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John Rimmer  

Anzacs Remembered

Duration: 04' 00" Year: 2010
for baritone and standard brass band

Robbie Ellis  

Beatrice

Duration: 01' 00" Year: 2010, r. 2012
a short orchestral feature for cor anglais

  • Instrumentation
    solo cor anglais, flute, horn in F, strings
  • Programme Note

    In 2010, I co-wrote The Lover’s Knot with playwright Renee Liang as part of the 2010-2011 Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra Composer Workshops, which led to a performance with actor Stuart Devenie and conductor Kenneth Young. Stuart played the role of Walter Bolton, the last man given the death penalty in New Zealand, in the hours before his execution.

    Various instruments represent various characters in this story – clarinet for Bolton’s flighty paramour Florence, contrabassoon for the stench of death, and harmon-muted trombones for the justice system. Bolton’s ailing wife Beatrice is represented by extensive solos for the cor anglais. At the request of Lee Martelli, Education Manager of the APO, I excerpted one of these into a demonstration piece for an education concert.

  • Availability

Natalie Hunt  

Compass

Duration: 04' 30" Year: 2011
for full orchestra

Yvette Audain  

Eulogy

Duration: 10' 00" Year: 2010
for full symphony orchestra and narrator

  • Instrumentation
    piccolo, flute, oboe, cor anglais, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon 1 and 2, 3 horns, 3 trumpets, 2 trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, 2 percussionists (crash cymbals, suspended cymbals, roto-toms, claves, rain stick, vibraphone), harp, strings and narrator
  • Programme Note

    I enjoyed performing and recording Eulogy very much. Such a warmth of texture and harmonies which created a sympathetic palette for Olivia Macassey’s word painting” – Kenneth Young

    My decision to set this text for orchestra initially arose, not only from reading the poem and appreciating it for what it is, but also from the recent passing of a dear musician colleague with whom I had collaborated on many early jazz projects.

    However, at time of writing, I have become most un-nerved by the senseless loss of young life that has been occurring with alarming regularity at a couple of schools I have recently taught at. It was with these tremendously sad, sudden passings in mind that I completed my work on the piano short score of Eulogy, before commencing work on its orchestration.

    Yvette Audain

  • Availability

Alex Taylor  

silk / gravel

Duration: 08' 00" Year: 2011
for string orchestra

  • Instrumentation
    for string Orchestra, ideally at least 6.6.4.4.2 but can work with fewer: minimum would be 4.4.3.3.1
  • Programme Note

    This work is an exploration of the possibilities of the string orchestra as a body of sound, the orchestra at times acting like one giant super-instrument composed of intricately superimposed layers. Old textures are continually swallowed up, recycled and transformed, playing out a finely balanced tension between static and active, supple and brittle, strong and fragile. From a fluid, tangled haze, individual voices periodically emerge to assert some kind of nostalgic lyricism, but each time they are ultimately subsumed, swallowed up in an eerie, ambivalent mass of sound. Stylistically the music is varied and eclectic, weaving together the intricate, spidery lines of Ligeti, the delicate chordal sonorities of Messiaen, the caustic anger of Shostakovich and even the brooding menace of Anthony Watson.

  • Availability

Matthew Davidson  

The Singing Lesson

Duration: 1h 30' 00" Year: 2012
a Chamber Opera in Three Acts

  • Instrumentation
    for 2 Lyric Sopranos, 2 Dramatic Mezzo-Sopranos, 1 Lyric Contralto, 1 Tenor Buffo, 1 Basso Buffo, and small chamber orchestra (Cl in Bb, Bsn, Tpt in C, Bs Tbn, vln, cb, and Perc (1-2): wind chimes, triangle, sleigh bells, cowbell, tam-tam, vibraslap, wood block, glockenspiel, xylophone, vibraphone, marimba, tubular bells, snare drum, bass drum, and celesta)
  • Programme Note

    ACT ONE / THE GARDEN PARTY: Synopsis: Laura is helping her mother, Mrs. Sheridan, in the preparations for a garden party, when it is discovered that a death has transpired at a nearby working-class neighbourhood. Laura is in favour of cancelling the party, but other members of her family are not. After the party is over, Laura is instructed by her mother to visit the bereaved family, which results in an enormous personal change – or does it?

    ACT TWO / THE SINGING LESSON: Synopsis: Miss Meadows has been engaged, but now it appears to be over. How will she survive the embarrassment when this fact is discovered at the small school where she teaches? Or will it ever be discovered?

    ACT THREE / THE DOLL’S HOUSE: Synopsis: The arrival of a new doll’s house at the home of Kezia & Isabel creates quite a stir amongst their friends at school. However, Kezia & Isabel’s desire to invite the Kelvey children (who are of a lower social class) to see the new house, causes friction between them and their Aunt Beryl).

  • Availability