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John Rimmer  

Europa

Duration: 25' 00" Year: 2002
concerto for brass band and orchestra

Score Sample
  • Instrumentation

    Orchestra:(1)2,2,2(1),2(1); 4331; timp., perc. (3), hp; strings. (Percussion: small and large suspended cymbals, tam tam, glockenspiel, vibraphone, xylophone, tubular bells, snare drum, 2 bongos, 3 tom toms, bass drum.)
    Brass Band: sop cornet, solo cornet, 1st cornet, 2nd cornet, 3rd cornet, flugelhorn, tenor horn, baritone, tenor trombone, bass trombone, E flat euphonium, E flat bass, B flat bass
  • Programme Note

    In composing this concerto I recognise two contrasting musical cultures within the European artistic tradition. The Brass Band represents what I call a ‘closed’ musical system portrayed by its standardised instrumentation heard to great effect in its stirring marches, sonorous hymn playing, contest pieces and arrangements of popular and show music, while the orchestra with its dazzling array of many instrumental colours, its flexible instrumentation and its potential for pushing musical boundaries, represents an ‘open’ musical system. I wanted also to exploit the virtuosic capacity of the brass band as a concerto soloist and to celebrate through this work the unity and solidarity amongst brass musicians.

    Europa is a one movement work in five main sections which alternate slow atmospheric music with a fast and rhythmic style. The latter is heard in the many rapid passages which switch from band to orchestra and vice versa. Notable also is the relationship between the band and the orchestra particularly in the cadenzas for the brass band followed by the orchestral brass.

    I was spurred into composing this work after reading about Europa, one of the large moons of the planet Jupiter first seen by Galileo in 1610 and named after a goddess of Greek mythology. Such thoughts were instrumental in generating my first musical ideas, for instance the name ‘Europa’ is represented by a six note melody heard throughout the work. However, my initial thoughts about Europa receded as I explored and developed the musical material. ‘Europa’ was commissioned by the Auckland Philharmonia. The work was first performed by the Dalewool Auckland Brass and the Auckland Philharmonia conducted by Miguel Harth-Bedoya on 13 June 2002 in the Auckland Town Hall.

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John Rimmer  

Explorations-Discoveries

Duration: 20' 00" Year: 1971, r. 2012
concerto for horn and orchestra

Score Sample
  • Instrumentation
    3[1.2.picc.]23[1.2.bass cl.]2; 4331; timp., 3 perc., harp, solo horn, strings
  • Programme Note

    A concerto for horn and orchestra, Explorations- Discoveries was composed in the early 1970’s at a time when the James Cook bicentenary was being celebrated. Just as the famous sailor explored and discovered, so to the composing of the work.

    The work is structured in five interrelated sections contrasting fast with slow preceded by a slow introduction and concluding with a slow coda. All these sections orbit a central palindrome.

    The horn is treated both lyrically and dramatically. Its music covers a wide range of pitch and dynamics and the instrument frequently is in dialogue with the orchestral horns.

    Explorations – Discoveries was first performed in 1975 at a studio recording by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alex Lindsay with Marcel Lambert as the horn soloist.

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Maria Grenfell  

Maui tikitiki a Taranga

Duration: 20' 00" Year: 1998
concerto for flute and orchestra

Score Sample
  • Instrumentation
    solo flute; 022(bass)2; 2200; perc.; strings
  • Programme Note

    Maui Tikitiki a Taranga (“Maui formed in the topknot of Taranga”) was a demi-god found in the tribal myths of the Māori people of New Zealand.

    Maui, the fifth and youngest child, was born at the edge of the sea. His mother, Taranga, thought he was stillborn, and wrapped him in a tuft of her hair and set him adrift. He was cared for by the seaweed until a breeze blew him ashore, where he was saved and brought up by one of his great-ancestors.

    Maui was a great prankster. In one of his mischievous moods he decided to put out all the fires in the world. To bring fire back, he had to find Mahuika, the goddess of fire. He was awestruck upon meeting her, but decided to play a trick on her by taking fire from her fingernails one at a time, until she realised his game and threw fire to the ground, catching everything alight. Maui changed himself into a hawk to escape the flames, which singed his feathers. He called upon his ancestor to send rain and drench the fire, depriving Mahuika of her powers.

    Maui decided to defeat death by journeying to where the earth meets the sky, where lived his great-ancestress Hine nui te po (“Great Hine the Night”). He was accompanied by many birds, and told them his plan to enter the body of the sleeping Hine and so defeat death. The birds sat quietly trying not to laugh as Maui, in the form of a caterpillar, crawled towards Hine. Suddenly the fantail could be quiet no longer and laughed aloud, dancing about with delight. Hine awoke with a start, realised Maui’s trickery, and he was killed.

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John Rimmer  

Viola Concerto

Duration: 27' 00" Year: 1980
for viola and orchestra

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Nigel Keay  

Viola Concerto

Duration: 24' 00" Year: 1999, r. 2000
for solo viola and orchestra

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