CD: Still life / Patricia Pollett, viola. [2003] : Product : Australian Music Centre

CD

Still life / Patricia Pollett, viola.

Published by Tall Poppies — 2003 [TP162] — 1 CD (73 min.)
Sales Availability: $25.45— Add to Cart
Library Availability: CD 1113 — Available for loan

Featured Australian works

From a quiet place (1997) three pieces for viola and piano, by Betty Beath
featuring Betty Beath, Colin Spiers (performers)
Duration: 15 mins, 42 sec.
Recorded/performed at: Newcastle Conservatorium of Music, on Jul 99.

Room of the saints (1995) — duos: percussion, violin, by Gerard Brophy
featuring Daryl Pratt, Patricia Pollett (performers)
Duration: 3 mins, 34 sec.
Recorded/performed at: Studio 200, ABC Sydney, on Jul 00.

Flux (1995) for viola solo, by Stephen Cronin
featuring Patricia Pollett (performer)
Duration: 5 mins, 10 sec.
Recorded/performed at: Newcastle Conservatorium of Music, on Jul 99.

Lento (1997) for viola and piano, by Robert Davidson
featuring Colin Spiers, Patricia Pollett (performers)
Duration: 8 mins, 1 sec.
Recorded/performed at: Newcastle Conservatorium of Music, on Jul 99.

Swansong (1987) for solo viola, by Andrew Ford
featuring Patricia Pollett (performer)
Duration: 9 mins, 34 sec.
Recorded/performed at: Newcastle Conservatorium of Music, on Jul 99.

Still life (2001) for viola with piano, by Elena Kats-Chernin
featuring Stephen Emmerson, Patricia Pollett (performers)
Recorded/performed at: Queensland Conservatorium of Music Concert Hall, Brisbane., on 3 Mar 03.

Postcards from France (1991) — duos: clarinet, viola, by Nigel Sabin
featuring Patricia Pollett, Philippa Robinson (performers)
Duration: 6 mins, 44 sec.
Recorded/performed at: Studio 200, ABC Sydney, on Jul 00.

Threnody for viola solo, by Peter Sculthorpe
featuring Patricia Pollett (performer)
Duration: 7 mins, 15 sec.
Recorded/performed at: Newcastle Conservatorium of Music, on Jul 99.

Dawn lament (1999) for viola solo, by Paul Stanhope
featuring Patricia Pollett (performer)
Duration: 3 mins, 50 sec.
Recorded/performed at: Queensland Conservatorium of Music, on Oct 02.

Product details

Patricia Pollett: viola
Stephen Emmerson: piano
Daryl Pratt: percussion
Philipa Robinson: clarinet
Colin Spiers: piano

This is the third solo viola CD released by Tall Poppies, bringing to three the number of solo viola CDs ever released in Australia. Patricia Pollett is widely regarded as one of Australia's most talented musicians, and the violist who has done the most to encourage composers to write for the instrument. Almost all the works presented in Still Life were written especially for Patricia, who brings a palpable expressive emotion to her work.

The CD is titled after Elena Kats-Chernin's six-part Still Life, an intimate series of studies for viola and piano in which Pollett is accompanied by Brisbane pianist Stephen Emmerson. In Davidson's Lento, she is partnered by Newcastle pianist Colin Spiers who used to be her colleague in the ensemble, Perihelion. He also accompanies her in three mood pieces From a Quiet Place by Brisbane composer Betty Beath. The CD also includes a spirited miniature, The Room of the Saints, by Gerard Brophy in which Daryl Pratt, playing darabuka, gives an exotic rhythmic feel. The remaining works are unaccompanied: Peter Sculthorpe's Threnody, originally written for cello, works brilliantly for viola; Andrew Ford's Swansong gives the viola an strenuous workout, calling for every ounce of Pollett's virtuosity; Stephen Cronin's Flux is a showcase of the harmonic notes possible on the instrument. Nigel Sabin, once Perihelion's clarinettist, has contributed two travel commentaries for viola and clarinet, gently rollicking works in which Pollett is partnered by Philippa Robinson, the current clarinettist with Perihelion.

Duration: 73 min.

Liner notes include programme notes, notes on the composers and performer.