A focus on fundamentals permeates this collection of chamber works composed by Skipworth, a rising star in Australian contemporary music. In the first moments of the Clarinet Quintet, listeners are drawn into his unique sound world with its cascade of angular string entries. Against this, the round cool tone of the main clarinet line articulates, expanding slowly from a single note into the beautiful and at times dramatic melodic line. It sets the scene for the rest of the album, which includes works that reflect traits of the shakuhachi’s honkyoku repertoire; a palindromic reverse-canon evoking Reichian phasing; propulsive, Shostakovich-esque melodies; and meditative explorations in using silence as texture that is indebted to the principles of classical Japanese aesthetics.

Akiko Miyazawa – violin
Aleksandar Madžar – piano
Ashley William Smith – clarinet, bass clarinet
Anna Pokorny – cello
Bella Hristova – clarinet
Ben Caddy – viola
Emily Green-Armytage – piano
James Guan – piano
Jon Tooby – cello
Kate Sullivan – violin
Louise Devenish – marimba, psalterphone
Umberto Clerici – cello