Kurrawong Ensemble
All That Is Solid Melts Into Air
Jade Monkey
Sun 18 March
season closed


In 'All That Is Solid Melts Into Air...' the Kurrawong Ensemble, a collection of professional Australian musicians with interests ranging from pop to classical, glide through a series of atmospheric, geography-evoking soundscapes to exceedingly pleasing effect.

Their major concerns with this show seem to be the relation between landscape and its enveloping atmosphere, in particular that of Australia. They have brought together a series of pieces from such Australian composers as Brenton Broadstock, Michael Smetanin, and Stuart Greenbaum that include these themes strongly, and proceed to play them with space and movement in mind. The music sometimes directly references aspects of nature such as in the very oceanic 'Spray', at other times it gives topographical impressions of land, and at others it seems listeners are being flown horizontally just above undulating landscape. As such the show is primarily a sensory 'trip' and eschews some of the more cerebral elements of classical music that may put some people off.

One would need to be a genuinely informed listener of classical music to properly scrutinise the playing (and I'm not one), but even the most 'lay' of laypersons could legitimately assert that the ensemble all do a terrific job in articulating what they want to articulate with their instruments. Unfortunately they will not be seen again at this year's Fringe, but they have suggested a return to Adelaide later in the year which would be more than welcome.

William McGinley