"Forget what you have heard about modern composition/art music being a tuneless music, this is music bursting with life: joyous, demanding, exploratory, perplexing, occasionally irritating and phenomenally generous in its rewards. "

- Martin Osborne of the Capital Times reviewing 175 East in Wellington, August 2006

• online reviews

William Dart's NZ Herald review of the 14 May 2011 concert at Auckland's Michael Lett Gallery

"Just over a year ago, James Gardner relinquished the reins of 175 East, one of the country's premier contemporary music ensembles, which he had founded in 1996. On Saturday, 175 East rose again, phoenix-like, thanks to the energies of a new director, Samuel Holloway, conductor Hamish McKeich and its half-dozen steadfast musicians. ..."

William Dart's NZ Herald review of the April 2010 concert in Auckland

"The distinguished Elliott Carter receives few performances in this part of the world and, while we wait for one of the American's orchestra works to turn up in our concert halls, 175 East opened its Sunday concert with his 2001 Hiyoki for two clarinets..."


William Dart's NZ Herald review of 2009

"175 East's only event for the year frustratingly clashed with Zukerman and James Judd's transcendent Elgar evening. After hearing a recording of the concert, I have every confidence to recommend that new music enthusiasts should watch out for Radio New Zealand's broadcast of the programme next year."


Samuel Holloway's Lumiere review, Auckland, August 2009

"175 East is an unusually constituted ensemble, with an emphasis on the bottom end. It’s an idiosyncratic combination of flute, clarinet, cello, double bass, bass clarinet and trombone that has, for over ten years, performed some of the most interesting ‘new music for old instruments’. Their recent Auckland concert (repeated in Wellington) proved no exception".


William Dart's NZ Herald preview of 175 East concerts in October 2008

"Tomorrow evening Auckland concertgoers can catch some of the hottest and coolest sounds around town when 175 East takes the stage at The Basement. "This is one of the most adventuresome programmes we've done," says group director Jim Gardner, pointing to three guest musicians who are aces in their fields - guitarist/composer Dylan Lardelli, violinist Johnny Chang and clarinetist Richard Haynesm an Australian "so busy you never know what continent he is on"..."


...and William Dart's NZ Herald review of the same

"James Gardner's crack contemporary ensemble, 175 East, launched its Sunday concert with an act of musical alchemy as the ever-resourceful Andrew Uren channelled a drum kit through bass clarinet in Patrick Shepherd's punchy solo, Lick..."


William Dart's review of concerts in April 2008

"These days the contemporary ensemble 175 East does its thing under a catchy byline, "Organised Sound from Organised Labour" - a phrase that evokes the committed camaraderie of collectives from the WPA projects of 1930s America to Cornelius Cardew's Scratch Orchestra of the 70s. James Gardner and his 175 East musicians have the same dedication to their brand of music, making their first Auckland appearance for some time at The Basement..."


William Dart's review of May 2007 concerts

"Richard Haynes opened 175 East's The Sleep of Reason concert with a fierce, virtuosic rendition of Aaron Cassidy's asphyxia, his soprano saxophone scrambling, diving and looping in waves of insinuating melody...It was a template for much that was to follow during the evening..."


William Dart's NZ Herald review, Auckland, 29/6/04

"It is frustrating to wait until late June for the first concert of 175 East's 2004 season, but Sunday night's programme was ample reward for the patient. With an ensemble of up to eight players, director James Gardner presented the usual sampling of sounds from the cutting edge".


William Dart's NZ Herald review of the (09)03 Contemporary Music Festival, Auckland, 29/10/2003

"Fittingly, the final music came from 175 East, ranging from a translucent account of Liza Lim's Ming Qi to a collection of student compositions that had been successful in the group's annual KBB Competition".


William Dart's NZ Herald review, Auckland, 18/5/03

"It's been far too long since the last 175 East concert, and Sunday night's programme must go down as one of their strongest offerings to date".


William Dart's NZ Herald review, Auckland, 30/10/02

"For six years 175 East have been turning us on to the rush of the new in their concerts of contemporary music. Their final offering of the year turned out to be one of the very best".


William Dart's NZ Herald feature from 13/5/02

"They've lounged around on tatty sofas staging John Cage, conscripted cups and saucers for a piece by Michael Finnissy and, on Sunday, the musicians of 175 East will wear headphones so they can keep up with a click track for Mort Subite, a work by British composer Brian Ferneyhough, named after a Belgian beer."


