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The Auckland Primary Principals’ Association holds an annual music festival and over the years several of my choral works have been included in the event. In early 2010 I was approached by former student Pip Faulknor who, along with two other conductors, was keen to include something specifically about Auckland in their programmes, and asked if I had anything suitable. I suggested something new might be appropriate and a text was devised by Mary Cornish. The text talks of many of the features of Auckland, but is also a call for the people of the area to listen to, and respect, the children of Tamaki Makaurau (Auckland).

David Hamilton

• Hamilton: Listen Tamaki Makaurau; computer-set  Year: 2010 

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3 flutes, 3 clarinets, 2 alto saxophones, 2 tenor saxophones, 3 trumpets, 2 trombones, euphonium, tuba, violoncello (optional), string bass, timpani, percussion I (high conga, low conga, medium tom, low tom), percussion II (high bongo, low bongo, high tom, medium tom), percussion III (tambourine, high woodblock, low woodblock), percussion IV (suspended cymbal, wind chimes, triangle) and percussion V - xylophone (medium sticks), with piano and SATB choir

Based on the simple idea: “If Lake Taupo was a piece of music, what would it sound like?”

This mass musical work, commissioned especially for the ERUPT Lake Taupo Festival 2010 through the SOUNZ Community Commission, takes its inspiration from the people and places of Taupo.

Featuring lyrics submitted by local writers, Moana Ataahua is a spectacular mix of symphonic, choral and percussive elements that erupts into an exciting finale.

• Youens: Moana Ataahua; computer-set 

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• Youens: Moana Ataahua; computer-set 

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This piece is the second work of mine which draws on the poetry of Bill Sewell (1951-2003), specifically his “Erebus” cycle. It follows on from “Breaking the Quiet” of 2008. Both works set texts relating to the crash of an Air New Zealand sight-seeing flight in the Antarctic on 28 November 1979. At the time it was the world’s fourth worst aviation disaster, killing 257 passengers and crew. Both pieces are beginning steps towards an opera based on that event, and more particularly on the aftermath – the royal commission and its conclusions.

“Erebus: a poem” by Bill Sewell was published in 1999. It is an extended poem in thirty-four sections, and covers not only the events of the crash, but also the aftermath and its effect on New Zealand society. “The Necessary Rain” is the sixteenth section of the poem, and as with “Breaking the Quiet” the poet draws attention to the fact that nobody was there to witness the crash, and nobody was there who could have warned the pilot of the imminent danger as the plane headed directly at Mount Erebus.

The ‘necessary rain’ of the title is the rain that always seems to accompany times of great loss and sadness. It “…does not discriminate but has a preference for death and death’s rituals”. The poem includes passing references to the Tangiwai rail tragedy (1953). and the sinking of the ferry Wahine (1968).

To Bill Sewell’s poem I have added the ‘Lux aeterna’ from the Requiem mass text. Light was a crucial factor in the crash on Erebus: the phenomenon of ‘whiteout’ created no visual distinction between the snow and the white clouds. The counterpoint of the contemporary words, with the traditional Latin and its plea for rest, seemed appropriate.
My thanks to Amanda Powell, Bill Sewell’s wife and literary executor, for permission to set this poetry.

“The Necessary Rain” was commissioned by Auckland Choral (music director Uwe Grodd). Its composition coincides with my own 30 years of singing in the choir, and the recent conclusion of fifteen years as deputy music director.

• Hamilton: The Necessary Rain; computer set 

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• Hamilton: The Necessary Rain; computer set 

  Full score | Hardcopy - computer set
  
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