Reviews

Calling Music: Contrafactum I (1992)

“In his Calling Music, Schultz uses the trio “Soave sia il vento”, from Cosi fan tutte, to punctuate his comment on death. Its gentle opening using wind chimes creates a mystical effect, and much of the piece sustains that spirit throughout. Most appealing are the muted and converging tones. The oboe soliloquy was haunting, but evolved into a small contrapuntal exchange between oboe, bassoon and flute. …the work is a powerful, elegaic statement.” [Barry Walmsley, The Newcastle Herald, 19 September 1992]


“The work begins quietly with percussion and winds producing sounds which are redolent of bush breezes and coo-ees. When the strings enter they are high and soft but the violas and cellos soon introduce a little two-note figure which is the essential structural element of the rest of the music. The composer fore-warned us in his program annotation that this is a contrafactum – literally a vocal piece with a new text substituted but here, rather, it is influnced by other music, namely the sighing Trio, “Soave sia il vento” from Cosi.” [John Carmody, Sun-Herald]