MCL’s Elbow Room concert a ‘superb event’

Melbourne Composers’ League | Elbow Room Concert

October 4, 2025, Church of All Nations, Carlton, VIC

This review covers half of an extensive concert partially reviewed last week by Alan Holley.  See his review here >>  

The Melbourne Composers’ League (MCL) is a non‐profit organisation formed principally to further the interests of composers working within Melbourne and regional Victoria but has expanded to include associate members from interstate. Formed in 1997, the MCL has presented projects of the highest artistic calibre including numerous concerts, several CD releases, and has provided a forum for composers and performers to exchange ideas and enact plans. The Elbow Room series of concerts have been presented since the 1990s, and special mention should be made of composer Howard Dillon who instigated the series, and whose energies and organisational skills were responsible for this latest event. 

A wide variety of excellent works were presented in the beautiful Church of All Nations in Carlton, including audio/visual, electro-acoustic, vocal, and instrumental solo and ensemble works. The concert opened with compositions by Adrian Montana, Ros Bandt and Gary Butler. Jenny Game’s Song Cycle was performed by soprano Justine Anderson, pianist Peter Dumsday, and percussion legend Peter Neville. Based on poems of Emily Dickinson, this charmingly crafted piece moved through various moods and inclinations, enhanced at times by Peter Neville’s skilled use of a violin bow on his vibraphone. Meredith Connie’s Legacy in three movements for solo guitar interestingly featured the composer reading excerpts of poetry and prose to introduce each movement, as well as playing the works. 

Three works stood out as highlights of this event in terms of both compositional quality and performance. These were; Alan Holley’s In Fire Season, Haydn Reeder’s Many Turnings and Colin McKellar’s Beirut Alarms. 

McKellar’s work was energetically and skilfully performed Danae Killian, piano, and Karen Heath, clarinet, enabling the audience to experience a sense of catastrophe and distress as intended by the composer. This work, inspired by news bulletins of a hospital being bombed in Beirut, jumped around time signatures, skipped from duo playing to solos, and evoked the unease felt when hearing the scream of sirens, while simultaneously providing a compelling and fulfilling musical experience.

In Many Turnings, performed by Karen Heath, clarinet; Rosanne Hunt, cello; and Johanna Selleck, flute/piccolo, Haydn Reeder created two movements which took the audience on separate and engrossing excursions through drama, intrigue, and longing. The first movement used the cello as a pivot around which the winds revolved, took sudden turns, and created a sense of excitement and anticipation. The second movement used “points of sound”, points that gradually developed into more legato and long-held notes, suggesting a forlorn and abandoned, yet admirable ambience, ending a satisfying and expertly performed piece.

Alan Holley’s In Fire Season is a work which draws its musical and philosophical impetus from the catastrophic bushfires in eastern Australia from late 2019 to early 2020. Johanna Selleck on alto flute, Peter Sheridan on bass flute, and Kevin Tamanini on piano, brought life to this exquisite work through both the sheer elegance of their playing and the masterful command of their instruments. This work started with a slow, soft lyric section using the flutes to dance around a static and dark piano part, and gradually lifted its intensity, utilising increased dynamics and dissonance to transition to sections using shorter motifs, rapidly played phrases, and faster dynamic changes. The work successfully conjured a sense of lament and incomprehension at government inaction that leads to country becoming more fire-prone. At the end of a jolting yet rewarding musical voyage, the work returned to the softer, lyrical qualities heard at its start, bringing to listeners a sense of optimism and satisfaction. 

Overall, this was a concert full of contrasts and variety. Congratulations to the MCL and all involved in presenting this superb event.