ABC Classics 476 7639
Review copy supplied by Abels Music, Canberra
Reviewed by Tony Magee
Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin composed the music for the ballet Wild Swans, which was choreographed by Meryl Tankard for the Australian Ballet, in 2003. Here, it is presented on this excellent CD, along with her Piano Concerto No. 2 and a single movement piece called Mythic.
The score for Wild Swans – a suite in 12 movements - is wonderful, magical, a whirlwind of haunting drama, mysticism, witchcraft and sorcery. Based on the story by Hans Christian Andersen, the young girl Eliza is driven from her home by her wicked step-mother, who turns her eleven brothers into wild swans.
Kats-Chernin’s score captures perfectly the fairytale world of the story. The power of music to evoke images has always been one of the great wonders of the arts and when it’s well written, like this piece is, the images can be very striking and vivid. Perhaps the most beautiful part is the representation of Eliza, bereft of words, by a single wordless soprano voice set amongst the instruments of the Tasmanian Symphony, ably delivered by Jane Sheldon.
The Piano Concerto No. 2 is played by Australian pianist and composer Ian Munro. It is a lyrical and melodic work, with a particularly atmospheric and reflective opening. The second movement uses fragments from Chopin’s waltzes to create a blues-like interlude. The third is powerful and discordant. The fourth uses a repeating phrase format to build musical surges. It is a glowing work and full of so many musical ideas, twists and turns, that it is amazing to think that all this is packed into one work.
Finally, Mythic is a rather more sombre piece, but with plenty of drama along the way, and makes full use of the excellent musicians of this fine orchestra.
First published in Eat Drink Magazine and Our Hotel Magazine, March 2006