Randy Newman kicked off his two-week tour of Australia Friday night in a one-night-only performance with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra at the QPAC Concert Hall in Brisbane. The show was part of this month's Queensland Music Festival and was the first stop on Newman's five-concert Australian tour of performances backed by a full orchestra.

While some such orchestral partnerships may not succeed, this one was "a really successful example," assures The Australian's Gillian Wills. "The arrangements for the songs in the playlist are well orchestrated with opportunities for all to shine."

As Wills explains, "Everyone is swept along by Newman's charm. It's as if you are in the company of a good friend who happens to be exceptionally talented and wants to run through some of his songs." She concludes: "This was live performance at its best, spontaneous and heartfelt, with one of America's greatest songwriters at the helm."

Read the complete concert review at theaustralian.com.au.

The Brisbane Times gives the concert five stars, calling it "a night of perfect tone." Reviewer Dan Nancarrow explains: "Forever cracking wise jokes, Newman’s dry wit made the Brisbane South Bank venue feel far more intimate than what you'd expect in a concert stage packed with a prestigious symphony orchestra." Read the review at brisbanetimes.com.au.

As concertgoer Ian Creamer commented in the Nonesuch Journal, Friday's tour-opening concert "lived up to expectations. I never doubted it would. What I didn't anticipate was that Newman would follow me home, be with me in the morning and still be playing in my head 24 hours later. So much more than a great composer and songwriter." Read more here.

Newman is also the subject of a feature article in The Age. In advance of this coming weekend's two concerts with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at Melbourne's State Theatre, the paper's Michael Dwyer talks with Newman and examines the appeal of his particular brand of songwriting.

"For more than 40 years, his hallowed name has comprised a two-word rebuttal to the clueless cliche that 'Americans don't get irony," writes Dwyer. "His style carries an affectionate continuity with the solid, irony-free traditions of American songcraft. As wry as he is lyrically, his piano-led chord cycles often fall faithfully behind Stephen Foster and Irving Berlin."

Read the article at theage.com.au.
 
Following the Melbourne concerts, Newman performs two shows with the Sydney Symphony at the Sydney Opera House. For more information, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour. To pick up a copy of Randy Newman's latest Nonesuch release, his Songbook Vol. 2, head to the Nonesuch Store, where orders include high-quality, 320 kbps MP3s of the album at checkout.