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David Hamilton  

From Age to Age Endure

Duration: 20' 00" Year: 1988
for solo soprano, SATB choir and chamber ensemble

  • Instrumentation
    ensemble - flute, clarinet, trumpet, double bass and piano
  • Programme Note

    Although the title comes from the hymn All People That On Earth Do Dwell, this work is more concerned with the pleasures and pitfalls of aging, than with piety. The texts are from a collection of writings (both poetry and prose) associated with each age from birth to 99 years old. The selection I made was purely of those items which appealed to me personally – some are humorous, others more serious, some cynical whereas others contain wisdom.

    From Age to Age Endure was commissioned by Auckland Youth Choir, and is affectionately dedicated to them and their conductor at the time, Brigid McLafferty. I was asked to write a work with jazz influences, and although not a great jazz fancier, I hope I have created a work which is fun to sing and enjoyable to listen to. The work is scored for solo soprano, SATB choir and small ensemble (or piano duet).

    David Hamilton

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Helen Fisher  

Pounamu

Duration: 07' 00" Year: 1989, r. 1997
for solo flute, SSAATB choir

David Hamilton  

The Moon is Silently Singing

Duration: 09' 00" Year: 1985
for two SSATB choirs and two horns

  • Instrumentation
    second horn can be replaced by pre-recorded tape
  • Programme Note

    Scored for two SSATB choirs with two homs, this work sets a poem by Miguel de Unamuno in Spanish. This work has been performed in Australia, England and the USA, as well as throughout New Zealand.

    It is a setting of a short poem by the Spanish poet Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936) and begins by setting the text in a fragmentary manner, choosing single key words from the poem: canta (singing), luna (moon), sosegada (lulling), blanca (white), and sola (alone). Throughout, I have sought to evoke a mood of stillness and calm (except at the two main climaxes), and much of the writing consists of simple diatonic chords alternating between the two choirs. The work ends, as it began, alternating the words ‘canta’ and ‘luna’.

    The unusual scoring came about through my friendship with a fine horn player and singer – a flippant comment about unorthodox combinations of forces (although I have heard one other work for horn and choir) providing the germ of idea which eventually did bear fruit.

    The Moon is Silently Singing is one of my most widely preformed works internationally, having been heard in Australia, Canada, Germany, England and the USA.

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