Stuart Greenbaum

Flash is Claire’s second recording for Tall Poppies - a charming compilation of miniatures for the marimba. Inspired by her formative musical years as a pianist and her two young daughters, Claire has chosen a program of new and transcribed gems for the mellow sonorities of the grand five octave marimba. The Australian works have, in the most part, been written especially for the project, and these sit cheek-by-jowl with transcriptions of well-known children’s piano pieces by Bach, Bartók, Corea, Kabalevsky, Schumann and Tchaikovsky. New works for the marimba have been written by Claire’s long-term friends and collaborators Elena Kats-Chernin, Stuart Greenbaum, Andrea Keller, Daniel Rojas and Matthew Hindson - their works are true gifts to Claire, marimba players of the future and future listeners of this CD.

This CD is crammed full of world premiere performances and scintillating playing. These two violinists have inspired some wonderful new works to be written by Australian composers, and hence this first-ever recording of Australian music for two violins, ranging from the raunchy title work by Matthew Hindson to the starry-eyed dreaminess of Mary Finsterer’s Spherica I.

Natsuko is currently Concertmaster of the Adelaide Symphony, and James is Concertmaster Designate of the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, and violiniist with Ensemble Offspring. As a duo their work together is unparallelled in Australia to date - intensely musical and virtuosic to a degree that is outstanding.

All works are world premiere recordings and most were recorded with the composers present.

This CD is being released in the UK to coincide with Duo Sol’s UK tour, including appearances at the Edinburgh Festival. It is a 20th century travelogue, including works by Korngold, Rachmaninov, Piazzola and Australian Matthew Hindson and Gordon Kerry. Their eclectic and innovative programme on this CD is held together by the artists’ finesse and musical intelligence.

In these times of exploding world interest in the future of our planet environmentally this CD is timely. All the works deal with nature in some aspect, mostly protesting. Wesley-Smith's 'Who Killed Cock Robin?' is the most important Australian choral work and certainly one of the most popular.