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• Faulknor: 3 by 3; computer-set 

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• Buchanan: 3 Sketches for Wind Octet; facsimile 

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• Buchanan: 3 Sketches for Wind Octet; facsimile 

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• Buchanan: 3 Sketches for Wind Octet; facsimile 

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The title itself is a play on the words “fatality” and “tonality”, the two words and concepts colliding to form “[f]at[on]ality”. Similarly, the music presents two contrasting musical languages that intersect and compete violently for dominance. The first of these is a tonal language, represented by various types of (major/minor etc.) chords derived from four constituent triads of a twelve-tone row. The first phrase presents this language in conflict with itself, collapsing two triads into a hexachord at the punctuation points of the phrase. These chords then begin to extricate and extrapolate themselves, – beginning in the right hand at the start of the second phrase – under which the twelve-tone row (presented in the accelerating and decelerating lines of the first phrase) is fragmented and rhythmically manipulated. This twelve-tone row represents the second musical language, that is, a quasi-serial atonal language that is subjected to transformation by inversion, retrograde, multiplication etc. While on one level the music is concerned with the intersection and interdependence of these languages, it is also concerned with the dramatic consequences of that collision. The dynamic and rhythmic frameworks are somewhat extreme, providing a constantly surging, climactic structure that, in the end, resolves ambivalently. The inspiration for the piece came from a poetic doodle, reprinted below:

con.vent.shun

wanting to dis / dys
place / figure / function

this fatal tonality
tonal fatality
total finality
final totality

this [f]at[on]al entity

cacophonic / catatonic
coughed up and codified

maybe some kind of
superficial facticity / deep fiction
palimpsestic / incestuous

stasis / stagnation
repetitious f[l/r]agellation
sheer f[l/r]agrance

and you can’t get out

or in

• Taylor: [f]at[on]ality; computer-set 

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• Taylor: [f]at[on]ality; computer-set 

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• Alex Taylor: [f]at[on]ality; video 

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“Perhaps a lunatic is simply a minority of one.” – George Orwell, 1984

• Taylor: [inner]; computer set 

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• Alex Taylor: [inner]; audio 

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In 1995 I was approached by the NZSO to write an overture to commemorate the recent death of New Zealand’s most famous war hero, Sir Charles Upham. Upham was famous for having won the Victoria Cross twice for bravery during World War II. He was, however, extremely modest when it came to discussing his achievements. Some years before his death it was suggested to Upham that he have a state funeral; he simply replied, “A bugle will do”. This comment seemed like a good starting point for my piece.

There are no bugles in the orchestra, but the opening section depicting the horrors of battle contains plenty of brass. Sub-titled Maleme and Ruweisat Ridge, the music is fast and furious, built from several motifs, and includes the opening rhythm for the most well known Maori haka (war dance), Kamate, kamate. The music builds to a climax, and the scene changes to a bleak Colditz Castle, where Upham was imprisoned during the war. While in prison he dreams of rural NZ, and the farm near Kaikoura called ‘Landsdowne’, where he eventually settled after the war. This brief pastoral section links into a coda celebrating the outbreak of peace. Motifs from earlier in the piece return but changed into brighter modes. ’

A Bugle Will Do was first performed by the NZSO in 1996 under Andrew Sewell, and was subsequently performed in the USA.

• Ritchie, A.: A Bugle will Do; computer-set 

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• Ritchie A.: A Bugle will do; facsimile 

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• Anthony Ritchie: A Bugle will Do; video 

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• Music by Anthony Ritchie 

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• Anthony Ritchie: A Bugle Will Do 

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I did intend to sit down and compose an orchestral epic. I really, really DID, honest. Could I help it that as soon as I made that decision, the saxes started up a 1920s tea dance in my computer?! Only it’s not all sweetness and light and good ol’ days, in fact it sometimes gets a little murky in there, to say the least…

• Audain: A Charleston Kick With Steel Caps; computer-set 

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• Audain: A Charleston Kick With Steel Caps; computer-set 

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• Two works by Yvette Audain 

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I did intend to sit down and compose an orchestral epic. I really, really DID, honest. Could I help it that as soon as I made that decision, the saxes started up a 1920s tea dance in my computer?! Only it’s not all sweetness and light and good ol’ days, in fact it sometimes gets a little murky in there, to say the least…

• Audain: A Charleston Kick With Steel Caps – alto sax quartet version; computer set 

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• Audain: A Charleston Kick With Steel Caps – alto sax quartet version; computer set 

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• Yvette Audain: A Charleston Kick With Steel Caps – alto sax quartet version; video 

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This short work was written at the request of Rachel Young, conductor of Auckland Youth Choir. The choir’s 2006 Christmas concert was to also involve the Auckland Girls Choir, Auckland Boys Choir, and Aotea Youth Symphony Orchestra. A work which could open the concert, involve all performers, and make use of the performance space was needed. And it had to be easy to learn and quick to put together!

After considering various texts I approached noted New Zealand hymn writer Marnie Barrel to ask if she had anything suitable as a text. She very kindly wrote the text that I used for the work. Each choir has an energetic presentation of a verse which describes some of the features and feelings of Christmas. This is followed by an Alleluia. Towards the end of the work, the Alleluia becomes the basis of a canon for all the choirs along with the orchestra.

• Hamilton: A Christmas Fanfare; computer-set 

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Commissioned in 2000 by the NZTrio, A Feather of Blue takes its title from a phrase in a poem called A View From A Window by New Zealand writer Kevin Ireland. I have always admired the wry humour and brightness of Kevin Ireland’s writing and many years ago set three of his poems for soprano and mixed ensemble. As a kind gesture Mr Ireland sent me a copy of his book of poems Skinning A Fish, and I was particularly struck by the imagery of colours, flowers, feathers and birds in this poem, which illustrates rain pouring down a window pane and giving way to a burst of sunshine after a storm.

Maria Grenfell

• Grenfell: A Feather of Blue; computer-set 

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• Grenfell: A Feather of Blue; computer-set 

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• Grenfell: A Feather of Blue; computer-set 

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• Grenfell: A Feather of Blue; computer-set 

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• New Zealand Trio - Spark  Year: 2004 

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This piece was inspired by a most mundane and unremarkable occurrence that you may well ignore – like a flick of lights. Was it a signal, or was it accidental. If it wasn’t an accident, what would have happened if I responded. Maybe something wonderful, maybe not. Was it meant for me? Was it meant for anyone? Could things have gone sour? All these things plunge through the mind, but no one will ever know.

But even after it is shrugged off, the bitter sweet sound of opportunities lost sing on.

A Flick of Lights is in a single movement primarily for solo bass clarinet, but with two other hidden parts for effect. The hidden parts (clarinet and soprano) can be included in the programme (as in first performance) or excluded from the programme (as in second performance) if a surprise for the audience is desired. Hidden parts should be or should sound distant.

• Young, A.: A Flick of Lights; computer-set 

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• Young, A.: A Flick of Lights; computer-set 

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