Reviews

Dead Songs (1991)

“Schultz’s Dead Songs cycle, set to texts drawn from gravestone inscriptions in seaside cemeteries, is a work of art of a high order, adroitly shaped to…lead to an ending of universal resonance. Its first performance…affirmed the creative poise of a composer who feels sufficient confidence in his own judgement to write not a single note more than is absolutely necessary….[A] vital, spellbinding experience.” [Roger Covell, Sydney Morning Herald]


“Andrew Schultz … writes music of substance and expression. His Dead Songs is a long, complex, and very satisfying setting of adaptations of epitaphs seen at seaside cemeteries in New South Wales. Scored for soprano, clarinet, cello, and piano, it is tightly composed and expressively executed.” [HICKEN, “The Newest Music,” American Record Guide 60:1, January-February 1997, p.245]


“a stunning and ecstatic unaccompanied reverie,…set the scene for a remarkable performance. Schultz’s trademark glissandi were combined with virtuosic passages to make this a veritable tour de force.” [Neil Mason, The Courier Mail, 17 November 1993]