Search Music:

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION 2010: Stop writing dishonest programme notes.

This work was conceived in the abstract and does not relate to human experience. It does not illustrate the composer’s state of mind, he having suddenly found himself awake in the middle of the night, unable to control his thoughts. While the experience of insomnia, especially when suffered over consecutive nights, can be physically and emotionally crippling, at times the abundance and insistence of multiple streams of unwanted thought (unruly Beta waves) can be, if not pleasurable, then certainly fascinating. This piece does not seek to illustrate this through music, nor does it sonically pose this question: why does the brain seize control of the consciousness and produce such a plethora of unwanted activity that sleep is made impossible and the host becomes miserable?

At times, certain thoughts seem to somehow rise above the melee of insomniac thought and become quite focused and of seeming import, however inane these might seem in the cold light of day. This is not portrayed in the music by infrequent parings-down of texture and emergence of single, insistent motivic ideas. The music doesn’t describe how such thoughts soon get swallowed up as the jumble of thoughts returns and the victim adjusts position once again, glancing desperately at his or her clock radio and resolving hopelessly to try to make yet another attempt at deep breathing and sheep counting work.

The composer could claim that the work is about these things, but that would be a lie; he no longer wishes to construct programme notes after the act of composition that conform to some conceivable extra-musical agenda.

This version of this work is the first of a number of versions, with another swapping cello for viola and another as a solo guitar piece currently projected.

The work was requested by Dylan Lardelli and is dedicated to this increasingly mythic musician.

• Watson, C.: about nothing...really; computer-set 

  Score and parts | Hardcopy - computer set
  
  $21.00
  • • Quantity:

• Watson, C.: about nothing...really; computer-set 

  Score and parts | Pdf - computer set
  
  $21.00
  • • Quantity:

• Watson, C.: about nothing...really; computer-set 

  Full score | Pdf - computer set
  
  $16.00
  • • Quantity:

• Watson, C.: about nothing...really; computer-set 

  Full score | Hardcopy - computer set
  
  $16.00
  • • Quantity:
  • Borrow

• Chris Watson: about nothing...really; video 

  Media on Demand | Embedded
  

• Chris Watson: about nothing...really; video 

  Media on Demand | Embedded
  

• Chris Watson: about nothing... really 

  CD
  

This work is dedicated to Barry Margan, who commissioned it. We collaborated extensively on its inspirations, sonic, literary and metaphysical and he provided the poetic titles of the first and third movements. The title (and that of the second movement) and the garden was full of voices is from a line of Bill Manhire’s: I stayed a minute/and the garden was full of voices.

The garden and its metaphorical voices, songs, chants and echoes come to life in this ritualistic and meditative work, from the tui calls of the first movement, transcribed directly from my garden, to the more abstracted whistles and nocturnal, dreamlike vocalisations of the second and third. A preoccupation with repeated notes throughout sprang from those of the tui which pervaded Auckland this summer.

• Eve de Castro-Robinson: and the garden was full of voices - hardcopy score 

  Full score | Hardcopy - computer set
  
  $20.00
  • • Quantity:
  • Borrow

• Eve de Castro-Robinson: and the garden was full of voices 

  Media on Demand | Embedded
  

• SOUNZtender Concert - 2010 

  DVD
  
  • Borrow

Antonyms of Trust is a poem about water; about how our water is being stolen and degraded, about the many New Zealand rivers with signs saying “do not swim – may cause illness” or the dry riverbeds surrounded by farmland with constantly pumping pivot irrigators. “Once upon a better time, the poor man’s wine flowed beneath our feet and bubbled up between the streets…”

• Adams, C.: Antonyms of Trust; computer-set 

  Full score | Pdf - computer set
  
  $21.50
  • • Quantity:

• Adams, C.: Antonyms of Trust; computer-set 

  Full score | Hardcopy - computer set
  
  $25.50
  • • Quantity:
  • Borrow

• The APO Composers' Workshop 2010 

  CD
  
  • Borrow

A miniature for Clarinet Quartet based on aspects of Baroque dance music.

