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3343, 3310, harp, timp., 3 perc., strings, mezzo-soprano

In 1909 Alice Adcock, a lively and adventurous young woman from Manchester, was on her way to New Zealand. She was 23, and had recently developed TB, for which there was then no cure. Somehow she persuaded her widowed father to let her travel alone to the other side of the world in case a healthy climate would save her life. (It worked – she lived for another 50 years). The family kept her entertaining letter describing shipboard life, and a few postcards from her have also survived, but most of what we know about her time in New Zealand comes from her father’s letters to her, of which he kept copies, or from family tradition. On her arrival in New Zealand, Alice went into service, travelling widely, much to the consternation of her father. As housekeeper (and the only woman) on a farm in Makarora (a remote settlement on Lake Wanaka) she became pregnant to an unknown man, but was ‘rescued’ by marriage to a local farmer, Charles Pipson, shortly before the birth of her daughter. In 1911, her beloved father died; in 1912, Alice and Charles had a son and the following year, pregnant again, Alice took her children back to England to visit her family. Tragically, while she was away, her husband died suddenly of typhoid fever. Alice hurried back to Makarora to claim her inheritance, but left the two babies with her brother Sam and his wife (who were shortly to emigrate to New Zealand) and took only her eldest child, the illegitimate one, with her. This outraged her sisters-in-law, who saw it as an insult to their dead brother; they sent her away from the farm empty-handed. Once again she had to take a housekeeping job, this time in the North Island. In 1914, Alice and her brother’s family met up again, and Alice began a new life. (Fleur Adcock – abridged) The music of Alice is text-driven, ranging between a language at times extremely simple, as was the basic musical language of the settlers, and at times quite complex, evoking a storm at sea, or the unease of the settlers in a new environment, or Alice’s reaction to the problems which beset her. The piece is held together by various referential motifs. The initial idea, which perhaps suggests the instability of the sea, is also present in the bell-like sounds marking Charles’ death, music associated with a storm at sea is later associated with mental stress, while music suggestive of the movement of shipboard lice later underlies Alice’s traumatic encounter with her sisters-in-law.

There are eight sections, which often merge into one another: 1. in a letter to her father, Alice describes shipboard life; 2. in New Zealand, she compares her past life and hopes for the future; 3. a dialogue between father and daughter, expressed through their letters; 4. in Makarora, Alice discovers she is pregnant; 5. Alice hears of her father’s death; 6. in England, she learns of her husband’s death; 7. back in Makarora, Alice is turned away by her sisters-in-law; 8. turning her back on the South Island, Alice looks forward to her new life with her brother’s family in the north.

While writing this piece, I was drawn again and again into the thought that, although this is a true story, set in a particular place at a certain time, it has the resonances of a universal myth, known to all of us who live here. Our forebears, or we ourselves, have crossed the seas to begin a new life, with unforeseen and unimaginable difficulties and felicities, whether ten years, a century or a millennium or so ago.

• Whitehead: Alice; computer-set 

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• Whitehead: Alice; computer-set 

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• Whitehead: Alice; computer-set 

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• Gillian Whitehead: Alice; audio 

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• Whitehead: Quintet and Alice  

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• Gillian Whitehead: Alice 

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2*2*2* (doubling alto sax. in E flat) 2; 2200; 2 perc.; guitar (amplified); strings. Percussion: tam tam, bass drum, large suspended cymbal, wind chimes,glockenspiel, xylophone, bongos, 2 woodblocks (large and small), drum kit (including suspended cymbal, bass drum, small tom tom

Coming to It was commissioned by the Wellington Sinfonia (now Vector Wellington Orchestra) to collaborate with Sam Hunt. The poems and music speak from the heart about the everyday issues and concerns of ordinary people. There are poems about mothers, fathers, lovers, children and dogs. The poems touch on life and death, and the title incidents between that on the surface seem insignificant but have meaning for those involved. The scene is set in the opening poem, Coming to It. Some of the music is bluesy in character, as in the Plateau Songs, and some is folksy in style, as in A White Gentian, where the guitar and flute play a duet. Occasionally the music specifically describes the text, as in the hammering, migraine-like You House the Moon.