Peter Mechen's review, October 2002

"An exhilarating, holistic experience - 175 East's musicians made Newtown's atmospheric "The Space" their own for an evening, presenting a programme of mostly New Zealand compositions with occasional ambient assistance from both John Cage and passing ambulances/fire engines.


Peter Mechen's review, June 2001

"An exhilarating and visceral-sounding affair, this concert by 175 East - when encountering music-making of such energy and sharply-defined focus in a physical space with the kind of intimacy of this venue (the Adam Concert Room), one couldn’t help but get involved [...] Credit, then, to 175 East, for once again bringing their flagship of new music performance to the capital, for our pleasure."


Peter Mechen's review of Sonic Broom - see down page for 175 East, August 2000

"I enjoyed Chris Cree Brown's Duo (1996) for its nature evocations and its aural theatricality placed at the service of a real sense of narrative, Dorothy Ker's subtly-etched Water Mountain (1999) with its dream-like ritualistic processionals and meditative stillnesses, Laurence Crane's essays in static tonality See Our Lake (1999), two movements of untroubled, hypnotic quiescence, and James Gardner's some other plots for Babel (1999-2000) whose volatile narrative impulse swept this listener through different and contradictory phases of a deconstructionist scenario".

• other media comments

"175 East drew a small but loyal audience to its first Auckland show for some time at Hopetoun
Alpha, writes music critic William Dart. On the international front, he found most impressive
Christian Wolff's 1978 Braverman Music. With its crisscrossing chorales and toccatas, here was
the missing link between Bach and Charlie Haden, written and played with a touch of left-wing
fervour.

Locally, Helen Bowater's declination 0 retained a certain mystery, with Bowater proving herself a
veritable sculptor in sound. Her implacable rising and falling wave/phrases were moulded to the last rivulet, scrupulously finessed by Hamish McKeich and his six players.

The concert was recorded for future broadcast on Concert FM."

- NZ Herald 5 October 2005

"175 East is fiercely committed to contemporary music. Gardner and his team open up new sound worlds with professional flair".

- The NZ Listener, June 2001

"...for the consistently contemporary, 175 East's Hopetoun Alpha series has been indispensable - these musicians stage Cage, run competitions for teenage composers and even slip in a few major and minor chords when you're not expecting them. They play the sort of music that you'd read about in the New Zealand equivalent of Village Voice, if we had such a paper".

- The NZ Listener "Best of 2000", December 2000

• overseas opinions

"the performance of ...above earth's shadow is FANTASTIC - totally alive to the spirit, nuance and tension of the piece. Thank you!"

"The performance [of Marrngu] is EXCELLENT, fierce, sinister, feline in quality".

- Michael Finnissy (English composer)

"WOW! What a stellar performance! [of <crush> diversion] [...] what a super super performance! Thanks so much! Can I use more exclamation points??!!!!! [...] I really feel the result is stunning".

- Nicholas Chase (US composer)

"I'm completely overwhelmed by the truly excellent performances of both my pieces; they are beautifully played".

- Laurence Crane (English composer)

"Please tell Ingrid and Andrew that I've heard this piece played by four different duos, but THEIRS IS THE BEST PERFORMANCE [Con L'Antico Canto] EVER HAD".

- Alessandro Solbiati (Italian composer)

"Thank you VERY much for the performances and recordings - I'm blown away really! It is one of those (series of) performances where it is exactly what I had in mind. You've really captured the energy and spirit of the piece [511 Possible Mosaics]"

- James Saunders (English composer)

"Fabulous playing, wonderful performances. Congratulations to all concerned! The performance [of stone.wind.rain.sun1] is especially fine - definitive even".

- Christopher Fox (English composer)

"[I'm] absolutely delighted with the results. [Davy Jones' Locker] really has developed into music now and the speeds felt very good; the playing as ever was excellent and very detailed."

- Marc Yeats (English composer)

• historic flyers - click for full-size images

April 2009 - programme


13/08/2009 - programme


29/03/08


17/11/07


4/5/07


19/8/06


9/10/05


5/9/99


25/7/99


29/9/98


19/4/98


26/6/97


27/4/97