Featuring world premiere chamber recordings by one of Australia’s finest composers
Performances from some of Australia’s leading chamber musicians, including the Australian String Quartet (now known as the Grainger Quartet) and the composer himself at the piano
Born in Manchester but now residing in Australia, Roger Smalley was a composition pupil of Alexander Goehr and Karlheinz Stockhausen
As a pianist, Smalley has received international recognition for his performances and interpretation of contemporary piano music
As a composer, Smalley is undoubtedly one of the most significant personalities of his generation. His works, extensively performed and broadcast, fall into that ever-narrowing category of modern works which are both stylistically up-to-date and readily assimilated by the non-specialist listener
A recent recipient of the Australian Performing Rights Association’s Award for Best Classical Work, Smalley has been commissioned by many organisations and groups, including the BBC, ABC, West German Radio, Festival of Perth, London Sinfonietta, Fires of London, Flederman, Nova Ensemble, Seymour Group and Australia Ensemble
Press on Roger Smalley:
“Smalley is neither parodist nor plunderer. He engages earnestly with an orthodox version of European musical history, filtering the authority of the Romantics through that of his own experience. With scrupulous craft and a troubled sense of restored tonality Smalley tests the possibility of continuities between a past and current contexts.” The Guardian
“Smalley has certainly made his peace with the great tradition that he and so many of his contemporaries rejected in their youth… the result is never tired neo-romanticism, but far more bracing.” Gramophone
