From the Hungry Waiting Country

Recording dates: 14 & 15 August 2009 (FTHWC), 27 May 2011 (PT), 1 & 2 October 2014 (GV)
Recorded at Trackdown Scoring Stage by Daniel Brown (FTHWC, PT, GV) and Evan McHugh (GV)
Mastering by Christo Curtis
Produced by Halcyon
Photo © Richard Woldendorp "Forrest River, Kimberley, WA"
Cover design: Elizabeth Duck-Chong

Released byTall Poppies on 6th August 2018
TP258

Available to buy from Tall Poppies or the Halcyon store

For more reviews, audio and video material click here

“Singers Jenny Duck-Chong and Alison Morgan, aka Halcyon, have been quietly getting on with making tricky and beautiful things for two decades now. For this, their latest CD, they return to the music of Elliot Gyger, a composer, colleague and co-creator who has been with them throughout their journey. It is a potent combination: Gyger juggles words, notes, jokes and observations, meanings and warnings with uncanny skill, creating something at once complex and as clear as still water; Duck-Chong and Morgan take his ideas and make them dance with deceptive ease. “

Harriet Cunningham, The Sydney Morning Herald, January 2019

A tour-de-force of vocal writing and the culmination of more than a decade of collaboration, From the Hungry Waiting Country features three important works by Elliott Gyger written for Halcyon: giving voice for mezzo and ensemble, Petit Testament for two voices and piano and the title track, From the hungry waiting country for four voices and harp. 

TRACK LIST

  • giving voice (2012)
    1. Movements 1-4 2. Movements 5-8

  • Petit Testament (2008)

  • From the hungry waiting country (2006)
    4. Part One: Wet 5. Part Two: Dry

ARTISTS
Roland Peelman conductor, Matthew Coorey conductor, Alison Morgan soprano,  Belinda Montgomery soprano, Jenny Duck-Chong mezzo-soprano, Jo Burton mezzo-soprano, Sally Walker alto flute/piccolo, Alexandre Oguey oboe/cor anglais, Genevieve Lang harp, Sally Whitwell piano, Vladimir Gorbach guitar, Ewan Foster viola, Geoffrey Gartner cello

This Moment Must Be Sung

Recorded at Trackdown December 2013-February 2016
Engineer: Daniel Brown
Produced by Halcyon
Mastered by Utopia Audio
Cover photo: Linden Gledhill
Cover graphic: Liz Duck-Chong

Released by Tall Poppies on 1 May 2018
TP250

Available to buy from Tall Poppies or the Halcyon store.

For audio extracts and reviews click here

Halcyon’s new CD This Moment Must Be Sung showcases recent vocal works by Andrew Schultz and features three substantial song cycles: To the Evening Star (winner of the 2009 Paul Lowin Song Cycle prize) for soprano and piano, I am writing in this book for soprano, mezzo-soprano, cello, double bass, percussion, harp and piano and Paradise for soprano, cello and piano (runner-up in the 2016 Lowin prize) alongside three shorter works: Lake Moonrise for mezzo-soprano, bass clarinet, cello and percussion (from Halcyon’s Kingfisher project), I am Black for soprano and piano and Dark Chair for soprano, mezzo-soprano, clarinet, double bass and percussion.  You can read program notes for the pieces here and reviews of some of the works here

In Schultz’s own words: “Throughout my career I have returned time and again to vocal music. My interest is in both the words and the music and the ways in which they can complement each other and thereby enlarge the meaning and communication of each alone. So it is not surprising that I have been drawn to rich texts, old and new, and also sought to adapt and create texts that enable me the freedom to express my own personal experience. This disc presents a cross-section of my vocal music in the expert hands of Halcyon.”

TRACK LIST

  • I am writing in this book op. 88
    1. A gift of paper 2. Secret meetings 3. Language of women 4. I see the word 'storm' 5. It is getting dark

  • Lake moonrise op. 94

  • Paradise op. 95
    7. Suspended earth 8. Safety glass 9. Child, who are you? 10. Jigsaw 11. Almost flight

  • I am black op. 63a

  • To the Evening Star
    13. Lake Isle of Innisfree 14. Pied Beauty 15. Mezzo Cammin 16. Money, O! 17. To the evening star

  • Dark Chair op. 47c

ARTISTS
Luke Spicer conductor, Alison Morgan soprano,  Jenny Duck-Chong mezzo-soprano, Jason Noble clarinet, Geoffrey Gartner cello, Anna Martin-Scrase cello, Jennifer Druery double bass, Kirsty McCahon double bass, William Jackson percussion, Rowan Phemister harp, Chris Cartner piano, Sally Whitwell piano