I fully surrendered to this stream of music, created only in the Anglo-Saxon world and its postcolonial and immigrant mix of cultures that absorbed Zen, LSD experiences, poetry and prose, beatnikov, Indian music, late John Coltrane and many more.Robert Kolář, Music of Today #25, Bratislava, 16/10/18
abstract "music of the telephone poles" that La Monte Young once dreamed of...Robert Kolář, Music of Today #25, Bratislava, 16/10/18
Smart sits at the piano as a necromancer, making magic happen.Australian Stage
… a supreme lightness of touchAustralian Stage
Smart’s performance was mesmerising… The West Australian
… intensely focused pianism…The Advertiser
… sheer poetry… an enlightening glimpse into the rarefied realm of contemporary art music.The Australian
…Smart’s programming, with its strong 20th century focus, is often adventurous, always considered and presented with a sense of style.The Advertiser
…Six performers from Soundstream Contemporary Music Ensemble gave a mesmerising performance of Australian works in front of some one hundred people at the Dunstan Playhouse as part of Adelaide's OzAsia Festival. Apart from the top-class playing, this event, masterminded by pianist Gabriella Smart, was also a fine example of how intelligent programming and presentation can keep the listener engaged through a program of introspective contemporary works.Australian Music Centre
…Smart is… dedicated to the two-fold task of communicating the essence of contemporary music and revealing the unique qualities of individual composers… An enlightening glimpse into the rarefied realm of contemporary music.The Australian
There was a quiet brooding grandeur in her performance that, by stages, built to accentuate the sonata’s (Carl Vine Sonata No 1) terrific, culminating muscular strength…. Carl Vine’s mightily challenging First Piano Sonata, a landmark Australian composition, has a way of fairly pounding its way down one’s ear canal; but Smart is a sensitive player whose warm, tactile feel makes even this work a relatively easy, pleasant passage.The Adelaide Review
Smart’s subtlety leaves an indelible mark…The Independent
…the fearless Gabriella Smart pounding, caressing and cajoling beautiful and extraordinary sounds from the piano… (Alvin Curran, for Cornelius)The Australian
the Polglase (Quiet this Metal) stood out from the crowd. It’s a tough display piece, but one that gives the bravura a sense of purpose.The Age
To finish, Smart played Five Bagatelles by Carl Vine, including the Threnody for the Victims of Aids. …this piece made the recital unforgettable.The Australian
…a formidable executant, with apparently unstressable stainless steel wrists… The Advertiser
…Chinese Whispers (is infused) with new meanings of rich strangeness.Real Time Magazine
…serenity and simplicity, silence and sound, melancholy and movement, dreams and dances, elegy and the expression of grief. …Smart, a specialist in contemporary music, is sensitive to the subtle shifts in feeling, colour and atmosphere between each piece…I highly recommend this CD for an evocative journey into exotic and emotion-filled landscapes, through the medium of contemporary dance.Fine Music (2MBS)
It is hard not to get too excited about this record. I can’t help but feel that Smart has discovered a true prism through which to view contemporary, and particularly Asian and Australian music.Patrick Holland
Since its inception in 1996, Gabriella Smart’s Soundstream has been one of the small institutions that ensures the vitality of this city’s musical fabric. Her programming, with its strong 20th century focus, is often adventurous, always considered and presented with a sense of style. The first of Soundstream’s two-concert cathedral series filled St Peter’s resonant ambience with an eloquent, deeply engrossing journey…The Advertiser
Since its inception in 1996, Gabriella Smart’s Soundstream has been one of the small institutions that ensures the vitality of this city’s musical fabric. Her programming, with its strong 20th century focus, is often adventurous, always considered and presented with a sense of style. The first of Soundstream’s two-concert cathedral series filled St Peter’s resonant ambience with an eloquent, deeply engrossing journey…The Advertiser
Making a triumphant return to the stage is pianist’s Gabriella Smart’s Soundstream…It’s more than a return though, more like a full-tilt repositioning of her ensemble at the top end of our chamber music scene…. the performances were magnificent: intense, concentrated, and superbly finished.The Adelaide Review
In a sustained demonstration of expressive and technical stamina, Smart’s intensely focused pianism was complemented by clarinettist Darren Skelton and cellist Sue-Ellen Paulsen.The Advertiser