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Maria Grenfell  

A Feather of Blue

Duration: 09' 00" Year: 2000
for piano trio

  • Programme Note

    Commissioned in 2000 by the NZTrio, A Feather of Blue takes its title from a phrase in a poem called A View From A Window by New Zealand writer Kevin Ireland. I have always admired the wry humour and brightness of Kevin Ireland’s writing and many years ago set three of his poems for soprano and mixed ensemble. As a kind gesture Mr Ireland sent me a copy of his book of poems Skinning A Fish, and I was particularly struck by the imagery of colours, flowers, feathers and birds in this poem, which illustrates rain pouring down a window pane and giving way to a burst of sunshine after a storm.

    Maria Grenfell

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Chris Watson  

Adversaria

Duration: 07' 00" Year: 2001
for full orchestra

Yvette Audain  

An Irksome Vengeance

Duration: 05' 00" Year: 2009
for clarinet and cello

  • Programme Note

    “I enjoyed playing the first performance of ‘An Irksome Vengeance’ with Yvette. The piece explores quite complex rhythmic patterns at a high level of expertise, calling to mind jazzy and folk-type drive with well-executed lyrical connections. The audience seemed to relate warmly to the work, so I think it is well deserving of future airings." – Katherine Hebley, cellist, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and 175 East

    This piece was largely informed by my involvement in the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra’s Remix the Orchestra courses, during which fascinating syntheses of classical and hip-hop musics are created.

    I have an all-encompassing view of music and have never shied away from influences outside the ‘classical’ genre: in this short work can also be heard a fleeting post-grunge-informed bassline and maybe, even, a slight tinge of progressive rock.

    It recently occurred to me that many of us have a rap song from our formative years to which we know, if not ALL the words, at least most (often entirely despite ourselves!). Upon rediscovering Monie Love’s It’s a Shame (chorus originally recorded by the Spinners and written by Stevie Wonder), the phrase ‘an irksome vengeance’ jumped out at me from the lyrics.

    Upon catching up with a former mentor prior to the composition of this work, I was reminded of the concept of a ‘groove-based’ piece, and to this end I have tried not to let the basic pulse abate for too long at a time, so as to create as much continuity as possible.

    Yvette Audain

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Rachael Morgan  

...and yet, not

Duration: 08' 00" Year: 2005
for flute and cello

  • Programme Note

    Angst: an acute but non-specific sense of anxiety or remorse (Collins Concise Dictionary). This is not intended to be an easy-listening, carefree piece. I wanted to portray a deep-seated sense of angst, creating a feeling of uneasiness in the listener. The flute and cello bear a similar angst, at times dealing with this independently, yet always returning to share in their anxiety. Quarter-tone inflections disconcert the harmonies, with tremolo, flutter-tongue and a recurring minor ninth adding to the tension. The material gradually unravels, only to fold in on itself again, remaining unresolved.

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Peter Scholes (composer)  

Antikythera

Duration: 06' 00" Year: 2006
for flute, 2 bass clarinets and double bass

  • Programme Note

    Antikythera is an island between Greece and a larger island called Kythera. It is the site of a very significant archeological find in 1901. The object was a complex piece of clockwork machinery designed to calculate astronomical positions It has been dated to 150-100 BC.

    The device is remarkable for the level of miniaturisation and complexity of its parts showing a craftsmanship comparable t that of 18th century clocks.

    The music seeks to convey the interaction between the components of the clockwork mechanism and the idea that this think has lain dormant for 2000 years and has been carefully reconstructed.

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Robin Toan  

Aquarium & Puppets

Duration: 05' 17" Year: 2008
for full orchestra

  • Instrumentation
    (1)22ca2bscl2cbsn; 422bstrb1; timp; 3 perc (1: crash cymbals, snare drum, 2: glockenspiel, bass drum , 3: marimba); strins
  • Programme Note

    Two movements adapted from chamber work, Barcelona Postcards.

    The first movement illustrates the plethora of fish to be seen at the aquarium at feeding time. There are small fish, big fish, colourful fish and plain fish. I have tried to mimic the darting movements of the small fish with quick high grace notes and tremolos. In contrast, the darker notes of the oboe and the piano represent the bigger, slower and brooding fish.

    Finding large as life puppets in the square outside the Cathedral was a delight. I imagined them to be alive, moving jerkily, interacting and dancing a little in an empty space.

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Jeroen Speak  

Arabesques

Duration: 08' 00" Year: 2000
for violin and piano

Michael Norris  

Ars Moriendi

Duration: 05' 00" Year: 2008
for bass clarinet duo

Martin Lodge  

Aër

Duration: 07' 00" Year: 2002
for full orchestra

Michael Norris  

Badb

Duration: 05' 00" Year: 2002
for flute and piano

  • Programme Note

    Badb (pronounced ‘badhv’ where ‘dh’ is a voiced fricative, as in ‘these’) was one of a trio of war-goddesses from Irish legend. She assumed variously the guises of a beautiful woman, an old hag, and a carrion crow. Her manifestation in the latter form was an omen of death. Before a battle she would appear in anticipation of the carnage, and as the battle took place, would flit around the heads of the warriors. Afterwards, she would feed on the corpses strewn across the fields. Like the other two battle-furies, Macha and the M’rr’gan, Badb was both sinister and sexual; she prophesied the end of the world, the fall of the gods and an endless reign of chaos. There are three distinct types of material in this piece, portraying the three juxtaposed personalities of Badb: the sinuous, seductive syrensong of sing-flute representing the mysterious, beautiful femme fatale who befriended the Irish warrior C’ Chulainn, then lured him to his death; the unearthly shrieks and battle-cries of the old hag, which were said to arouse fear and dread in the living; and the hideous crow, pecking at the flesh of the slain with bloodied maw. Much of the piano’s harmonic structure is derived and interpolated from chords representing the crow in Olivier Messiaen’s Catalogue d’Oiseaux, while the notes B, A and D feature prominently through the piece.

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