Stuart Greenbaum (b. 1966)
Life in Light-Years
Piano Sonata No 6, Life in Light Years ((2023)
Georgina Lewis (piano)
rec. 2025, Melbourne, Australia
Salisbury Records SR240125 [70]
One of the aspects of reviewing discs that I enjoy is the opportunity to discover music I have not previously known. This disc has introduced me to the music of Australian Stuart Greenbaum, Professor in Composition at the Conservatorium. He is a prolific composer in all genres and has over 230 works to his name, yet until now I had heard none of it. Through the miracle that is YouTube I have now heard at least some – and a very fine composer he is.
This sonata is part of a large-scale project he set himself at the beginning of this century to write a sonata for all the major orchestral instruments. This one, written for Georgina Lewis, was completed in 2023 and premiered by her at the 2025 Peninsula Summer Music Festival.
The work is structured in nineteen episodes arranged in six uneven parts which play continuously. The composer provides a note for the work which talks about the distance of a Light Year, the fragility of the Earth and the possibility of humans in the future travelling vast distances, which meant nothing to me. Likewise, the sections all have descriptive/poetic titles such as “the emergence of life”, “the wind sweeps through”, and “serenity”. The shortest section is 14 seconds while the longest is just over 6 minutes. Some recur in full, while others are heard as fragments. The titles while undoubtedly descriptive did not speak to me and I could not connect the words to the sounds, so I just listened.
There is much to enjoy. The main sound world may be that of American minimalism – John Adams or David Borden came to mind – but the sections have elements of jazz and popular music, maybe Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett. These stylistic changes catch the listener off guard and there is no room for listening complacency. The surprises make the hour go quickly. I am not going to give a blow-by-blow account of the work but will look at the four sections of Part 2 to give some idea of how the work unfolds.
The opening movement “serenity” (track 3) was one that puzzled me, as it was not particularly serene. Rather, it is a gently buzzy toccata type movement lasting just over three minutes. Ms Lewis does a fine job keeping the pulsing figures in check while interpolating more melodic material. The next section “the world opens up” (track 4) lasting six minutes is funky and upbeat and begins like a children’s song with the pianist muting the strings with one hand. The insistent pattern which seems to be based around the previous movement grows and grows before returning to the muted phrase of the beginning. Muting piano strings with one hand can be quite awkward but here the joins are seamless. Section 5 “the working day” (track 5) is another toccata like movement that owes something to the sound world of “serenity” but is jazzier and has more rapid changes of time signature.
Each of parts 1-5 end with a tiny movement “the wind sweeps through”. Maybe this is Greenbaum’s version of the Promenade movements from Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. They are slightly different from one another and all last about 15 seconds but provide useful transitions.
Other recurring sections are the beginning of Part III “joy (preview)” (track 7) which lasts only twenty-nine seconds but returns as the beginning of Part IV (track 16) developed into an almost three-minute section. Likewise, “waiting for the days to lengthen (preview)” (track 19) unsurprisingly previews the nocturnal track 25. The asymmetrical “hanging in/holding on #1 (track 10) returns slightly changed as track 18.
All these structural points function as aural anchors which give the ears something to recognise over the course of the seventy minutes. This and the stylistic changes make the work seem far shorter than it actually is.
The composer clearly knows his pianist well, as the material is seemingly perfectly suited to her technique. She gives carefully nuanced performances of each movement and makes the stylistic changes seem perfectly natural. The piano sound is captured in rich detail by David Wilkinson.
The cardboard casing while nicely designed has photographs of the composer and pianist which, like the written material, I could not connect in any way to the sound world of the music.
This is an enormously rewarding work that bears repeated listening. It is cleverly structured and it never allows interest to flag. Maybe in a few years I will come to understand the written component but for now I will just continue to listen.
Paul RW Jackson
Availability
Streaming through the major platforms.
