02 May

“Sentinel” by Brian Howard reviewed in Limelight Magazine

Wildbird is pleased to read the latest review from Vincent Plush at Limelight Magazine for the premiere performance of Brian Howard’s Sentinel (2020) which took place at the Canberra International Music Festival, May 2021, with Noriko Shimada on contraforte and Roland Peelman conducting. About Howard’s work for contraforte and chamber ensemble, Plush writes:

Nothing could have prepared us for the shock of Brian Howard’s new work. … Long ago, Howard eschewed the easy options of post-modern euphony in an uncompromising assertion of a tough, gritty and flamboyant personal language. Sometimes the result is confusing and disorienting. More often it is exhilarating and revitalising as it challenges the conventional orthodoxy of what new music can and might be.

Vincent Plush, Limelight Magazine

The full review of the concert can be read at the following link: https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/reviews/ḥarim-ميرح-canberra-international-music-festival/

27 Mar

‘The Music of Carl Vine’ by Rhoderick McNeill reviewed in Limelight Magazine

In the September 2017 issue of Limelight Magazine Will Yeoman reviewed the fourth volume of Wildbird’s Australian Composers series, The Music of Carl Vine by Rhoderick McNeill.  Yeoman writes:

This is a fascinating and highly readable account of Vine’s compositional and stylistic development over the course of some four decades of sustained work in a diverse range of genres.  As such, it is as clear and thorough an overview to the unique sound-world of one of our greatest living composers as one could wish for.

20 Mar

‘The Music of Carl Vine’ by Rhoderick McNeill reviewed in ‘The Studio’

The Music of Carl Vine by Rhoderick McNeill received a review in the May 2017 issue of The Studio (Vol.23 No.2), the journal of the Music Teachers’ Association of NSW. Reviewer Dr Rita Crews writes:

This book is most highly recommended and provides an accurate and valuable contribution to the study of the complex but distinctive style of Carl Vine featuring numerous musical examples that illustrate the various references made in the text.

13 Mar

‘The Music of Carl Vine’ by Rhoderick McNeill reviewed by Peter Campbell in Context journal

The Music of Carl Vine by Rhoderick McNeill was reviewed in Context journal, Issue 42 (2017) by Peter Campbell, who writes:

This is a wonderful addition to the output of Wildbird Music, an organisation taking up the reigns from the mainstream publishing houses that are rarely bringing forth such volumes these days.
McNeill has succeeded in providing us with a rich reading of all the major compositions across Vine’s career so far, an output deserving of such attention and even greater prominence in Australia’s musical story.

Read the full review via the Context website.

01 Dec

‘The Music of Nigel Butterley’ by Elliott Gyger reviewed by Timothy McKenry in Context Journal

The Music of Nigel Butterley by Elliott Gyger received a review in Context journal, Issue 40 (2015).  Reviewer Timothy McKenry writes:

The Music of Nigel Butterley provides scholars of Australian music with an invaluable resource that functions to contextualise, analyse and even advocate for Butterley’s music.

Read the full review via the Context website.

30 Apr

‘The Music of Nigel Butterley’ reviewed in ‘Tempo’

The Music of Nigel Butterley by Elliott Gyger received a review in Tempo journal, Volume 70, Issue 276, April 2016, pp. 103-104. Reviewer Alistair Noble writes:

This book is a valuable publication for promoting an understanding and appreciation of Butterley’s music but I sense that its importance goes beyond this: it helps us also to understand a great deal about the nature of non-tonal musical composition in the latter half of the twentieth century.

04 Jun

“The Music of Richard Meale” Reviewed in The Studio

The Music of Richard Meale by Michael Hannan was reviewed by Dr Rita Crews in the May 2015 issue of The Studio, the journal of the Music Teachers’ Association of NSW. Dr Crews writes:

Very highly recommended, The Music of Richard Meale is a timely and valuable book containing detailed analysis of 37 diverse works and as such will be a great boon to students and teachers alike whilst contributing to overall research on the analysis of Australian music.

01 Mar

Review in The Studio

The Music of Peter Sculthorpe was reviewed by Dr Rita Crews  in the February issue of The Studio, the journal of the Music Teachers’ Association of NSW. Dr Crews writes:

Written in an easily-accessible and readable style, this book is most highly recommended and provides an accurate and valuable contribution to the study of the complex but distinctive style of Peter Sculthorpe.