Mess+Noise review of Onliving:

At just 21, Sydney-based composer William Gardiner possesses a talent way beyond his years. His first original composition, Onliving, is a single piece, broken up into four movements, for small ensemble and electronics. And it’s absolutely stunning.

Onliving opens with ‘Reverie’, which is based around a, by turns, playful and menacing string section. Also lurking in the background are piano, clarinet and flute; all of which come into play more and more as the piece progresses. Second movement ‘The Loving Bells’ is a brief piano vignette, lovingly performed by Dappled Cities’ Ned Cooke, which segues directly into ‘Running’. With its lush strings, insistent piano and punctuated bursts of clarinet and flute, the track brings to mind the work of Louisville post-classicists Rachel’s. On final track ‘Return’, a strident string figure is gently but sternly nudged from view by Gardiner’s electronic oscillations, leaving Onliving to dissolve with a quietly inhuman pulse. Though short, there’s a remarkable breadth to this EP; a bright beacon of things to come.

Indeed, on the strength of this release, Gardiner should join the esteemed ranks of composers such as Max Richter, Peter Broderick and Sylvain Chauveau, who have recontextualised classical idioms within avant-garde frameworks without abandoning basic notions of melody and accessibility.

by Adam D Mills

Review from Frans de Waard of Dutch online music magazine Vital Weekly.

WILLIAM GARDINER – ONLIVING (CD, private)
Only twenty-one years old is our William Gardiner, who hails from Australia. He grew up with the music of Bach ‘and others’ and later on discovered the music of Astor Piazzolla, Peteris Vasks, George Crumb and Alfred Schnittke and now tries his hand in composing his own modern classical music. ‘Onliving’ is a four track CDEP with works for a small ensemble of clarinet, piano, cello, violin, flute and electronics, the latter being the department of Gardiner himself. I am not sure if I am the right man to discuss contemporary classical music, since its not my speciality. Having said that its absolutely a beautiful work, this release. It seems to be involving partly composed music, and partly improvised parts. Softly gliding and bending violin tones, mild flutes and piano accompanying this and the electronics sparse and effective. In ‘Reverie’ I thought of some light, joyous Arvo Part, in ‘The Loving Bells’ the minimalism of Steve Reich or Wim Mertens. This is music that we sometimes find on a label like Fat Cat. Very delicate and way too short. (FdW)

Appeared in Issue 690 of Vital Weekly. Also featured in the Vital Weekly Podcast.

Onliving has been reviewed by Cyclic Defrost magazine!

You can see the review here, or read on:

For the sake of all, I hope that the combined arts (music)/law degree that 21 year old William Gardiner is about to complete at the University of Sydney is followed by a decision to pursue a path in the music field rather than the law field! The world doesn’t need another lawyer, but music this good deserves to be followed by more from the composer.

This debut release is a 20 minute suite in four movements for a chamber group consisting of piano, cello, clarinet, violin, flute and Gardiner’s own electronic manipulations. There are discernible influences from across the broad spectrum of the classical tradition, from delicate romanticism through to enigmatic minimalism. The overall mood is gentle, and Gardiner’s compositions stay within traditional melodic and harmonic structures, but ‘The Loving Bells’ hints at some Second Viennese School atonality while ‘Running’ plays with Reichian repetition in its dominant piano. Gardiner’s electronic manipulations are subtle, but most clearly demonstrated in the opening ‘Reverie’ where hi-pitched violin improvisations are given tails of echoes and mild pitch shifting.

The sweep of the composition is beautiful, with motifs slipping in and out across the four pieces and a strong sense of grand sonic movement. Gardiner has orchestrated an excellent collection which, while obviously formative and with influences still clear, marks out an exciting range of territory for him to explore with future work.

Available via WilliamGardiner.com.

Adrian Elmer

Onliving is available for preview and purchase via the music link above.