The Heart's Ear

Ensemble music of Liza LIM Live and studio performances by ELISION Ensemble and Ensemble Modern ABC Classics Under Capricorn 456 687-2 Total timing 72:40 Released March 1999

The Heart's Ear. What is that? It seems at first an odd conjuntion. The heart is deep inside the body, internal. It is that which is most proper and singular to us, that from which we cannot be separated or divided. The ear is on the surface of the head, ceaselessly mediating between us and the outside world, helping us to make sense of things, transforming noise into intelligible signals. But the heart's ear, what is this to suggest? It is to propose another way of thinking all this, listening not to what is outside but to what is inside, or confusing the very distinction between the two. The heart's ear? It is the body that is the heart's ear. It is through our body that we listen to our heart.
--Rex BUTLER © 1999 excerpt from the liner notes

This `landmark disc´ presents six important works from Australian composer Liza LIM, performed by ELISION Ensemble and Ensemble Modern both separately and in combination.

Street of Crocodiles (1995) 14:04

flute, oboe, alto sax, alto trombone, cimbalom/cymbal, violin, viola, violoncello, baroque violoncello
Ensemble Modern, Ingo METZMACHER conductor
recorded live, Alte Oper, Frankfurt, 3 October 1996

The Heart's Ear (1997) 12:55

flute, clarinet, violin I, violin II, viola, violoncello
ELISION Ensemble, Carl ROSMAN conductor
Studio recording, Iwaki Auditorium, ABC Melbourne, 11 July 1998

Voodoo Child (1989) 9:20

soprano, flute/picc, clarinet, violin, violoncello, trombone, piano, timpani/percussion
ELISION Ensemble, Carl ROSMAN conductor
Studio recording, Iwaki Auditorium, ABC Melbourne, 10 July 1998

Koto (1993) 11:55

flute/picc, oboe d'amore, flügelhorn, koto, viola, voioloncello I, violoncello II, percussion
ELISION Ensemble, Sandro GORLI conductor
recorded live, Lismore Town Hall, 1993

INGUZ (fertility) (1996) 6:30

clarinet and violoncello
Studio recording, Iwaki Auditorium, ABC Melbourne, 17 July 1998

The Alchemical Wedding (1996) 17:56

flute/picc I, flute/picc II, oboe, cor anglais, Eb clarinet, Bb clarinet, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, bassoon/contrabassoon, horn, trumpet I, trumpet II, trombone, angklung/percussion, percussion, er-hu (Chinese violin), violin I, violin II, violoncello I, violoncello II, violoncello III, contrabass
ELISION and Ensemble Modern, Dominique MY conductor
recorded live, Melbourne Town Hall, 30 October 1996

Critical Acclaim

"By putting together this collection of Liza Lim's music on one disc, ABC Classics have brought into sharp focus one of the most exciting talents in this country, and perhaps any country. Lim has an amazing ability to create wonderfully balanced textures and subtly different forms. There are six pieces here, four played by the Australian ensemble ELISION, one by the German Ensemble Modern and one by a combination of both. This last, The Alchemical Wedding, is the biggest and perhaps the best piece on the disc, fdull of colour and movement and all handled with a confidence reminiscent of Xennakis.

"There is not a piece here that isn't both eye-opening and absorbing. Inguz for clarinet and 'cello is an astonishing piece of writing while Voodoo Child uses the soprano voice with innovative brilliance.

"A landmark disc."

--Laurie STRACHAN The Australian

Performers and Production

Ensemble Modern: Dietmar WIESNER flute/piccolo, Catherine MILLIKEN oboe/cor anglais, Roland DIRY clarinet, Wolfgang STRYI alto saxophone, Lorelei DOWLING bassoon/contrabassoon, Franck OLLU horn, Bruce NOCKLES trumpet, Uwe DIRKSEN alto trombone, Graham LEE trombone, Rumi OGAWA-HELFERICH percussion, Márta FÁBIÁN cimbalom, Freya KIRBY and Erika TAKANO violin, Hilary STURT viola, Eva BÖCKER and Michael STIRLING violoncello, Kristin von der GOLTZ baroque cello, Dominique MY and Ingo METZMACHER conductor

Robert PATTERSON, Lyle CHAN and Daryl BUCKLEY executive producers, Daryl BUCKLEY recording producer, Jim ATKINS, Norbert OMMER and Michael HEWES recording engineers, Rex BUTLER, Malcolm GILLIES and Carl ROSMAN liner notes

ABC Classics and ELISION Ensemble gratefully acknowledge the support of the Music Fund of the Australia Council, the Commonwealth of Australia's arts funding and advisory body, Arts Queensland and The University of Queensland. ABC Classics and ELISION Ensemble would like to thank Andreas MOHLICH-ZEBHAUSER (Ensemble Modern), Lyndon and Liz TERRACINI (Northern Rivers Performing Arts), Dr Horst PASTOORS and Monique PHILLIPS (Goethe Institut-Melbourne), Elisabetta ZANATTE and Annamaria MACCI (Ricordi), and Rhana DAVENPORT (Queensland Art Gallery) for their kind assistance in this project.