Histories (Monash Art Ensemble)

"Histories. For each of us they represent narratives within which we find navigable timelines, chains of causation, explanations. Sometimes teleologies, sometimes songlines, they represent attempts to structure time and place, identity, and to imagine destiny. What history is not is a single truth. Andrew Harrison's piece in this collection memorialises his grandfather's traumatic experiences in the trenches of Flanders in 1916-18. Mary Finsterer has us gaze down from a great height. Eugene Ball intrudes into his own strange and magical sound world, and Joseph O'Connor brings worlds of notation and improvisation into a nuanced dialogue. Narrative, dialectic, panorama and testimony are all represented in this collection of Histories."

Paul Grabowsky

The Players

Track 1 - Aerea

John Rodgers, violin
Tristram Williams, C trumpet
Niran Dasika, Bb trumpet
Jordan Murray, trombone
Lachlan Davidson, soprano saxophone
Robert Burke, soprano saxophone
Stephen Byth, alto saxophone
Paul Cornelius, tenor saxophone
Jack Beeche, baritone saxophone
David Griffiths, bass clarinet
Jonathan Skourletos, guitar
Anthony Barnhill, piano / celeste
Dennis Vaughan, bass with extension
Peter Neville, percussion
Robert Mercer, drums

Track 2 - Intrusions

Lizzy Welsh, violin
Eugene Ball, trumpet
Niran Dasika, trumpet
James MacAulay, trombone
David Griffiths, clarinet / bass clarinet
Paul Cornelius, tenor saxophone
Lachlan Davidson, flute / alto flute / alto saxophone / piccolo
Mirko Guerrini, alto saxophone
Jonathan Skourletos, guitar
Joe O’Connor, piano
Marty Holoubek, double bass
Peter Neville, percussion
Niko Schauble, drums

Track 3 - Gassed Shell (Severe)

Tony Hicks, clarinet
Lachlan Davidson, alto saxophone
Paul Cornelius, tenor saxophone
Jack Beeche, tenor saxophone
Robert Burke, bass clarinet
Mirko Guerrini, baritone saxophone
Tom Sly, trumpet
Niran Dasika, trumpet
Jordan Murray, trombone
Matthias Schack-Arnott, percussion
Lizzy Welsh, violin
Dimity Shepherd, voice
Craig Fermanis, guitar
Joe O’Connor, piano
Philip Rex, double bass
Kieran Rafferty, drums

Track 4 - Confluence

Lizzy Welsh, violin
Lachlan Davidson, flute
Tony Hicks, clarinet
Jack Beeche, clarinet
Paul Cornelius, saxophone
Robert Burke, bass clarinet
Tom Sly, trumpet
Niran Dasika, trumpet
Jordan Murray, trombone
Craig Fermanis, guitar
Joe O’Connor, piano
Philip Rex, double bass
Matthias Schack-Arnott, percussion
Kieran Rafferty, drums

Recorded at the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music Auditorium, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria.

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Ross Cockle.