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Daniel Stabler  

'faccee'

Duration: 13' 00" Year: 2002
four movement work for english horn and string quintet

  • Instrumentation
    cor anglais, 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass
  • Programme Note

    ‘faccee’ is composed as a set of loosely related, programmatic movements which portray different moods through the day. ‘faccee’ is intended as a lighter work of chamber music with elements of mystery, humor, charm and satire.

    ‘Dawn’ begins the work slowly, with the darkness and solitude of morning blossoming full fruit into daylight, then relaxing into the day. Movement two, ‘Boogie’, quickens the pace and is akin to experiences while walking the streets of the city. The further one travels, the more activity one encounters until reaching the heart of the city, where a rousing canon surrounds you with people and congested traffic. Then, suddenly, you arrive at your destination and with one last exclamation are in the door.

    ‘Daydream’ is a brief visit into the realm of nostalgia and sentiment, with a pleasant, recurring melody in the english horn and violin. What better for a finale than an old-fashioned ‘galop’ ? This ‘galop’ is, rather, a musical pun on the Viennese version. The ‘Galop’ gives way to the ‘Trio Satirico’ which pokes fun at traditional trios with a duple/triple reconfiguration of 9/8; making for a gawky feel. Then on to the ‘Finale’ where themes from earlier in the day are revisited in a whirlwind finish.

  • Availability

Dorothy Ker  

[...and...11]

Duration: 10' 00" Year: 2002, r. 2006
for twelve players

  • Instrumentation
    alto flute/piccolo; clarinet in A; bass clarinet/small bamboo chimes to hang on music stand; horn in F/small bamboo chimes to hang on music stand; bass trombone/small bamboo chimes tohang on music stand; percussion: 2 suspended cymbals, hihat, sizzle cymbal, 3 toms, medium bass drum, 3 woodblocks, three sets of maracas, bamboo or wood chimes; harp; violin;viola; cello and bass
  • Programme Note

    In this work, cycles of accumulation and decay move in broad wave-like gestures, recalling the sea. I am fascinated by the potency of the tiniest gesture, syllable or phoneme. Having no ‘meaning’ in itself, the syllable ‘and’ is weightless and transient, yet holds enormous power to link ideas; to create anticipation/momentum. It is like a wave bearing thought towards utterance. …and…11 was composed for, and is dedicated to, Chachi and Lontano.

  • Availability

Neville Hall  

And saw the waves taking form as crystal

Duration: 10' 00" Year: 2002, r. 2003
for mixed choir

  • Instrumentation
    for either 12 solo voices (SATB) or 36 voice SATB choir
  • Programme Note

    This is the fifth consecutive piece for which I have taken the title from Ezra Pound’s “Cantos”. “And saw the waves taking form as crysta” struck me as being particularly musical, purely in metrical and phonetic terms. Initially, it was the phonetic content that was of particular interest to me, because I intended to break the line of poetry into its phonetic components and use these sounds as the basic material for the composition. As the listener will hear, this is, in fact, what I did. The complete line of text, with only a slight modification, can be heard towards the end of the work, but in “slow motion”, spread over some 60 seconds. What precedes this “exposition” is its own detailed deconstruction into some 88 “variations”, which simultaneously break down and develop its material. These 88 events are often layered and interact in a rather complex way, so are not heard as distinct or self-contained sound objects. Although I was originally more interested in the text for its sonic qualities, while working with it I became intrigued by the image of waves “taking form as crystal”. It seemed like an apt metaphor for the compositional process itself, with the fluid and mobile potential of sonic material gradually crystallising into a specific gestalt, interacting and connecting with surrounding material. The water image also encouraged me to follow through with an idea that I had been thinking about for some time – the notion of rhythmic fields radiating outwards from specific points in time, like ripples on the surface of a pond. The composition contains hundreds of these “ripple” structures, which overlap and interact with one another. The resulting rhythms were used to determing subdivisions of glissandi, timbral profiles and other features within the web of “events” that make up the composition. “And saw the waves taking form as crystal” was commissioned by the Radio Slovenia Chamber Choir. It is dedicated to Uros Rojko, with thanks for his support and encouragement during my first ten years in Slovenia.

  • Availability

John Rimmer  

Au

Duration: 13' 00" Year: 2002
concerto for bass clarinet and ensemble

  • Instrumentation
    Flute doubling alto flute; clarinet doubling bass clarinet; horn; bass trombone; percussion (3 tom toms, 2 bongos, 2 suspended cymbals, crotales, vibraphone, bell tree); cello; double bass and bass clarinet solo
  • Programme Note

    Au began as a series of musical reflections on the Auroroa with pitch material based on the name of bass clarinettist Andrew Uren whose initials provide the title. This title, ‘Au’ is also the abbreviation for ‘aurum’, the Latin word for gold. As I was composing I realised that I was dealing with golden qualities not only of the sounds in the piece but also of the musicians in the ensemble 175 East who would be giving its first performance. This was particularly the case with the soloist Andrew Uren whose adventurous bass clarinet playing has revolutionised the way in which composers in New Zealand think about the instrument.

