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Rosemary Russell  

A Wellington Christmas or Christmas Eve Reflections

Duration: 06' 00" Year: 2000
for three part treble choir with SATB choir and finger cymbals

  • Programme Note

    In the deepness of the night before Christmas, children dream of exciting and wondrous things: so do adults, but they are also fraught with arrangements and planning for the big day. a call for simplicity and remembering the loving and gifting nature of Christmas. This piece is performed “in the round” i.e. the adult choir encircles the audience and the children stand up the central aisle. The adult choir gradually moves around the audience and sings at times in smaller groupings. The audience does not know where the sound will come from next. The children need to be able to hold 3 simple parts. Finger cymbals are used to indicate stars and nocturnal animals create an interesting opening. It is depicts a New Zealand Christmas experience.

  • Availability

Maria Grenfell  

Alegria

Duration: 07' 00" Year: 2004
for orchestra

  • Instrumentation
    1(1)1(1)1(1)2; 4231; timp., 2 perc.; strings
  • Programme Note

    ‘Alegria’ is an education piece for children of primary school age. It focuses on aspects of rhythm and ostinato, and it is based on the flamenco principle of 3+3+2+2+2 (12 beat cycle). Flamenco music is based on Spanish gypsy music, and is often accompanied by clapping, so there are clapping parts included for members of the orchestra. The audience may learn the simple clapping patterns so they can accompany the orchestra when they hear the patterns. The central section in 5/8 is intended as an asymmetrical contrast to the duple and triple meters of the outer sections. “Alegria” means ‘joy’ or ‘happiness’ in Spanish.

  • Availability

Mark Smythe  

Alleluia

Duration: 05' 00" Year: 2007
for SSATB unaccompanied

Michael Norris  

Amato

Duration: 05' 00" (can vary) Year: 2008
for solo piano

Carol Shortis  

Amokura

Duration: 05' 00" Year: 2008
a lullaby for SATB choir with piano accompaniment

  • Programme Note

    Amokura refers to a red-tailed tropic bird, a rare visitor to Aotearoa/New Zealand, whose tail-feather is treasured by Māori. One such feather was incorporated into the design of a pūtōrino (flute) that Dr Melbourne played. This was one of the last songs Dr Melbourne wrote, and he never recorded it; as with all of his songs, only the words were written down. The song was written for his granddaughter, also called Amokura, who is perhaps the only person who ever heard it sung.


    Dr Melbourne devoted his life to restoring the voices of traditional Māori instruments, which had lain, unplayed in museums in Aotearoa/New Zealand and around the world. His passion for these taonga pūoro or ‘singing treasures’ shines through in the words of this song, where he likens Amokura to all those things most special to him.


    *No performance without prior consent of composer/Hirini Melbourne Whanau Trust

  • Availability

Gillian Whitehead  

Arapatiki

Duration: 06' 00" Year: 2004
a "landscape prelude" for piano

Clare Maclean  

Aunque es de Noche (Although it is Night)

Duration: 07' 00" Year: 2002
for unaccompanied choir (SSAATTBB)

Pieta Hextall  

Beating Cry

Duration: 05' 40" Year: 2007
for mixed chamber septets

Anthony Ritchie  

Bele Doette

Duration: 05' 00" Year: 2005
for soprano and oboe

  • Programme Note

    Bele Doette (‘Lovely Doette’) is based on an anonymous 12th century Chanson de Toile. The vocal line follows the original song-line closely for two of the eight stanzas and refrains.

    Doette is at a window, reading, when she receives the news that her friend Doon has been killed in a jousting contest. The refrain reads “See now what grief I have”, and at the end she vows to become a nun in the church of St Paul. The original transcription of the song is published in the Anthology of Medieval Music, edited by Richard Hoppin (1978). Pitches are notated in the transcription but no rhythm. Therefore, rhythm is freely interpreted while the original melismas and word setting are maintained. The refrain is expanded beyond the original. The oboe has a dual role. First, it freely develops motifs based on the song-lines by a process using magic squares. These motifs are used in the introduction and interludes between stanzas and refrains. Second, the oboe has a dialogue with the soprano that involves imitation and decoration, particularly in the refrains.

    Bele Doette was commissioned by Pepe Becker, and written for her and oboist, Robert Orr. It has been composed as part of Ritchie’s research at the University of Otago.

  • Availability

Karlo Margetic  

Bioluminescence

Duration: 07' 00" Year: 2006, r. 2012
for orchestra