On track: Feat worthy of an Olympian

A new release from Rattle Records brings John Psathas' Fever to those who have yet to experience it in the concert hall.

The same small'n'savvy Auckland company who gave us the Wellington composer's Rhythm Spike album now have the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra play some of the man's big scores.

Big in forces required, ambition displayed ... and decibels produced.

There are moments in View from Olympus, where the frenzy of the wine-crazed Maenads seems to know no bounds. Balancing these, American saxophonist Joshua Redman blows it cool and velvety in Omnifenix, Psathas' first Saxophone concerto.

But even here, when the tempo picks up, expertly propelled by the biggest band in the land under Marc Taddei, the delirium is such that even Lance Philips' drumkit cadenza seems an oasis of measured calm.

The colours in View from Olympus spill and radiate from the first page where Michael Houstoun's piano and Pedro Carneiro's xylophone twinkle in a Stravinskian grotto.

The reverberant slow movement, dedicated to the composer's children, is a shimmering wonder; a three-minute encore, Fragments like a jazzy tribute to a Satie Gnossienne.

Three Psalms is the Piano Concerto written specifically for Houstoun, but premiered in 2004 without him when the pianist was out of action with focal dystonia.

This work was cataclysmic enough three years ago in the town hall, but on disc it launches with a blast of what sounds like a wild Greek rumba, and departs with the tingle of an ice-and-steel Toccata. The recording does every shift of mood and sound the fullest justice.

In the absence of programme notes in the booklet, some but not all of the questions are answered on the accompanying DVD.

It is here that Rattle director and film-maker Keith Hill has fashioned a series of documentaries to guide us around the pieces, subtly engaging with the music.

Redman talks eminent sense and praises our coffee; Houstoun enthuses as I have never seen him do before, describing how audiences have "gone bananas" over Olympus.

Psathas himself is more cautious, but his down-to-earth sincerity is the perfect complement to the music that makes this an indispensable local release.

* John Psathas, View from Olympus (Rattle DVD 15, special CD plus DVD package, $39.95)