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CLAIRE EDWARDES
PERCUSSION
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photos Monty Coles
RECENT REVIEWS
"Between
these two pieces SSO presented Toru Takemitsu's Gitimalya with soloist Claire
Edwardes. In spite of the obvious Japanese connection, this work seemed quite
remote from the world of taiko: this was a work that demanded skillful listening
as well as performing. Edwardes offered a lively stage presence and nuanced
performance, nicely interspersed with the orchestra's delicate gestures,
choreographed by the young Japanese conductor Ryusake Nuinajiri, making is
debut with the SSO."
SMH "Filling the air with sonic colour"
Sydney Symphony//Taikoz & Claire Edwardes//Sydney Opera House 06/02/09
by Harriet Cunningham
"The second half opened with John
Luther Adams’s Roar, actually more tranquil than the title would imply.
Edwardes took this one, near-motionless and unaccompanied, back to the audience,
at the back of the stage, with what must have been a physically demanding
continuous addressing of the tam-tam. The processed sounds attributed in the
program were not tied to her activity, however. So where did they come from? Who
created them? Where was Deems Taylor, when I wanted him to introduce us to the
sound itself, just the way he introduced us to the soundtrack in the Walt Disney
film Fantasia?"
Resonate Magazine
Ensemble Offspring//13 Colours//Sydney Conservatorium 30.05.09
by
Phil Vendy
"The Japanese composer Toru
Takemitsu's work Gitimalya for solo marimba and orchestra opened
with the haunting tones of a bass flute and took the audience on a sonic
exploration of colour and texture. With the absence of the largest section of
the orchestra – the violins – the timbres remained hauntingly mellow. This
subdued colour allowed the creamy sounds of the solo marimba to blend and
permeate much more effectively. Soloist Claire Edwardes was assured and
sensitive in her performance, in particular the ‘al niente' diminuendos
were beautifully executed. The orchestra seemed hesitant in their entries, and
intonation between strings and winds was somewhat unstable. The lower strings
really shone, as they brought forth a homogenous layer of sound and provided a
strong platform on which the rest of the ensemble could rely."
Resonate Magazine
Percussion to the Max
The
Queensland Orchestra // QLD // 24.04.08
by
Janet McKay
"The consummate skills and Edwardes and Balkus were confirmed in the final work
by Harrison Birtwistle...Edwardes worked her way systematically around the range of her instruments from
the driving woodblock section to the strident drums, and everything in between,
supported and provoked by Balkus' piano. It was an appropriate conclusion to a
smartly curated concert of challenging and beguiling works from two inspiring
performers."
Real Time Crash Bang Swoon
Campbeltown
Arts Centre //Aurora Festival// 12.04.08
by Gail Priest
"This is one of the best CD's I have listened to this year,
in its high quality of performance, and interesting choice of pieces, it
demonstrates that Tall Poppies remains one of Australia's premiere labels...There are several aspects to this disc that mark it as unusually important.
Firstly, it records some of Claire Edwardes' best playing. The performances are
assured, fluid, coherent (where necessary), and pleasantly, refreshingly,
straightforward."
Music Forum Magazine
(Vol.14 No.2 Feb-April 2008) by Michael Hooper
ARTICLES
Resonate Magazine Coming Full Circle
May 2009
http://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/article/claire-edwardes-coming-a-full-circle
Primal Beat Feature article in Spectrum SMH 31/1/09
http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/primal-beat/2009/01/30/1232818701515.html
OTHER REVIEWS
“Claire Edwardes'
amazingly voluptuous
percussion performance on multiple instruments created an astonishing effect,
heightened at beginning and end by the wind blown tinkling of wind
chimes gradually shimmering
into silence in a memorable performance.”
Amsterdam Sinfonietta Black Wind Adelaide
Festival 2006 -
City Messenger
Reviewed by
Russell Starke
16 March, 2006
“Much clearer in intention was Black Wind…A dense score, studded
with a battery of tuned and untuned idiophones, plus glass wind chimes and
wooden flippers for the strings to clatter on the floor… Sound and image
conveyed a strong, all too familiar but strangely unmoving sermon against the
wanton destruction humans are wreaking on their precious planet.”
Amsterdam Sinfonietta Black Wind Adelaide
Festival 2006 -
The Advertiser
Reviewed
by Elizabeth Silsbury
15 March, 2006
"The
Australian/ Dutch Edwardes, who last weekend made an impression with a
performance in November Music, is a rising star in the percussion world. She
plays everything cold bloodedly and exact but is never clinical or routine in her
approach. Add to this her positive presentation and it is clear that she is the
sort of musician who composers would be inspired by." Percussioniste Claire Edwardes is rijzende ster ("Percussionist Claire Edwardes is rising star")" by Jochem
Valkenburg 24 November 2005 NRC Handelsbad, Amsterdam
"This
concert by three brilliant young Australian musicians only attracted a small
audience but deserved better, because it proved to be an unexpected gem in the
overall festival program. Violinist Miki Tsunoda and pianist Caroline Almonte
were joined by percussionist Claire Edwardes in a delightful program of
contemporary works for this rather unlikely instrumental combination. There was
nothing to confront an audience, just five excellently wrought compositions by
American, Japanese, and Australian composers, realised in beautifully shaped
playing that was balanced and attractive..The lively
More Marimba Dances by Australian, Ross
Edwards, are exciting,
virtuosic
solo pieces that were premiered in 2004 by Claire Edwards,
received a brilliantly assured performance from her...And this arresting
recital concluded with the trio playing Double Ikat by American Paul Dresher, a
two-movement work that has a strong dance element as its basis, and which gave,
in its rhythmic and melodic writing, scope for virtuosic playing from all three
players. It made a fine conclusion to a rewardingly delightful concert."
