20th-Century Spectrum: Virtuoso Piano Music from Australia

CalArts, Roy O. Disney Music Hall

MUSIC: The first concert in the two-part program organized by faculty member Liam Viney features the music of Australian composers Peter Sculthorpe, Carl Vine and Nigel Westlake. Sculthorpe’s distinctive language explores the music of the Simori people of Papua New Guinea. Vine’s work, meanwhile, reveals the influence of American music in general—and the grooviest elements of Elliott Carter in particular. And Westlake’s Piano Sonata defies categorization as its whirling jazz/rock/African drumming-inspired energy threatens to break both piano and pianist. The concert opens with a piece of Balinese Ceremonial Music, for two pianos, by Colin McPhee, dedicated to the late, great Pak-Cokro.