stab like shards of sound; rapid bowing gives way to music that quivers, ripples and slides around notes; deep cello tones contrast with high-flying violin; minimalist repetition becomes hypnotically seductive; references to the Baroque, country music and Klezmer glint and gleam.”

A scene from Sydney Dance Company's <i>Impermanence</i>. Photo © Pedro Grieg.

A scene from Sydney Dance Company’s Impermanence. Photo © Pedro Grieg.

“I am honoured and humbled to be recognised alongside the incomparable Bryce Dessner and the extraordinary Australian...