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JOHN PSATHAS/NZSO/MARK TADDEI: View From Olympus

Our composer du jour has really done it this time. Psathas is a composer who seems to have listened to everyone from Ketelbey to Keith Jarrett, and is totally confident of his ability to create a new orchestral music. The compositions here are diverse, unclassifiable and fragmented, yet utterly organic. Engaged by the kinetic drive of Psathas' rhythms, classical listeners have taken to the results with enthusiasm. This album has been at the top of the classical charts for some weeks (an achievement indeed, given that there are times where the music is undeniably jazz-fusion) and warrants an even wider audience. There's an unsung hero here too, Wellington drummer Lance Philip, whose playing on the opening Omnifenix (including a solo that sets the excitement benchmark for the whole album) shows he belongs right up there with Psathas' featured guest artists. They include American jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman, Portugese percussionist Pedro Carneiro (featured on the three-movement title track), and NZ pianist Michael Houstoun who contributes a Satie-like encore to View From Olympus and some real keyboard muscle elsewhere. Superbly played by the NZSO under Marc Taddei and, despite its complexity, recorded with perfect clarity by Steve Garden for Rattle Records, including a very good 'making of' DVD.

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