Gondwana Voices is Australia's premier children's choir, with singers coming from every part of the country. Founded by
Lyn Williams in 1997, the group has recorded several CDs and has been a major impetus in the creation of new Australian music for children's choir. The majority of the pieces recorded here are by Australian composers, most of them little known in the west, the most familiar being
Elena Kats-Chernin and
Carl Vine. The works are consistently melodious and are written gratefully for the voice. The two works by
Kats-Chernin, Deep Sea Dreaming and Butterflying, gracefully blend a strong melodic gift with an inventive treatment of the material.
Williams' Festive Alleluia has an exuberant,
Britten-like radiance. The works that aren't a cappella have imaginative, quirky accompaniments by ensembles of varying sizes and compositions, often prominently employing percussion. Especially intriguing is
Michael Atherton's pure and primal-sounding Shall We Dream, accompanied by "whirlies," or "sonars," the tubes that produce the first several notes of the overtone series when they are swung around. The group's young members, between 10 and 16 years old, sing with discipline and a clean blend. Their sound remains strong and warm even into the upper register, never turning shrill. The CD should be of strong interest to anyone who loves children's choirs, and the unusual repertoire gives it even more appeal.