His nine symphonies rule today’s orchestral repertoire, yet their composer is still a mass of contradictions.

Did Aaron Copland accidentally invent the American sound in his expansive 1944 ballet Appalachian Spring? Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

How did viol guru Jordi Savall find himself attempting to reproduce the 3,000-year old musical history of Jerusalem? Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

If you’ve taken a look at its hideous cover art, and somehow managed to avoid having its offensively kitschy image burned permanently onto your retinas, and similarly survived a read-through of the tedious booklet without lapsing into a word-induced coma, you might finally get around to listening to the music contained in Nicholas Vines’ album, Torrid Nature Scenes. And you might even discover that, despite the visual signs to the contrary, this young Australian composer’s music is surprisingly good – damn good, in fact. The collection comprises three of his recent chamber pieces, The Butcher of Brisbane, The Economy of Wax and Torrid Nature Scene, performed by the splendidly named American new music ensemble Callithumpian Consort and soloists. All three works are rich in atmospheric soundscapes, gestural impact, complex rhythmic overlaying, and fresh thematic ideas. Particularly impressive is the album’s title work, Torrid Nature Scene, for solo soprano, mezzo-soprano and chamber group. Described in typically vivid language in the booklet as “a squelchy, romping obscenity” (sigh), the seven-movement work plays as an inverted pastorale. Bawdy neo-Shakespearian poetry by Andrew Robbie is set to music that captivates from beginning to end, bathing us in ever-evolving textures, and steering us through a…

Since the film Shine shot him to fame, Helfgott’s star has hardly waned. Yet he has as many skeptics as admirers. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

The Venezuelan piano virtuoso surprises audiences in the last stop of his Australian tour. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Not many composers would be reasonably justified in releasing a retrospective collection of their works at the meager age of 33, let alone have the arsenal in their creative inventory to present it in five meaty volumes. But then, having already collaborated with the likes of Richard Tognetti, Jon Rose and Brett Dean, Melbourne-raised Anthony Pateras isn’t like many other young composers. Pateras’ Collected Works 2002–2012 affirms his position as one of the most respected and sought-after Australian composers of his generation. The 5-CD limited edition box set spans a decade of creative output across various instrumental media, from chamber, orchestral to solo piano. Reproduced in the notes are excerpts from a handful of Pateras’ highly personal and oftentimes clinically schematic scores, offering a fascinating insight into the composer’s unique way of assembling sounds. The list of Pateras’ recruited performing artists reads as an all-star line of Australian talent, comprising Dean conducting the ANAM Orchestra in the fragmented, free-wheeling Immediata electric violin concerto with Tognetti as soloist, Melbourne-based experimental outfit Golden Fur in chamber piece Broken then fixed then Broken, and Timothy Munro as bass flautist in the ethereal and monolithic Lost Compass. Pateras himself executes a mix of prepared…

Philip Glass, Sally Whitwell and Maki Namekawa join forces to premiere Glass’s Twenty Piano Études. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

The world’s dazzling new guitar sensation enthralled his crowd with a mix of musical prowess and easy amicability not often found in classical musicians.

Tos Mahoney, director of the dynamic Perth new music organisation, on the state of new music in WA today.

“Australia is an exciting tabula rasa for fresh musical creativity”, says young composers' festival director.

Decibel undertakes the first complete performance of John Cage's colossal Variations for the composer's centenary.