Personal night time musings and reflections: Eight Nocturnes from violist and composer Katherine Potter commissioned by ABC Classic

Katherine Potter: Eight Nocturnes; Katherine Potter, Adam Pinto; ABC Classic
Reviewed 27 January 2025

Personal reflection, late night jazz and minimalism along with Potter’s own warmly rhapsodic viola playing all contribute to these eight mellow new pieces for viola and piano 

Katherine Potter is an Australian violist and composer, having trained in both jazz and classical performance, she was a 2006 Australian Chamber Orchestra Emerging Artist. As a composer she has written concert, film and dance music which has been performed in Australia, the US and Canada, and has a predilection for writing new soundtracks for 1920s silent films for the ensemble Viola Dana.

Her most recent composition, Eight Nocturnes, was a commission from ABC Classic as part of the ABC Classic and ABC Jazz Composer Commissioning Fund, and she has recorded them with pianist Adam Pinto. 

Potter’s use of the word nocturne refers to personal night time musings and reflections, with each of the eight having a title and referencing Potter’s life. When you read that the second nocturne, ‘My little milk monkey’ refers to the birth of her son, you realise quite where and why these nocturnal musings have happened.

In her programme note, Potter emphasises that the development of the musical material relies on the abstract elements of melody, harmony and rhythm so that thankfully we do not have to dig too far into autobiographical musings to enjoy the music. Potter’s compositional style is lyrical and melodic, the viola part has a warmth to it as well as the feeling of rhapsodic flowerings over the rich harmonies of the piece. The music is approachable yet never simplistic, and rhythm and harmony can be complex along with introducing more jazz-influenced elements.

‘The View from Here’ is warmly mellow and thoughtful, whilst ‘Little Milk Monkey’ is surprisingly engaging and not as manic as you might have expected. ‘Woman of Three Parts’ is intended to be a portrait of the composer, and it is here that the jazz-influenced elements come to the fore. ‘That Good Night’ refers to Dylan Thomas in its title, but the music is fast-paced with nods towards minimalism and to some American Country styles.

‘The Moon Smiles Down on Me’ seems to take the previous nocturne and slow it right down, the result is thoughtful and somewhat restless. ‘Here We Are’ returns us to Potter’s lyric-rhapsodic style combined with a lovely bluesy number. ‘Wild and Precious’ takes its inspirations from a line from American poet Mary Oliver’s The Summer’s Day, alongside Liszt’s Consolations. The music is, perhaps, not particularly wild but the viola’s rhapsodic explorations over a flowing piano provide onward movement.

We end with ‘In my Dreams’, thoughtful with a sense of the unwinding after the tensions in the other pieces.

There is something lyrically approachable about Potter’s style in these pieces whilst her melodic sense is complemented by a feel for harmony that might seem familiar but is never hackneyed. The eight pieces last just over 26 minutes and anyone mining new repertoire for viola and piano might well consider them.

Katherine Potter: Eight Nocturnes
Katherine Potter (viola)
Adam Pinto (piano)
ABC Classic

The recording is available via the ABC Classic website.