Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Australian composer Lachlan Skipworth returns with his second album, unfurling vast sonic landscapes across three large-scale works.

Hailed for combining "both exquisite delicacy and tremendous power". Skipworth's unique artistic vision is articulated in these performances by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Momentum Ensemble, and the Philharmonic Chorus of Tokyo. He writes: "while the chamber works on my debut were concentrated and economical, these are broader canvasses inspired by the sheer physicality of sound. The volume produced by such large ensembles stimulates a primal response, and I wanted to harness this. Sculpting huge masses of sound also revealed new ways of using the surrounding space to enhance quieter and more tranquil moments".

Each of the album's three works exemplifies different dimensions of Skipworth's musical language. They are the first commercial recordings of his orchestral and choral music.

Breath of Thunder grows from the gently nuanced sounds of Riley Lee's shakuhachi into a colourful conversation with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Gerard Salonga. Soon the work explodes with the raw power of Taikoz, Australia's renowned exponents of Japanese drumming.

Kazuki Yamada conducts the Philharmonic Chorus of Tokyo in Hymns in Reverie, a work for three choirs and two percussionists setting dream-inspired texts of Novalis. Skipworth builds an abstract yet affective musical space, swathes of harmony drifting by as eerie melodies soar above.

The music of Avem Asperitas forms one aspect of a collaborative work with Greg Barrett, whose array of poignant images (seen here as the album artwork) are projected to accompany the work in live performance. Daniel Carter draws an impressive performance from Momentum Ensemble in this convincing interpretation of the work.