The Australian composer, arranger and pianist Sally Greenaway works in a multiplicity of styles and genres, from orchestral film and concert works to jazz, neo-Baroque and Latin-inflected big band, chamber and solo music, as well as vocal music. Some works are ‘functional’ in the best sense of the word; others are the result of Greenaway’s own irrepressible creative urges. But, as can be heard on this generous selection of music from across her entire career (even her ‘Op 1’, written at the age of 14, is included), the unifying factor is a direct and highly attractive musical language that at times recalls that of other Australian composers, such as Sean O’Boyle or Graeme Koehne, for whom communication is not a dirty word.

One of the most striking qualities of Greenaway’s works for larger ensembles such as Aurora Musis Amica for winds, harp and percussion, The Blue Mountains or Elk Branches is that feeling for landscape which also characterises the music of Peter Sculthorpe or Nigel Westlake, the spacious scoring and meandering melodiousness contributing to a sense of sublime restfulness. By contrast, many of the chamber and solo instrumental pieces here, particularly Dawn of Evening and the Chopinesque Etude in F minor, have a nocturnal, improvisatory quality, an Innigkeit, which complements the mellifluous harmonies and delicate lyrics of a cappella vocal works such as Stay Awhile.

As beautifully performed by Greenaway herself and a host of other musicians as it is packaged, ‘Aubade & Nocturne’ is easy listening at its best and most subtly challenging.