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Jack Body  

Alley

Duration: 1h 30' 00" Year: 1997
an opera in two acts based on the life of Rewi Alley

Helen Fisher  

Bone of Contention

Duration: 1h 20' 00" Year: 1993
a dance work for mezzo-soprano and ensemble

Lyell Cresswell  

Cello Concerto

Duration: 30' 00" Year: 1984
for cello and orchestra

  • Instrumentation
    3+pc,3+ca,3+bs-cl,3+c-bn; 4331;3perc,timp,hp;strs and solo cello.
  • Programme Note

    An essay in tension between soloist and orchestra. In the first movement long cello solos are contrasted with outbursts from the orchestra; in the second movement cello and orchestra merge – the cello sound coloured by various doublings; and the last movement is a moto perpetuo again contrasting soloist with orchestra. Premiered by cellist Alexander Baillie, conducted by Matthias Bamert and the Scottish National Orchestra.

  • Availability

Christopher Blake  

Concerto Aoraki

Duration: 38' 00"
concerto for violin and orchestra

Lyell Cresswell  

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra

Duration: 30' 00" Year: 2010
for piano and orchestra

  • Programme Note

    The composer writes: "Movements 3, 4, 5 and 6 were written before Edward (Harper) died, but he was already ill with cancer and the whole concerto was written under the shadow of this.

    The first movement, Funeral March, opens with a sequence of low six-note chords in the piano. These chords provide the basis for the complete concerto and are treated in various contrasting ways in each movement. The orchestra becomes an extension of the piano, sustaining these chords and taking them where the piano can’t go. The concerto is not a confrontation between soloist and orchestra – the piano is more like another section of the orchestra. A slow throbbing, but varying, pulse runs through the Funeral March – first in the harp, sometimes the timpani, sometimes pizzicato and, at the climax, with brass and woodwind. In the following tranquil Adagio the six-note chords are turned into serene melodic lines with quiet sustained chords in the strings. The first scherzo is short, fast and restless. The central movement, Addolorato (distressed, grieved, upset), is, in turn, slow and reflective (in the piano), and querulous and disturbing (in the orchestra), posing questions rather than offering solutions. The second scherzo is fast, light and fleeting – with a hushed centre. The second Adagio is composed of slow, unsettled and quiet chords leading to an angry outburst at the climax, and the pace in the final presto is only interrupted briefly with some reference to Adagio 1."

    Extract from a review by Michael Tumelty for “The Herald” in Scotland, 19 March 2012.: “Stars of the night were Lyell Cresswell, for his volcanic, volatile Piano Concerto, and pianist Stephen de Pledge for his powerhouse delivery, with its sledgehammer force and shockingly steel-like clarity in the poignant, reflective moments in the music.”

  • Availability

Juliet Palmer  

Flotsam and Jetsam

Duration: 50' 00" Year: 1999
an interdisciplinary performance for mezzo soprano, piano, and dancer

Michelle Scullion  

Foreign Bodies

Duration: 57' 00" Year: 1995
a dance musical

Christopher Prosser  

Four Meditations

Duration: 43' 33" Year: 1991
scordatura violin and Indian tanpura

John Rimmer  

Galileo

Duration: 1h 30' 00" Year: 1998
a chamber opera using for 6 singers, small chorus and 8 players, also using electroacoustic music and DVD of visuals

  • Instrumentation
    Television newsreader (spoken voice), Nobelman (baritone), Castelli (tenor), Galileo (baritone), Boy/Angel (mezzo soprano), Three Priests (tenor/baritones), Heretic (baritone), Christina (soprano), Military Man (baritone), Sea Captain (baritone), Troubadour (mezzo soprano), Cardinal Bellarmino (tenor), Pope Urban VIII (bass baritone), Pope John Paul II (baritone), small chorus of townspeople; flute doubling piccolo, oboe, clarinet doubling bass clarinet, horn, piano, percussion, violin and cello. Electroacoustic music played through at least eight loudspeakers. DVD of visuals.
  • Availability

Gillian Whitehead  

Hotspur

Duration: 35' 00" Year: 1980
for mezzo soprano and chamber ensemble

  • Instrumentation
    clarinet, clarinet/bass-clarinet, violin/viola, cello, percussion (marimba, 9 drums in high to low sequence, drum of fluctuating pitch, bass drum, 5 suspended cymbals, ching - Thai finger cymbals, bell tree, rasp, 2 woodblocks, 3 temple blocks, wood chimes)
  • Programme Note

    This monodrama for mezzo soprano and chamber sextet, commissioned by Northern Arts UK, tells of the 14th century North of England warrior Henry Percy (Hotspur), seen through the eyes of Elizabeth Mortimer, in a striking ballad sequence written by Fleur Adcock.

    Whitehead’s imaginative score combines exotic and arresting instrumental colours, a strong dramatic vocal line (often with flamboyant flourishes) and an admirable overall conception of the mood changes and tonal graduation of the work. (William Dart, NZ Listener)

    She has the rare gift of knowing when to us nightmarish vehemences and when to be utterly straightforward and calm. (Roger Covell, Sydney Morning Herald).

  • Availability