Aubade & Nocturne
Music of Sally GreenawayCD review by Clinton White
And just as exceptional is Sally Greenaway, the Canberra-based composer
and musician who put it together.
Aubade & Nocturne is a
collection of Greenaway’s compositions, showcasing her compositional
versatility and recorded over the years stretching back to 2009, with the most
recent made in 2014.
If it’s variety as well as quality you’re looking for, then this is the
album for you. Sally Whitwell features,
playing solo piano, as does Anthony Smith.
There’s a pedal harp solo by Liena Lacey. Then there’s a jazz piano trio, a chamber
choir, a wind symphony and a full symphony orchestra. And a few other ensembles besides.
Most of all, Aubade &
Nocturne is an album not only of retrospectivity but also of
reflection. At times it is pensive, at
others intense and still others thoughtful or moody. But at every turn the music is sophisticated
and highly intellectual. It is not music
for the background, it demands attentive listening; to not do so is to miss the
many subtleties – the nuances that sit behind every note and even between them.
The presentation of this album demands attention, too. It is in the form of a hard-covered, stitched
booklet with the highest quality photographs.
Each track has all the information the listener requires, including, in
the case of the songs, the lyrics, but without going over the top.
Aubade & Nocturne is
sheer class, from beginning to end. Well
done, Sally Greenaway!
And just in case you’re not sure, an aubade is a poem or piece of music appropriate to the dawn or early
morning, and a nocturne is a
dreamlike or pensive composition, usually for the piano, obviously with a theme
of night time.
