This is a compilation of some of the finest work by the Brisbane based composer, Betty Beath featuring superb performers such as sopranos Margaret Schindler, Susan Lorette Dunn and Janet Delpratt, violist Patricia Pollett, pianists Colin Spiers and the composer, along with the Camerata of St John’s (directed by Brendan Joyce), the Queensland Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Richard Mills) This stella lineup of artists is testament to the regard of this composer.
The six movements of Towards the Psalms, shows Beath as a composer of beautiful song, who handles the voice in an exceptionally lyrical way. Margaret Schindler’s high register is floated well and also reveals a richness in the lowest range.
In This Garden, written in 1973 is a cycle of five songs. The dark and almost melancholic qualities in the first two songs are well portrayed by Susan Lorette Dunn. The third, Spider, changes direction with more agile vocal lines, whilst Snail (the fourth) has a wide range and finally Sparrow is filled with wit and quirky turns of phrase.
The Javanese influenced Nawang Wulan, Guardian of Earth and Rice has hints of whole tone scale in the piano. Its sentiment of capture and release is evocatively sung in the native language. Originally a song cycle for orchestra and voice, Genesis has been re-worked for voice and piano, and whilst sung in English, is a fine appropriation in the western idiom telling the story of a Javavese puppet maker.
The composer/pianist, who has recorded some of the vocal accompaniments, shines in her own solos inEncounters and Merindu Bali; the first written as a tribute to the memory of Miriam Hyde, and the second is a memorial to the victims of the Bali bombing of 2002.
Lament for Kosova, played by the Camerata of St John’s, is an adagio for strings which should be on every fine chamber orchestra’s concert repertoire. It is full-bodied and highly emotive music.
The three movement From a Quiet Place, for viola and piano is a work in which the composer has created elements of “simplicity, line and tone.” The warmth of Spiers’s piano is matched with the robust and dynamic performance from Pollett on viola. The second movement even contains mystical Nepalese singing bowls.
The impressive voice of Janet Delpratt is full of drama in the five movement River Songs, as the listener is taken on a meandering journey (much like the Brisbane River itself), with stunning orchestral effects.
This recording was a revelation of music which is genuine, accessible and highly imaginative. It should be on repertoire lists for more students, teachers and especially professional performers. I highly recommend this as a fine example of Australian music which you will enjoy and revisit time and again.