Adam Simmons - The Usefulness of Art 2017-2018

This 5CD collection features the five large-scale projects created by melbourne based composer and multi-instrumentalist, Adam Simmons.

concerts included -
March 2017 - Concerto for Piano and Toy Band
Performed by Adam Simmons Creative Music Ensemble
with Michael Kieran Harvey

August 2017 - The Usefulness of Art
Performed by Adam Simmons Creative Music Ensemble

Dec 3-6 - 2017 - Travelling Tales
Performed by Adam Simmons
with Arcko Symphonic Ensemble

2018 -
Adam Simmons Creative Music Ensemble with
May 3-6 - Afrolankan Drumming System (Ray Pereira, Kanchana Karunaratna)
July 26-29 - Wang Zheng-Ting

Review  - 5 Stars

The breadth of music matches the scale of ambition. These five albums of scintillating creativity dig deep into the oeuvre of brilliant Melbourne composer/multi-instrumentalist Adam Simmons, beginning with Concerto for Piano and Toy Band, a dense, giddy conversation between pianist Michael Kieran Harvey and the eight-piece Adam Simmons Creative Music Ensemble (CME).

The second disc is a suite bearing the album's title (played by a 15-piece CME), which, alongside its intense beauty of melody and improvisation, carries dialogues between startling fluctuations of sheer mass, from the leader's spectral bass clarinet to avalanches of ensemble sound. The scale of ambition only grows when Travellers Tales places Simmons' assorted reeds (including his mighty tenor) against a heady, edgy composition for 20-piece string orchestra.

The Calling couldn't be more different, with a 14-piece CME containing no less than six drummers and percussionists, among whom Ray Pereira features prominently. Finally a 12-piece CME performs the sometimes meditative, sometimes exotic The Kites of Tianjin​. The usefulness of art? Sparked by a Rodin​ quote, Simmons lists such effects as empathy, generosity and compassion. Amen.

John Shand  - Sydney Morning Herald 30/3/2109