“Andrew Schultz is a creative musician of undoubted talents. His Spherics spends much of its time parcelling out small thematic interruptions to a continuum of what might be regarded as interstellar background noise. Tremolando episodes for the cello and taciturn comments from the bass clarinet seem to be linked to shifting phases of this continuum. The constant till-readiness of the texture communicates a feeling of suspense.” [Roger Covell, Sydney Morning Herald, 5 April 1989]

“A sextet titled Spherics, by the Brisbane composer Andrew Schultz who is in his mid-20s. Schultz uses the mosaic technique, assembling musical lines through the juxtaposition of tiny flickering phrases from each of the instruments. But he is shrewd enough to ensure a degree of coherence by maintaining a clear underlying rhythmic pattern.” [Martin Long, The Australian, 21 May 1985]

“‘Terra Australis,’ a local chamber ensemble with links to the Australian musical scene from which some of its members hail, presented six works new to New York at the Asia Society Saturday evening. All six were composed within the past four years, and they suggest that composers Down Under are finding Minimalism and popular music invigorating influences just now. Nothing heard here fit directly into those categories, but peppy, regular rhythms and simple harmonies had a prominence that I don’t think one would have found on a similar program 10 years ago…”Snark Hunting” (Martin Wesley-Smith) and ”Spherics” (Andrew Schultz) seemed, in different ways, seemed [sic] undisciplined. The performers were Peter Jarvis, Bronwen Jones, Lisa Moore, Tara Hellen O’Connor, Scott Rawls, Rohan Smith, Mark Stewart and Matthias Kriesberg.” [Will Crutchfield, New York Times, 31 October 1988]

“Andrew Schultz’s 1984 Spherics, in which a rhythmic vocal chant gave way, successively, to a gentle and captivating rolling rhythm, groping gestures and some unisons instrumental chants of s primitive nature, all developing with steadiness and purpose.” [Hermann Trotter, The Buffalo News, 7 June 1988]

“Schultz’s understanding of rhythmic interplay was delightfully fresh and his affectionate quotations, or near quotations, were also evidence of his willingness to trust impulse and instinct. If Spherics teetered once or twice on the brink of sounding like a recomposition of Ravel’s Bolero, that was a fault on the right side of musical spontaneity.” [Roger Covell, Sydney Morning Herald, 21 May 1985]

View All Program Notes