Kate Miller-Heidke, Iain Grandage, Opera Australia - The Rabbits (2016)
BAND/ARTIST: Kate Miller-Heidke, Iain Grandage, Opera Australia
- Title: The Rabbits
- Year Of Release: 2016
- Label: Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC)
- Genre: Classical
- Quality: flac lossless
- Total Time: 01:06:29
- Total Size: 290 mb
- WebSite: Album Preview
Tracklist
01. Dawn Chorus
02. Flinch's Dream
03. The Scientist's Contraption
04. First Encounter
05. Years Pass Transition
06. Seasick Waltz
07. Watching from Trees
08. Rabbit Utopia
09. My Sky
10. Tea & War
11. Kite Song
12. Electric Light
13. Millions
14. Where?
15. Billabong Epilogue
16. Where? (Acoustic Version)
2016 live adaption of the John Marsden & Shaun Tan picture book, composed by Kate Miller-Heidke & arranged by Iain Grandage with libretto by Lally Katz. Recorded Live At The Roslyn Packer Theatre, Walsh Bay. Sydney. The Rabbits is an allegorical story about Australian colonisation, and more broadly about human domination of the animal world.
After a dawn chorus of birdsong and echos sung by composer Kate Miller-Heidke as bird/narrator from the top of an ochre mound, marsupials gather, squabble and discuss a dream about a lizard, before a scientist rabbit scoops it up as a specimen. More rabbits quickly arrive with ships and aircraft, industry and alcohol. They remove the marsupials' children and build more and more until the stage is full of their cities, at which point they wonder if it has become a bit vulgar and they have gone too far.
The work ends with a question, not a resolution, and it is a question of some urgency for us rabbits everywhere. Although the synopsis claims it is told from the viewpoint of both sides, no one, after watching it, wants to think of themselves as a rabbit, though most of us are in the colonial sense, and all of us are rapacious homo sapiens.
Its central metaphor is unfair to the long-eared hopping creatures, since although they breed true to name, they don't create climate change and toxic waste. The score by Miller-Heidke, arranged with additional music by Iain Grandage, has three stylistic streams: rhapsodic bird-like song for Miller-Heidke as narrator; pop-style expressiveness for the marsupials; and parody pomp for the rabbits.
These differences were smoothed out by the pervasive amplification which, for my taste, was too loud. Miller-Heidke combines the control and evenness of an operatically trained voice with the melismatic soaring of pop. Among the marsupials Hollie Andrew sang with musical-style directness, and Marcus Corowa with elemental naturalness. For the rabbits Kanen Breen adopted penetrating falsetto as the scientist and there was a sardonic Gilbert-and-Sullivan touch to Robert Mitchell's Captain Rabbit. Christopher Hillier used natural vocal heft to characterise the Convict Rabbit.
The five-member band provided stylistically versatile and highly capable accompaniment from the back. Much of the charm lies in designer Gabriela Tylesova's successful design adaptation for the stage of Shaun Tan and John Marsden's original book. The marsupials hobble on their exaggerated haunches, their wide eyes weeping for nature betrayed. The rabbits strut with costumes that embody a ship's prow, a shirtfront, and hints of Monty Python.
01. Dawn Chorus
02. Flinch's Dream
03. The Scientist's Contraption
04. First Encounter
05. Years Pass Transition
06. Seasick Waltz
07. Watching from Trees
08. Rabbit Utopia
09. My Sky
10. Tea & War
11. Kite Song
12. Electric Light
13. Millions
14. Where?
15. Billabong Epilogue
16. Where? (Acoustic Version)
2016 live adaption of the John Marsden & Shaun Tan picture book, composed by Kate Miller-Heidke & arranged by Iain Grandage with libretto by Lally Katz. Recorded Live At The Roslyn Packer Theatre, Walsh Bay. Sydney. The Rabbits is an allegorical story about Australian colonisation, and more broadly about human domination of the animal world.
After a dawn chorus of birdsong and echos sung by composer Kate Miller-Heidke as bird/narrator from the top of an ochre mound, marsupials gather, squabble and discuss a dream about a lizard, before a scientist rabbit scoops it up as a specimen. More rabbits quickly arrive with ships and aircraft, industry and alcohol. They remove the marsupials' children and build more and more until the stage is full of their cities, at which point they wonder if it has become a bit vulgar and they have gone too far.
The work ends with a question, not a resolution, and it is a question of some urgency for us rabbits everywhere. Although the synopsis claims it is told from the viewpoint of both sides, no one, after watching it, wants to think of themselves as a rabbit, though most of us are in the colonial sense, and all of us are rapacious homo sapiens.
Its central metaphor is unfair to the long-eared hopping creatures, since although they breed true to name, they don't create climate change and toxic waste. The score by Miller-Heidke, arranged with additional music by Iain Grandage, has three stylistic streams: rhapsodic bird-like song for Miller-Heidke as narrator; pop-style expressiveness for the marsupials; and parody pomp for the rabbits.
These differences were smoothed out by the pervasive amplification which, for my taste, was too loud. Miller-Heidke combines the control and evenness of an operatically trained voice with the melismatic soaring of pop. Among the marsupials Hollie Andrew sang with musical-style directness, and Marcus Corowa with elemental naturalness. For the rabbits Kanen Breen adopted penetrating falsetto as the scientist and there was a sardonic Gilbert-and-Sullivan touch to Robert Mitchell's Captain Rabbit. Christopher Hillier used natural vocal heft to characterise the Convict Rabbit.
The five-member band provided stylistically versatile and highly capable accompaniment from the back. Much of the charm lies in designer Gabriela Tylesova's successful design adaptation for the stage of Shaun Tan and John Marsden's original book. The marsupials hobble on their exaggerated haunches, their wide eyes weeping for nature betrayed. The rabbits strut with costumes that embody a ship's prow, a shirtfront, and hints of Monty Python.
Year 2016 | Classical | FLAC / APE
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