Sub Navigation
Current
News ..
Reviews (1980-89)
Reviews (1990-99)
Reviews (2000-on)
News Archive 03
News Archive 04
News Archive 05
News Archive 06
News Archive 07
Page Anchors
Garotte
Spherics
Sea Change
Barren Grounds
Black River
Sea Call
Fast Talking
Stick Dance II
Distant Shore
Excerpts from Selected Reviews (1980-1989)
Garotte (1982)
Schultz's Garotte is "less serious but is never lightweight, indeed
its humour is black and when the pyrotechnics are over one is left with
a curious sense of loss." [Andrew Ford, New Theatre Australia]
Spherics (1985) (back to top)
“Andrew Schultz is a creative musician of undoubted talents. His
Spherics spends much of its time parcelling out small thematic interruptions
to a continuum of what might be regarded as interstellar background noise.
Tremolando episodes for the cello and taciturn comments from the bass
clarinet seem to be linked to shifting phases of this continuum. The constant
till-readiness of the texture communicates a feeling of suspense.”
[Roger Covell, Sydney Morning Herald, 5/4/1989]
Barren Grounds (1988) (back to top)
"Andrew Schultz's Barren Grounds (1988) . . . is far from barren.
Its two movements are utterly contrasted: the first is a kind of mosaic
passacaglia while the second, which was inspired by Paul Klee's Twittering
Machine, is mercurial in its changes of mood and texture." [John
Carmody, Sun Herald]
"The piece as a whole seems to me music of exceptionally high originality
and abundant invention. Movement 1 is uncomfortable and at times terrifying
in the way in which it piles on thought after thought; Movement 2 is a
continual congeries of strange sonorities, musical events in unwonted
juxtapositions with a disconcerting way of repeating themselves as if
searching for some sort of release. The music proclaims absolutely the
fecundity of sight inspiring sound, through feeling." [Peter Platt,
Sounds Australian]
“The first passacaglia movement featured a web of instrumental fragments
which made up a multi-textured/timbred line. Some interesting sounds resulted,
with surges of dissonance heightening a sense of drama. The second movement,
ejaculatory in character, was rhythmically complex and technically taxing.
The work was well realised by Perihelion, coming closest to the meaning
of their name – music near the sun.” [ John Noble, The Courier
Mail, 31/10/1988]
Sea-Change (1987) (back to top)
“Sea-Change, for piano solo, is an unsentimental, imagistic portrait
of the ocean and its power.”
[HICKEN, “The Newest Music,” American Record Guide 60:1 (January-February
1997) p.245.]
Black River (1988) (back to top)
“There are moments in Black River, . . . which for a comfortable
white audience are among the most shattering one could come across in
the opera theatre." [Peter McCallum, SMH]
"There is a skilful interweaving of dramatic statements and reflective
interludes and the urgent, percussive rhythms propel the drama to an undecided
conclusion. As in life, the story continues." [Black River, Jill
Sykes, Vogue Australia]
"A landmark in culture." [Black River, Michael Hutak,SMH]
“The powerful metaphors of the libretto by Julianne Schultz are
matched in music of taut intensity by her brother, Andrew Schultz. The
insistent rhythmic propulsion and shattering dissonances provide musical
images that illustrate the deluge, both literal and metaphoric, as ideas
and emotions come into harsh conflict....Particularly assured is the way
the composer handles the architecture of the piece, able to find balance
between solo writing and extended ensemble passages: able, too, to capture
the distinctive voice of each figure...the strength of Black River lies,
with its compelling subject and riveting score, in its ability to question
and provoke.” [David Vance at the Festival of the Dreaming 29/10/1997,
Sydney Morning Herald]
Sea Call (1988) (back to top)
"Brevity is by no means a guide to a piece's substance.In 2002 the Queensland Conservatorium Brass ensemble played Andrew Schultz's Sea Call as the opening piece in a festival concert. Played from a balcony behind the audience it was highly successful in evoking a sense of the 'the dramatic coastline and its inhabitants near Wombarra on the NSW South Coast.'...Sea Call is more distinctive - being a portrait of a location and its people.'' [Ben Marks, Portraits: Music for Brass, Sounds Australian,
No. 64 2004]
Fast Talking: The Last Words of Dutch Schultz (1989) (back
to top)
“The stenographically recorded last words of the American gangster
Dutch Schultz, as timed, grouped and choreographed in the Fast Talking
of the Australian composer Andrew Schultz (no relation). This piece, which
some listeners disliked intensely but which seemed to me a compelling
and workable example of musical-theatrical grand guignol . . , was part
of what has become a festival tradition: a Friday-night sequence of 20th-century
music which escapes from the pauses, typecasting and restraints of normal
concert giving.” [Roger Covell at the Huntington Festival 1996,
SMH]
“a wonderful kaleidoscope climaxed in an extraordinary vocal performance
by broadcaster and composer Andrew Ford doing a kind of Sprechgesang,
Fast Talking, written by Andrew Schultz, based on the dying ravings of
gangster Dutch Schultz.” [Laurie Strachan, The Australian, 12/12/1996]
Stick Dance II (1989) (back to top)
“Stick Dance II, is based on a piece that was, itself, based on
a fairy tale. Its movement through time is light and airy, almost weightless,
like a glittering dance?”
[HICKEN, “The Newest Music,” American Record Guide 60:1 (January-February
1997) p.245.]
Read the revised review
A Distant Shore (1989) (back to top)
“The centrepiece of the program was the new work, A Distant Shore,
by the Australian composer Andrew Schultz. Its 11 parts interact together
with the use of recurring ideas and Louis Nowra’s text...The first
section, for three brass instruments alone, was a gradual unfolding from
a single unison note. Much of the treatment could be described as austere,
none more so than the slow evolving second movement, Steps. The third,
Two Small Hands, has short sharp snatches of text giving it an almost
nursery quality, while the celli play col legno, or with the wood of the
bow, producing one of the many percussion effects throughout this work.
The lone question which starts the fourth movement, The Sea is Made from
Memories, is cut dramatically short, when the orchestra makes a cataclismic
reaction. This movement was effective with the terror of memories being
the focus. Behind the Dunes was colouristic, with great washes of sound...The
Barcarole was a tender treatment of the text by the composer with a superb
realisation [for the singer], the pianist and percussionist. Spoken text
by the baritone soloist was also a feature as in the seventh movement,
Bad Memories. Much of this music is dramatically conceived.” [Barry
Walmsley, The Newcastle Herald, 4/5/1991]
Purchasing Links
Buy, borrow or hire scores, parts and recordings from
the Australian Music Centre
www.amcoz.com.ausales@amcoz.com.au
