Who better to open an album dedicated to Australian music than Percy Grainger? The legendary composer’s Colonial Song is first up for Amir Farid (piano), and Bramble brothers Lachlan (violin) and Ewen (cello). With an unmistakable folk-like sentiment, the Benaud Trio sets the tone for the album’s spirit of national pride.

We’re soon struck by Paul Stanhope’s Three Lorca Songs, in which soprano Greta Bradman takes to the fore. She sings a sobering vision of Australia – moody, dissonant, and ethereal. It’s a work the trio commissioned for Bradman herself, set to poems from the Spanish composer of its namesake: Federico García Lorca. (Of course, the Aussie cricket follower might recognise an additional cultural connection here; she is the granddaughter of the late Sir Don Bradman AC.)

This short suite of three movements is followed by Nicole Murphy’s bright Spinning Top, a work inspired by a Brisbane sculpture. The trio is playful and buoyant; driving us with delicate force into Carl Vine’s Piano Trio ‘The Village’.

But it’s perhaps Richie – In Memoriam that seems the most special of all. It was composed by Iain Grandage to mark the passing of Richie Benaud – the Australian cricketer and commentator from whom the trio took its name. It’s a show- (or, album-) stopping work that evokes all the complexities of a life fully lived.

After such an emotionally intense journey, Matthew Hindson’s Rush lifts us out of a place of contemplation before the album ends with his 1915 in tribute to the ANZACs.

The Aussie Album takes us through one side of Australia’s musical and cultural history. The Benaud Trio’s delivery of this compilation needs little description, as scarcely a flaw can be heard throughout.

That the group programmed works close to its members’ hearts, including a commission for their world-class soloist, may go some way in explaining the recording’s natural and seamless presentations. The album provides us with a chance to listen to works performed so effortlessly that there is no distraction from indulging in – and understanding – the music itself.

Though one mustn’t dictate the musical and programmatic decisions of an ensemble, I’d challenge the trio to take a step further and include more of an Indigenous Australian presence on its next Aussie-themed album. There are some striking calls to European musical traditions and progressions therefrom, but for me a tighter embrace of culture would provide a full five-star musical experience.


Composer: Stanhope, Vine, Hindson, Grainger
Performer: Benaud Trio
Catalogue Number: ABC Classics 4817164

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