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Gillian Whitehead  

Pao

Duration: 16' 00" Year: 1981
for mezzo-soprano, piano and clarinet

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  • Programme Note

    ‘Pao’ is the name given by Maori to two-lined epigrammatic songs which comment on a wide range of subjects such as love, war, politics or religion; often topical, often improvised. Most of the songs set here were collected in 1864 from Maori prisoners captured during the the land wars in the Waikato area south of Auckland. The couplets are not connected in any way except for the central group, for unaccompanied voice, concerning Pikeri, a character famous at the time for his escapades evading the police; in this instance, enforced separation during a love affair is charted.

    The English translations of these pao are used with the kind permission of the late Margaret Orbell, and come from her Maori Poetry, an introductory anthology (Heinemann, 1978).

    Pao was commissioned by the Northumberland-based Syrinx Trio, with financial assistance from Northern Arts; the first performance was given by Syrinx in Newcastle in 1981.

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David Hamilton  

Prayer of a Woman

Duration: 06' 00" Year: 2009
for solo voices, SSAA choir, 2 horns and harp

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  • Programme Note

    This setting joins several other works of mine which make use of the poetry of New Zealand poet Robin Hyde, including Paraha for choir brass and organ (1990), Meditation on ‘The Bronze Rider’ for carillon (1990), Road’s End for SSAA choir (1993) and Tryst for choir and jazz trio (1997). Robin Hyde was the pen-name of Iris Guiver Wilkinson (1906-1939). During her brief life she worked as a journalist, novelist and poet, making her living from writing – something very unusual for a woman in those days. She was constantly dogged by ill-health, and after an ill-fated visit to China in 1938 travelled on to England where depression and illness overcame her. She committed suicide the following year.

    Prayer of a Woman is a relatively late poem, dating from the last couple of years of Hyde’s life.

    This work was written for Mirinesse Women’s Choir of Seattle in the USA, and is dedicated to the choir and conductor Rebecca Rottsolk. The unusual scoring was prompted by the Brahms choral piece for the same forces being programmed.

    David Hamilton

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David Hamilton  

Three Robin Hyde Impressions

 Year: 1993
for SATB choir and piano

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