Emily

Susanna comes late in the sequence of Handel’s oratorios but in some ways the composer looks back in it to his experience of Italian opera. It largely comprises a sequence of arias (many in the repeated, da capo form of opera seria) as it relates the story from the Biblical Apocrypha of Susanna who is falsely accused of adultery and eventually vindicated through the clever judicial manoeuvrings of the young prophet Daniel.

This is the first of two CDs issued by Concord Jazz compiling some of the best tracks from Emily Remler's sessions for that label. Cut short at a far too early age by a heart condition while touring in Australia, Remler had all the talent necessary to carve herself a niche in the jazz world as a premier jazz guitar interpreter and performer. Retrospective, Vol. 1 is probably the superior of the two volumes, as it includes, among other gems, an enticing unaccompanied rendition of "Afro Blue." Remler had the ability to be expressively warm with a romantic ballad, as on "In a Sentimental Mood," but she excelled on tunes that allowed her to bring out her hard bop credentials, especially in the company of similarly tough-minded rhythm sections. She displays those credentials on several tracks, such as "Hot House" and "Daahoud," where she is joined by the inestimable Hank Jones on piano and Marvin "Smitty" Smith on drums. "Del Sasser" is the sole representative from that intriguing album she made with trumpet player John D'earth.

Recorded live at Brunel Goods Shed, 15 November 2020. Filmed and broadcast as a livestream by Northern Cowboys, the event brought together the full band that recorded the album A Dark Murmuration of Words in the absence of live touring during the Covid lockdown.

This recording is the culmination of 10 years of research by Dr Emily Baines, and it brings to dazzling life the fascinating and effervescent performance style found in eighteenth-century mechanical musical instruments. It contains never before heard transcriptions of music, found in eighteenth-century barrel organs and musical clocks.

Andrew Blanch and Emily Granger are a pioneering guitar and harp duo. Both celebrated soloists in their own right, Andrew and Emily combine forces in this beguiling instrumental combination with a synchronicity and charm “enough to win any audience over” (The Advertiser). The pairing of guitar and harp is at once both fresh and familiar, each instrument like an enchanted reflection of the other. Between them, their 53 strings offer a unique richness of resonance and an expanded range of expressive possibilities.

Emily A. Sprague’s Water Memory and Mount Vision are presented in new and vivid detail. Through sound and poetry, Emily’s craft focuses on fleeting moments of crystalline clarity and meditates on expanded lifetimes of intricate meaning-making. Memory and vision, ocean and mountains, question and answer, emotions and infinity. Sunshine, lizard, sea salt. Previously issued as small editions of self-released cassettes, Emily’s two albums have been resequenced and mastered by Taylor Deupree, each including previously unheard tracks.

American-Australian harpist Emily Granger made an indelible impression with her solo debut recording, In Transit. She follows up with Something Like This, a beautiful collaboration with flautist Sally Walker, featuring original music for flute and harp alongside adaptations and arrangements for the instrumental combination. Woven among classics by J.S. Bach and Mozart are works by living composers including Australians Elena Kats-Chernin, Sally Greenaway, Lachlan Skipworth and Jessica Wells, and indigenous composer Christopher Sainsbury. 20th century works by Jacques Ibert and Witold Lutoslawski are juxtaposed with Erik Satie’s timeless Gymnopédies.

"Enargeia" is an ancient Greek word meaning extreme vividness, the evocation of a visual scene. It's a bit hard to see how this applies in more than a general way to the program on mezzo-soprano Emily D'Angelo. She writes: "Each piece is part of a sonic journey, each track born out of the previous one as the listener is guided through a progression, a cohesive and exploratory listening experience." This being so, one wonders why the track ordering is different in the physical and at least some online presentations of the album, but these are minor complaints.