Lloyd Van't Hoff and Lisa Moore's New Album 'My Place' Released on ABC Classic
Following their triumphant collaboration at the 2023 Sydney Festival, multifaceted keyboardist Lisa Moore and virtuoso clarinetist Lloyd Van't Hoff (Head of Woodwinds at the Elder Conservatorium of Music) have joined forces to form Crux Duo, a musical project exploring new works alongside traditional and modern classics. Their debut album My Place brings together music from Australia and America, including six world-premiere recordings plus Leonard Bernstein's beloved Clarinet Sonata.
'Having both lived "away from home" for extended periods,' says Lisa, 'we share a unique kinship and plurality of vision, through a mutual need to find a home in unfamiliar places.' The cross-continental Australian-born duo has performed its diverse and powerful programs in both the USA and Australia: 'The album illuminates a personal sense of belonging, identity, and our universal search for a voice,' says Lloyd.
The album also celebrates the pair's collaboration and closeness with contemporary composers, with almost all the music either written for them, or arranged by the composers for Crux Duo's distinctive combination of tone colours and for the expressive warmth and vitality of their playing: Nick Russoniello's soaring, birdsong-inspired Dawn Searching, the bittersweet melancholy of Anne Cawrse's Since I Lost You and My Prime of Youth, Elena Kats-Chernin's irresistibly nostalgic Russian Rag and the aching longing of Martin Bresnick's Mayn Rue Plats (My Resting Place). From Brisbane-based Erik Griswold comes a brand new, almost surreal take on the familiar melody Danny Boy, featuring Lisa Moore in the unusual role of vocalising pianist. And US rising star Harriet Steinke drew her inspiration from the tenderness of Crux Duo's sound to create the five-movement suite Rituals.
The album closes with the youthful energy of Leonard Bernstein's Sonata for Clarinet and Piano – his first published work, and an audience favourite around the world. Just 23 years old when he wrote it, Bernstein was already blending high art with popular culture, embracing both melodic elegance and the seductive rhythms of jazz.
About the Artists
New York-based Australian pianist Lisa Moore has been singled out by the New York Times for the 'life and freshness' of her playing, and its 'fragility and tenderness'. Described as 'visionary' and 'New York's queen of the avant-garde piano' by The New Yorker, she's been praised by Pitchfork as 'the best kind of contemporary classical musician, one so fearsomely game that she inspires composers to offer her their most wildly unplayable ideas.' Blessed with a special passion for the music of our time, she won the silver medal in the 1981 Carnegie Hall International American Music Competition, and has performed hundreds of commissioned works and world premieres, having worked with more than 200 living composers while residing in the vibrant new music scene of New York City since 1985.
Clarinetist Lloyd Van't Hoff came to prominence as the winner of the 2015 Symphony Australia ABC Young Performers Awards; he has given recitals at the Sydney Opera House and City Recital Hall in Sydney, the Melbourne Recital Centre, Elder Hall in Adelaide and New York's Carnegie Hall, as well as appearing at festivals in China, Switzerland, Austria, Canada, Germany and the USA. He has been lauded for his 'life-affirming music making' (Limelight magazine) and his 'spectacular brilliance, charisma and sensitivity' (The Mercury). His 2021 solo album of music by Brahms was described as 'interpretations that live in the memory for their verve and deep musicianship.'
Tracklist
Harriet Steinke
Rituals*
1. I. Practice
2. II. Chorale
3. III. Canons
4. IV. More Canons
5. V. Requiem
Nick Russoniello
6. Dawn Searching (arr. for solo clarinet by Lloyd Van't Hoff)*
Anne Cawrse
7. Since I Lost You*
8. My Prime of Youth*
Erik Griswold
9. Danny Boy adrift in the rising tide for vocalising pianist*
Elena Kats-Chernin
10. Russian Rag*
Martin Bresnick
11. Mayn Rue Plats (My Resting Place)*
Leonard Bernstein
Sonata for Clarinet and Piano
12. I. Grazioso
13. II. Andantino – Vivace e leggiero
* World premiere recording
Total Playing Time 65'22
Lloyd Van't Hoff clarinet
Lisa Moore piano and voice [track 9]
