“The centrepiece of the program was the new work, A Distant Shore, by the Australian composer Andrew Schultz. Its 11 parts interact together with the use of recurring ideas and Louis Nowra’s text…The first section, for three brass instruments alone, was a gradual unfolding from a single unison note. Much of the treatment could be described as austere, none more so than the slow evolving second movement, Steps. The third, Two Small Hands, has short sharp snatches of text giving it an almost nursery quality, while the celli play col legno, or with the wood of the bow, producing one of the many percussion effects throughout this work. The lone question which starts the fourth movement, The Sea is Made from Memories, is cut dramatically short, when the orchestra makes a cataclismic reaction. This movement was effective with the terror of memories being the focus. Behind the Dunes was colouristic, with great washes of sound…The Barcarole was a tender treatment of the text by the composer with a superb realisation [for the singer], the pianist and percussionist. Spoken text by the baritone soloist was also a feature as in the seventh movement, Bad Memories. Much of this music is dramatically conceived.” [Barry Walmsley, The Newcastle Herald, 4 May 1991]

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