Peter Knight & the Australian Art Orchestra

As the Melbourne-based Australian Art Orchestra (AAO) evolves, artistic director/trumpeter Peter Knight has become more adventurous in his compositions for the ensemble. Taking into account the AAO’s fluctuations in size and instrumentation and an appreciation for the human voice, Knight has emphasized enhanced instrumental and vocal programs. The programs that make up Crossed & Recrossed are most accomplished since with words at a minimum and orchestrations at a maximum, quirks of English speech don’t distract from coherence.

Paradoxically the roots of the three-part “The Plains” and “Diomira” have literary antecedents. Based on the book of the same name by Australian Gerald Murnane, the first is the trumpeter’s interpretation of the cult novelist’s mediation on the country’s landscape. It’s performed by a nine-piece AAO. “Diomira” in contrast was inspired by the urban sensibilities of Italian writer Italo Calvino (1923-1985)’s “Invisible Cities” and with later studio overdubs is detailed by a total of 18 musicians. Part of Knight’s compositional challenges was to approximate the concepts of one 1939-born writer who rarely left the Australian state of Victoria with those of a cosmopolitan author who lived in many cities and also busied himself with sociological and political concerns.

A driving rhythmic jubilation “Diomira” makes full use of the expanded orchestra with staccato and presto pulses advanced with electronic oscillations and syllable-scatting from vocalist Gian Slater. Electric piano splashes vibrate alongside aviary twitters and slippery section work. A muted crescendo is reached as Slater’s and overdubbed Tamara Saulwick’s voices repeat sounds backed by distant crinkles from the instruments before fading into a final section of hushed children’s’ voices and cicada chirps. Cicada or other insect timbres or approximations also figure in the final sequence of “The Plains”. But by this time variations of the exposition have been established with impressionistic echoes from Knight’s subdued trumpet, sometimes harmonized with Georgie Darvidis’ voice, Aviva Endean’s bass clarinet flutters and Simon Barker’s percussion crunches. Though Darvidis’ voice is powerful, recitation appears secondary to the counterpoint set up among elevated brass quivers, the hiss from Tilman Robinson’s electronics and jerky pulsations from the other instruments. This acoustic-electronic/instrumental-vocal motif is set up in the introduction to “The Plains” and informs all three sections. While the middle is mostly wave forms verses keyboard chording, pianist Andrea Keller initially advances the multi-layered theme with swells, glissandi and slides. As part of the musical evolution, flat land Outback resembling near-stasis pulls back enough to reveal an undergrowth of allegro impressionism conveyed by bass clarinet slurps, piano key splays machine-projected buzzes and wordless sighs and cries.

There may be a question of how well Knight’s compositions reflect Murnane’s and Calvino’s books. That’s actually the wrong query. It should be how well the pieces exist as non-program music, which is very well indeed.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. The Plains Part 1 2. The Plains Part 2 3. The Plains Part 3 4. Diomira

Personnel: 1-3: Peter Knight (trumpet, electronics); James Macaulay (trombone); Aviva Endean (bass clarinet); Lizzy Welsh (violin); Andrea Keller (piano); Jacques Emery (bass); Simon Barker (drums); Tilman Robinson (electronics); Georgie Darvidis (voice) 4: Knight (trumpet, electronic); Tristram Williams (trumpet); Adrian Sherriff (bass trombone); Tony Hicks (bass clarinet); Keller (keyboard, piano); Dan Sheehan (electric piano,[overdub]electric piano); Steve Raegele (guitar); Erkki Veltheim (violin); Mary Rapp, Katherine Philp ([overdub] cello); Sam Pankhurst, Emery ([overdub] double bass); Vanessa Tomlinson (vibraphone); Nicole Lizée (turntables); Joe Talia (reel-to-reel tape machine ) Gian Slater, Tamara Saulwick ([pre-recorded] voice); Jem Savage (audio design)