• Remember Parihaka - orchestral music by Anthony Ritchie  Year: 2009 

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piccolo, flute, oboe, cor anglais, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon 1 and 2, 3 horns, 3 trumpets, 2 trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, 2 percussionists (crash cymbals, suspended cymbals, roto-toms, claves, rain stick, vibraphone), harp, strings and narrator

“I enjoyed performing and recording Eulogy very much. Such a warmth of texture and harmonies which created a sympathetic palette for Olivia Macassey’s word painting” – Kenneth Young

My decision to set this text for orchestra initially arose, not only from reading the poem and appreciating it for what it is, but also from the recent passing of a dear musician colleague with whom I had collaborated on many early jazz projects.

However, at time of writing, I have become most un-nerved by the senseless loss of young life that has been occurring with alarming regularity at a couple of schools I have recently taught at. It was with these tremendously sad, sudden passings in mind that I completed my work on the piano short score of Eulogy, before commencing work on its orchestration.

Yvette Audain

• Audain: Eulogy; computer-set 

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• Audain: Eulogy; computer-set 

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• Two works by Yvette Audain 

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• The APO Composers' Workshop 2010 

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(1)22(1)2(1)2(1); 4230; timp,perc,hp; strs.

• Music by Edwin Carr  Year: 1978 

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• Edwin Carr: Orchestral Music  Year: 1995 

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2222; 4231; timp, pf, 2perc; strs

• Harlow - Powell: Radio NZ Archive Recordings 

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1(1 pic.),2,2,1(1 cbn); 4,2,3,1; timp., 3 perc., hp, celesta; strs

• Gareth Farr: Ruaumoko 

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• Island Song  Year: 2010 

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• Alex Lindsay String Orchestra  Year: 1998 

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The word Requiem comes from the Latin “requies” [rest]. In choosing a text for my piece, I chose not to use the regular texts from the Roman Catholic Liturgy and decided to write my own. The piece is structured in a hybrid form combining both concerto elements with the multiple movement architecture and text setting of the Requiem.

The violinist is the protagonist whose melodies, rhythms and wide ranging emotions counterpoint the voices whose music is always lyrical and simple. At the time of writing this music I was not conscious of any particular emotion or statement, instead the music evolved and took it’s own path. A new section would begin with a simple idea or “cell” and then expand in all directions until complete.

There are eight sections – seven with text and the penultimate movement (the longest in the piece and first composed) for violin and orchestra with no voices.

Requiem Concerto is in memory of my first wife Katherine (Kippy) Harris who was a violinist with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and my son Eliot Scholes.

• Scholes: Requiem Concerto; computer-set 

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• SOUNZ Contemporary Award Finalists 2008 

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• Peter Scholes - Requiem Concerto 

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• NZ Premieres 2008 Vol. 3 

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3*ob.*23*; 4331; perc. (2); mezzo soprano; strings

Described as “often beautiful and sometimes frightening” (NZ Listener), Ross Harris’s Symphony No 2 is a setting of poems on the subject of New Zealand soldiers shot for desertion in World War One. Writer Vincent O’Sullivan’s deeply felt descriptions of violence, love and tragedy are reflected in a moving and dramatic score.

• Harris: Symphony No. 2; computer-set 

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• Ross Harris: Symphony No. 2 

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• Ross Harris: Symphony No. 2 

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• New Zealand Premieres Volume 2 

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• Ross Harris: Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3  Year: 2012 

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2,2,2,2; 4,3,2,(1),1; karanga, soprano, baritone; 6 percussionists, timp., hp; strings

The thing that struck me about Charm when I first read it, was the wonderful concept of the spirit of the land – te wairua o te whenua. The land is our mother, she cares for all of her children. We have all at some point in time been a stranger to this land, and as visitors, we have all been welcomed by her.

Charm is a poem from the mid 19th century, a time when all Europeans were recent visitors to the land. It is likely, however that this poem was a Maori charm originally, translated into English by settlers, suggesting that Maori also felt the same way about Aotearoa.

We now live in a unique multi-cultural society. Our many and varied contemporary art forms reflect this fact, and display something that could only be created here. This piece is a recognition of the similarities and differences of all of the cultures of New Zealand. It is a musical analogy to my idea that cultures can co-exist without overshadowing or changing one other. And finally, it is a musical celebration that we all have ended up here on the same soil.

Gareth Farr

• Farr: Te Papa; computer-set 

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• Gareth Farr: Ruaumoko 

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• Gareth Farr: Te Papa  Year: 1998 

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• Gareth Farr: From the Depths Sound the Great Sea Gongs  Year: 2009 

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