    The work was commissioned by Andrew Uren with funding provided by Creative New Zealand and was first performed on 15 September 2002 at The Space, Wellington, by Andrew Uren and ‘175 East’ conducted by Hamish McKeich.

  • Availability

Daniel Stabler  

eccco fantasy for orchestra

Duration: 11' 00" Year: 2002, r. 2005
for orchestra

Maria Grenfell  

Four Leunig Pieces

Duration: 12' 00" Year: 2002
for solo guitar

  • Programme Note

    ‘The Four Leunig Pieces’ for guitar were written for David Malone to perform at the 2002 Darwin International Guitar Festival. The pieces are musical impressions inspired by the whimsical cartoons from “Short Notes on the Long History of Happiness” by Melbourne cartoonist Michael Leunig: ‘How to get there’, ‘Atmosphere’, ‘Spring Diary of a Small, Brown Bird’, and ‘Love’.

  • Availability

Gary Daverne  

Gem of the Kaipara

Duration: 10' 00" Year: 2002
piece for solo accordion, strings and percussion

  • Programme Note

    This work another commissioned work, this time by the Kaipara District Council, in honour of long time accordion and arts supporter and lifetime member of the New Zealand Accordion Association, the late Mrs. Jenny Cocurullo. A respected and loved citizen of Dargaville, the main town in the Kaipara region in the north of New Zealand, Jenny always promoted the Kaipara as the ‘Gem of the North’. She in turn was considered ‘The Gem of the Kaipara’. Written for solo accordion with string orchestra and percussion, the Gem of the Kaipara was premiered in Dargaville on 11 May 2002, where it was performed by the Auckland Symphony with New Zealand accordion soloist Kevin Friedrich, and conducted by the composer. Written in simple sonata form, the introduction of the piece is quite mysterious in nature, with the lower strings providing a subtle bagpipe-like drone. The airy melody and soft percussive effects are reminiscent of the awakening of the lush majestic Kauri tree forests and countryside of the Kaipara Flats with its blanketing dawn fog. The main themes are written around Jenny’s name and the name of the region ‘Kaipara’. The lyrical re-occurring melody is first heard by the accordion with string accompaniment and then switches to the string accompanied by the accordion. After working through an animated and rhythmical jig-like section portraying Jenny’s boundless energy, various interests and Scottish heritage, the strings restate the soaring melody expressing the vast expansiveness and sweeping landscapes of the Kaipara region.

  • Availability

Brigid Ursula Bisley  

Illumination

Duration: 12' 00" Year: 2002
for orchestra

Anthony Young  

Mamaku

Duration: 10' 00" Year: 2002
for full orchestra

  • Instrumentation
    3*(alto)3*33; 4431; timp., perc. (3), hp; strings Percussion: mba, sus. cym., tri., wdblck, b.d., tam-tam, tub. bells, xyl., glock.
  • Programme Note

    The mamaku is the black tree ferns and is the tallest tree fern of New Zealand. Like other ferns, its fronds open out, forming the koru. Off one shape, more of the same shapes unravel, and then off these in turn, tiny parts of the frond unravel, and so on. From the moment of ‘birth’, the gradual cycle continues until the magnificent tree fern is towers, quite different from its original form and the koru is still present. In this piece I’ve explored slow metamorphosis, with the aim to grow sounds out of each other with contrasting results. Diatonic chords out of chromatic clusters, beauty out of chaos. All of this begins from a single note, f, at the start which is born out of string harmonics and imperceptible pitches, and concludes with hint that the cycle an ongoing one.

  • Availability

David Hamilton  

Night Songs

Duration: 12' 00" Year: 2002
a song cycle for baritone and piano

  • Programme Note

    This song cycle was written for noted young Taiwanese baritone Lin Chung Guang. The songs are all from an anthology of poetry about the night. Each of the selected texts explores a facet of the hours of darkness, ranging from the spiritual to the amorous. The final lines of the final song encapsulate the ideas behind the cycle: “pondering the themes thou lovest best: night, sleep, death and the stars.” The first two songs are translations of poems by Else Lasker Schuler (1869-1945). The first is a prayer, but with a bitter edge to it. The second is a love song. The middle song of the cycle sets one of the best-known poems by Irish poet W.B. Yeats (1865-1939). This is another love song, set here in the ecstatic key of F sharp major. The fourth song is by Robert Hillyer (1895-1961), and uses musical imagery to paint a picture of the sounds of the night. The final song is by American poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892), and in its brief text sets forth some of what happens to one’s thoughts at midnight.

  • Availability