The Australian Festival of Chamber Music’s Reef Talk explores environmental issues through music.

George Crumb Vox Balaenae
Vernon Hill, fl; Julian Smiles, vc; Daniel de Borah, p
Townsville Civic Theatre, July 31

In a day and age when we can pay next to nothing for a “new age” CD of whale song for “relaxation”, it is difficult to imagine the profound impact an early recording of humpback whales had on American composer George Crumb more than forty years ago. In 1971 these enigmatic sounds of the deep served as inspiration for his hauntingly beautiful trio Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale).

The Australian Festival of Chamber Music’s annual Reef Talk series presents music inet the context of Townsville’s tropical surroundings and community concerns. It was a master stroke of creative programming to introduce Vox Balaenae in such a sympathetic setting, following two short presentations from James Cook University marine life researchers Dr Mark Hamann (a turtle specialist) and Dr Alastair Birtles, the latter having spent years studying and interacting with a new species of minke whale discovered in North Queensland waters in the 1980s.

Against a projected backdrop...