• Adams, C.: Arianna's Dance; computer-set 

  Score and parts | Pdf - computer set
  
  $15.50
  • • Quantity:

• Adams, C.: Arianna's Dance; computer-set 

  Full score | Hardcopy - computer set
  
  $17.50
  • • Quantity:
  • Borrow

• Adams, C.: Arianna's Dance; computer-set 

  Full score | Pdf - computer set
  
  $14.50
  • • Quantity:

• Adams, C.: Arianna's Dance; computer-set 

  Score and parts | Hardcopy - computer set
  
  $18.50
  • • Quantity:

• Microscore Madness! - the New Zealand Clarinet Quartet 

  CD
  
  • Borrow

• Chris Archer: Aroha - hardcopy score 

  Full score | Hardcopy - computer set
  
  $9.00
  • • Quantity:
  • Borrow
  • Hire

• Chris Archer: Aroha - downloadable PDF 

  Full score | Pdf - computer set
  
  $6.50
  • • Quantity:

• The Jubilate Singers: Southern Landscapes  Year: 2011 

  CD
  
  $30.00
  • • Quantity:
  • Borrow

9 Miniatures based on Art Works in the Wallace Art Collection and on display at the TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre at Pah Homestead in August 2010.

• Chris Adams: Art Miniatures - downloadable PDF 

  Score and parts | Pdf - computer set
  
  $26.00
  • • Quantity:

• Chris Adams: Art Miniatures - hardcopy score & part 

  Score and parts | Hardcopy - computer set
  
  $30.50
  • • Quantity:
  • Borrow

• Chris Adams: Art Miniatures; video 

  Media on Demand | Embedded
  

• Luca Manghi: Quays  Year: 2012 

  CD
  
  $27.00
  • • Quantity:
  • Borrow

On May 25 2010, the New Zealand Parliament passed the Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill, also known as “Three Strikes” legislation, sponsored by David Garrett, the ACT Party, and the Sensible Sentencing Trust, and supported by the National Party, under Prime Minister John Key. The law imposes mandatory maximum sentences on offenders who commit three “Strike” offences, removing judicial discretion. An almost identical bill was passed in California in 1994. California’s crime rate remains 11% above the national average, its prison population has increased to nearly 200,000, and its recidivism rate is the highest in the United States.

• Taylor: Attention:; computer-set 

  Full score | Pdf - computer set
  
  $19.00
  • • Quantity:

• Taylor: Attention:; computer-set 

  Full score | Hardcopy - computer set
  
  $22.50
  • • Quantity:
  • Borrow

• The APO Composers' Workshop 2010 

  CD
  
  • Borrow

Black Sand began as an investigation of possible cello sounds and their variations, which I composed into a solo line using a devised compositional system, balancing initial conscious choices with chance elements. I also utilised an aleatory process to generate material for the rest of the ensemble by treating the possible gestural fragments in a number of categories (dynamics, articulation, instrumental technique, and orchestration). Underpinned by a rotational pitch structure, and due to the severe limitation on pitch and sonority, Black Sand unfolds as a bare and very atmospheric piece.

• Antonia Barnett-McIntosh: Black Sand - hardcopy score & parts 

  Score and parts | Hardcopy - computer set
  
  $40.00
  • • Quantity:
  • Borrow

• Antonia Barnett-McIntosh: Black Sand - downloadable PDF 

  Score and parts | Pdf - computer set
  
  $27.00
  • • Quantity:

• Antonia Barnett-McIntosh: Black Sand; audio 

  Media on Demand | Embedded
  

• Antonia Barnett-McIntosh: Black Sand - downloadable mp3 

  Digital sound file - MP3
  
  $4.50
  • • Quantity:

Bout is inspired by the sport of women’s boxing. In an interview with Canadian boxing pioneer Savoy “Kapow” Howe, I was struck by her detailed demonstration of the inner monologue of a fighter. Melodic and rhythmic material from her words insinuate themselves into the piece, along with referee’s whistles, counts and bells, training routines and the dogged persistence of the fighter.

Bout: A round at fighting; a contest, match, trial of strength, physical or intellectual.

• Palmer: Bout; computer set 

  Score and parts | Pdf - computer set
  
  $26.00
  • • Quantity:

• Palmer: Bout; computer set  

  Score and parts | Hardcopy - computer set
  
  $34.00
  • • Quantity:

• Palmer: Bout; computer set 

  Full score | Hardcopy - computer set
  
  • Borrow

• Juliet Palmer: Bout 

  Digital sound file - MP3
  

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.”

• Cresswell: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra; computer-set 

  Full score | Pdf - computer set
  
  $45.00
  • • Quantity:

• Cresswell: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra; computer-set 

  Full score | Hardcopy - computer set
  
  $53.00
  • • Quantity:
  • Borrow

• Lyell Cresswell: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra 

  CD
  
  • Borrow