Five Tales of Human Endeavour (2005)
(for Solo Guitar)

“This album brings together two impressive Australian musical talents: composer Stuart Greenbaum and guitarist Ken Murray. Greenbaum is an award-winning composer whose ever-expanding body of work is heard around Australia and internationally. He has written operas, symphonies and concertos, but here he focuses on the intimate sound world of the solo guitar, with a series of evocative musical landscapes that take us from the bustle of suburban train stations to the loneliness of the endlessly open sea, from historical battlefields to the ‘Thin Blue Line’ of the album’s title track: Earth’s ozone layer as seen from space.”

“Five Tales of Human Endeavour (2005) is a suite of miniatures. These pieces are intriguing, largely because of the choice of subject that inspired each one, as described in the liner notes: “yellow canary”, referring to the canary in the coal mine, is sweet, enthralling, quizzical; “eleven months at sea” is somewhat desolate and bleak, depicting the journey of a solo sailor as he wends his lonely way into the distance; “light, sweet, crude” refers to a type of petroleum – a strange inspiration for a piece of music, yet under the overall title of this set as “tales of human endeavour”, it is quite logical; “into the forest” is a brisk portrayal of soldiers from both sides of the American Civil War as they escape into the woods to avoid battle; “the thin blue line” is a description of the earth’s ozone layer as seen from space and gives rise to the CD’s title and cover image. These interesting, subtle and varied pieces receive expressive interpretations from the virtuosic Murray.”

“But within the narrow confines of Greenbaum’s language he works ideas and original thoughts. So, Five Tales of Human Endeavour is an eclectic mix of miniatures. The ‘Yellow Canary’ which (used to) risk its life down caves for the sake of miners, ‘Eleven months at Sea’ remembering the endurance of one Jesse Martin with its almost boring harmonic repetition. ‘Light, Sweet Crude’ refers apparently to crude oil and by implication those that mine it. ‘Into the Forest’ recalls the bravery (or cowardice) of 390.000 soldiers who deserted during the American war of Independence. And ‘The Thin Blue Line’ a title which gives the CD its name, is not the TV programme starring Rowan Atkinson of twenty years ago but a reference to the ozone layer, a material hero which keeps dangerous layers of sunlight away from the earth’s atmosphere. However, how far all of these are actually human I’m not fully sure.”