Duo Sol & Claire Edwardes
Canberra International Festival of Music 2007 Canberra Times Reviewed by W.L.
Hoffman 14 May 2007
“Edwardes’s program demonstrated that when
composers write for percussion, the results are spectacular...Ross Edwards’s...More
Marimba Dances is a lively fight between exuberance and
virtuosity, full of leaps from one end of the instrument to the other at high
speed, which Edwardes handled with great style and accuracy...It was a brilliant performance..Edwardes’s enthusiasm was hard to resist in the relentlessly busy opening
movement but she took the performance to a new level in the final movement…with
spellbinding intensity”
by Harriet Cunningham 14 August 2005
The Sydney Morning Herald
"The
performances are simply wonderful…He (Nicolas Hodges) combines well with percussionist Claire
Edwardes in The Axe Manual, a monumental, 22-minute study in rhythmic layering
that reinterprets the relationship between the two players; it may be one of the
less accessible of Birtwistle's recent pieces, but it's an impressive one."
by Andrew Clements, BBC Music Magazine *****
CD review March 2005
“Pianist
Nicolas Hodges and percussionist Claire Edwardes' performance of The Axe Manual
had an improvisational freedom and a funky rhythmic power."
“The two players had to coordinate their parts with amazing accuracy, since they
were often playing at different speeds, and in different time signatures. “
“In Hodges and Edwardes' interpretation, the result of this rhythmic intricacy
was an infectious immediacy that carried through the whole piece. Their
performance had a rhythmic swing from the opening riffs for piano and marimba to
the final, brutal strokes for bass drum. They made Birtwistle's musical machines
dance, especially in a passage towards the end of the piece.“ by
Tom Service Tuesday November 09 2004,
The
Guardian
“Edwardes produced a presentation that was electric from start to
finish”
Joel Crotty, The Age, Melbourne 2004
“Edwardes’ strength and energy was breath-taking. In this chaotic
piece, her pinpoint accuracy and absolute confidence became the focus for the
audience.”
Elizabeth Bailes, The Mercury, Tasmania 2004
“Hij zou overlgens niels ontervreden zijn geweest met de
explosieve vertolking die pianist Ralph van Raat en slagwerkster Claire Edwardes
can de genoteerde versie gaven.” Frits van der Waal, de Volkskrant 22/2/03
“…Birtwistle’s economical suite for piano and percussion (The Axe
Manual)… here given a riveting UK premiere by Claire Edwardes and Nicolas
Hodges…” Alfred Hickling, The Guardian 3/12/02 (Huddersfield Contemporary Music
Festival)
“The highlight of the concert was young Australian percussionist
Claire Edwardes’ performance of MacMillan’s Veni Veni Emmanuel…(It) showcased
Edwardes’ ability in all aspects of percussion….Edwardes moved seamlessly
between the instruments, her interplay with the orchestra engaging to watch.”
Hilary Shrubb, The Australian 5/11/01 (SSO cond. James MacMillan)
“Doubling as a percussion concerto, it offered the young and
already renowned soloist Claire Edwardes enormous challenges – all of which she
responded to with faultless self-possession and technical brilliance…” Roger
Covell, Sydney Morning Herald 1/11/01
“Claire Edwardes was a fine soloist and played with sensitivity
and unusually focused concentration.” Joan Reinthaler, The Washington Post
17/2/01 (AYO Camerata tour)
“With elegant flexibility and empathy she managed to integrate
with the orchestra, and to rise up from it ..in a confident manner.” Rene van
Peer Eindhoven’s Dagblad 30/10/00 (Tromp competition final)
“Her action is not the usual percussive striking but a teasing
proximity to the instrument. Claire Edwardes is a young Australian musician of
consummate skill…Edwardes’ strong presence and the careful staging of the
concert enhanced the experience of the music.” Virginia Baxter, Real Time
10/8/00
“The winner, Claire Edwardes, played… with infectious brio and
clear involvement ..This was a gripping and professional display..” Clive
O’Connell, The Age 25/9/99 (Symphony Australia Young Performers)
“Edwardes fluidity and controlled attack imbued a freshness
through its use of tribal and sensitively dealt accents and gestures. To salute
Edwardes further, she developed such a fine relationship with the Melbourne
Symphony Orchestra and conductor Markus Stenz that the tension of the finals
playoff was never evident in her performance.” Jeremy Vincent, The Australian
24/9/99 (Symphony Australia Young Performers)
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Claire Edwardes
Percussion 