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John Wells  

A New Zealand Suite (Second Suite)

Duration: 25' 00" Year: 1989
for organ

Jonathan Crehan  

Aftermath

Duration: 20' 00" Year: 2004
a sonata for cello and piano

Gillian Whitehead  

Awa Herea (Braided Rivers)

Duration: 22' 00" Year: 1993
a song cycle for soprano and piano

John Rimmer  

Beyond the saying

Duration: 21' 00" Year: 1990
electronic music

John Elmsly  

Cello Symphony

Duration: 22' 00" Year: 1986
for solo cello and orchestra

Richard Bolley  

Concerto for Orchestra

Duration: 24' 00" Year: 1993
for trumpet, clarinet and cello soloists and orchestra

Jonathan Besser  

Duet for Soprano and Cello

Duration: 22' 15" (can vary) Year: 1979
for soprano and cello

Annea Lockwood  

Ear-Walking Woman

Duration: 22' 00" Year: 1996
for prepared piano with amplification

  • Programme Note

    For prepared piano and exploring pianist, uses the classic piano piano preparations: coins (to detune the strings), screws, wiring insulation sheathing, plus bubble wrap, a rubber ball and small wooden balls, two round stones, a bowl gong, mallets and a water glass. The piece was commissioned by Lois Svard, to whom it is dedicated and who has given many superb performances of it.

    When I started experimenting with these objects on my own piano, I found that even slight changes in the method of producing a sound evoked striking variants in sonic details, for example: rocking a stone gently between two sets of strings brins out several pitches and their overtones, iterating in unpredictable rhythms. Getting the stone to rock really hard adds higher pitches and at times the stone will turn over, setting of a new set of strings and pitches, which gradually fade away as the stone comes to rest.

    The work is set up as an open-ended exploration, in which have determined which ‘tools’ are to be used in each section, and the pianist is asked to listen closely to the sounds created by each action, and to explore further the variants which arise when she or he uses a little more pressure and change of speed, a slightly different wrist position, a different make of piano. I think of this experience as “ear-walking”, like a hiker exploring a landscape.

    Annea Lockwood

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John Rimmer  

Europa

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

  • 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

  • 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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