excerpt :
"Piano Sonata No. I" (280K)
performed by:
Michael Kieran Harvey
(1998: Winner - Jean Bogan Memorial Prize for piano composition)
about "Piano Sonata I".................
In one very tight sweep, there are three easily discernible sections - fast, slow, very fast. The language is polychromatic & highly original. The most striking characteristics lie in the surprising lyricism of the slow movement, and in the relentless rhythmic energy of the surrounding sections. The outer movements display a volatility, which pay testament to the composer’s strong background in fusion/percussion music.
M.K. Harvey
Piano Sonata was commissioned by Michael Kieran Harvey & was premiered by him at the 1998 Sydney Festival.
It was awarded the “Jean Bogan Memorial Prize for Composition” at the Newcastle Conservatorium, New South Wales that year & was presented to the International Rostrum of Composers by the ABC in 2000.
"Harvey's latest collection, Rabid Bay, has got at least one instantly recognisable masterpiece on it: Nigel Westiake's Piano Sonata No. 1. This dissonant powerhouse of a work made its debut in 1998 to widespread acclaim and, judging by its performance here, it's going to be around for as long as there are pianists with enough passion and technique to play it. Beginning with fear-some cascades of sound (for a moment, it seems like there's an orchestra somewhere behind it all), it's in traditional fast-slow- fast form, but the outer movements are like a virtuosic groove - the kind of rock-and-funk-inspired rhythms at which Harvey excels. The opening to the third movement, in particular, has the roar of a jet engine about it and there's the feeling of irrepressible inspiration, as composer and pianist inhabit the same thrilling, creative space."
............"Limelight Magazine." 07
“Westlake has been busy, & highly successful, writing the film scores for the Babe films and there was every reason to fear he might be lost to the low-return business of cutting edge music. Quite the opposite seems to be the case, for his Piano Sonata is an emphatic rejection of the middle-of-the-road populism of movie music. It begins with tumultuous dissonances and steadily works its way towards the kind of rhythmic propulsion for which Westlake’s music is renowned; but it never gets too comfortable. Even in the slow movement, which is a beautiful exploration of sonorities, the questing nature of the composer’s intelligence is clear - and highly exciting.”