Stephanie Mccallum & Erin Helyard - Aristea Mellos: Preludes and Duets (2022) [Official Digital Download 24/48]

Aristea Mellos is a Greek-Australian composer and pianist whose compositional voice has been described as ‘unnerving and awe-inspiring’ (Limelight). In this new album, she celebrates the miracle of the piano: its mechanical precision, its poetic resonance and its capacity for song.

‘The tactile relationship between my fingers and my mind is an essential element to my craft,’ says Mellos. ‘By touching the keys of the piano, my thoughts are unlocked – they act like portals to a place that lies in wait, half sounded, brimming with possibility.’

At the heart of the album is a cycle of twelve preludes, each inspired by fragments of poetry, found texts or iconic phrases. Like Chopin and Debussy before her, Mellos uses the small scale of the prelude form to create whole worlds of emotion and beauty. The suite is brought to life in this recording by pianist Stephanie McCallum who, in a performing and recording career over four decades, has become renowned for her refined control of sound, nuanced artistic instincts and fearless virtuosic control.

The album also features the four-hand piano work Immigrant Suite, honouring the life story of Mellos’ maternal grandmother, who left war-torn Europe as a young woman and emigrated to New Zealand and then to Australia as a post-war refugee. ‘Whilst works of art often commemorate famous or powerful Australians, in composing this work, I wanted to celebrate my grandmother’s ordinary, and yet extraordinary working-class life.’ For this suite, Stephanie McCallum is joined by fellow Australian keyboard virtuoso Erin Helyard.

Tracklist:
01. Preludes: I. “A ghostly finger writes forgotten words (in the dust on the piano)”
02. Preludes: II. “Whoever you are, no matter how lonely…”
03. Preludes: III. “In the sun born over and over, I ran my heedless ways”
04. Preludes: IV. “I can’t breathe” Part One
05. Preludes: V. “I can’t breathe” Part Two
06. Preludes: VI. “Me cansé de vivir me caso”
07. Preludes: VII. “…the magpies call you Jack and whistle…”
08. Preludes: VIII. “Let water run circle settle be”
09. Preludes: IX. “Caution! Endangered shorebirds are nesting”
10. Preludes: X. “Go to sleep my beloved, whilst I sing you a lullaby…” (Djoko’s Lullaby)
11. Preludes: XI. “Death is black” – XII. “Then peace to close the weary storm-wrecked years”
12. Immigrant Suite: I. The S.S. Goya
13. Immigrant Suite: II. Six O'Clock Swill
14. Immigrant Suite: III. Short Ride on a Sewing Machine
15. Immigrant Suite: IV. The Villa Mimosa
16. Immigrant Suite: V. Murmurs of the Heart


Thanks to the Original customer!