Threnody
Michael Kieran
Harvey Move Record
* * * *
If you dislike contemporary piano music you’ll hate this CD. On the other hand, if you are a lover of the likes of Keith Humble and John McCaughey, you’re going to absolutely love it. Entitled Threnody, the title taken from the fifth of Carl Vine’s Five Bagatelles, this collection was first released 30 years ago by the Astra Chamber Music Society in Melbourne. Move Records has now remastered the original and the result is as though the whole was recorded on modern equipment just yesterday.
If you are a fan of the works of Carl Vine, John McCaughey, Keith Humble, James Anderson, Andrew Byrne and Stuart Campbell, you will find them all represented here, masterfully played by pianist and composer Michael Kieran Harvey. Indeed Harvey’s own composition, Addict, is also there, featuring the extraordinary electro-acoustic work of Michael Hewes, the well-known Melbourne sound recordist, who is closely associated with Astra. As I said, this one is entirely dependent on your musical taste, but there’s no denying the talent that has gone into it.
— Michael Morton-Evans