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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

Sarah McCallum  

Aspiration's Meaning

Duration: 06' 00" Year: 2004
for voice, piano, small string ensemble, horns, tabla and percussion

John Psathas  

Bacchic


Written by Manos Achalinotopoulos and arranged by John Psathas for clarino, Zourna, floghera and band

  • Programme Note

    “Tradition, as I first came to feel it (as a child of 9 years), was given to me by grand father when he was teaching me how to play the clarinet. To me this traditional musical language is not an ‘old loveless spinster who raises her threatening finger like an old time teacher’. My feeling about traditional ways of musical expression is exactly the opposite. It resembles a young girl full of juices, pleased and sorry, vivid and loving, that dances barefoot on the ground; as if being taken by a desire to sin, but then again she repents it. Later she falls in love, wishes to break the rules so to live and breathe freely. No concrete use of instruments no formal orchestration, or particular musical formation can capture her essence.”

    Manos Achalinotopoulos

  • Availability

Helen Fisher  

Bone of Contention

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

Pepe Becker  

Cancer

Duration: 04' 00" Year: 2000
for soprano, alto, tenor and thumbpiano

Philip Brownlee  

Collaborative Improvisation

Duration: 07' 00" Year: 2000
for sampelong and recorders

Christopher Prosser  

Four Meditations

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

William Harsono  

Gelora

Duration: 10' 00" Year: 2003
for Indonesian zither and 10-piece chamber ensemble

Philip Brownlee  

He rimu pae noa

Duration: 09' 00" Year: 2009
for taonga pūoro (1 or 2 players), flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano

  • Programme Note

    Like many whakataukī, or traditional sayings, he rimu pae noa conveys a rich range of meanings. Literally, it describes seaweed set in motion by the tide. Metaphorically, it also refers the restlessness of a traveller, and the movement of a whole bed of seaweed in the same current alludes to a group of people working in harmony. This in particular has a strong resonance with the collaborative process from which the piece arose. The instrumental ensemble provides a framework, and a backdrop, for the improvisation of the taonga pūoro. At the same time it attempts to maintain its own identity, in conversation with the solo lines. Precisely specified gestural events are distributed in a flexible rhythmic framework,
    which aims at a balance between control and spontaneity. I am deeply grateful to Horomona Horo, for a richly rewarding collaboration, and to Richard Nunns, whose work over many years is a deep source of inspiration.

    Philip Brownlee

  • 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