Sub Navigation

Search Music:

Search for music by typing a word or phrase in the box below or by selecting one or more categories from the list on the side.

Reset

Or search for products by selecting an option below, and typing a word or phrase in the box above

  • Scores
  • CDs and DVDs
  • Downloads
  • Education Resources

John Ritchie  

Concertino for Clarinet and String Orchestra

Duration: 14' 00" Year: 1957

Audio Sample
Add to Wishlist

Full information

David Hamilton  

Concertino For Percussion and Chamber Orchestra

Duration: 07' 55" Year: 2009
for percussion and chamber orchestra

Score Sample
  • Instrumentation
    for solo percussion: triangle (medium size), cow bell, three suspended cymbals (small, medium and large), four temple blocks, a pair of bongos, four roto-toms and xylophone (or marimba); 3120; tenor sax; 0221(opt.); strings
  • Programme Note

    This short work was written for the orchestra of Auckland Grammar School and a talented senior student percussionist. It is in a straight-forward tonal style, including a cadenza for the soloist.

    The work consists of three main ideas. Follow a short introduction the xylophone presents the main melodic material of the first idea. The 2nd main idea is chromatic chord that builds through the orchestra several times. Against this the percussion has more angular melodic material and more syncopated rhythmic ideas. The second section builds to a climax which immediately gives way to the 3rd section which is fugal. The melody from the 1st section re-appears, not as the fugue subject, but rather as the counter-subject of the fugue. This section mainly features the woodwind section of the orchestra interacting with the percussionist. The fugue winds down into a short cadenza for the soloist, and then material from the opening two sections is recapitulated in abbreviated form. The music builds to a final climax.

    The percussion part avoids exotic or unusual instruments, favouring basic equipment found in most school music departments with an active instrumental programme. The only tuned percussion instrument is a xylophone, with the remainder being a mix of wood, skin and metal instruments.

  • Availability
Add to Wishlist

Full information

David Farquhar  

Concertino for piano and strings

Duration: 15' 00" Year: 1960

Add to Wishlist

Full information

Tony Ryan  

Concerto for tuba and orchestra

Duration: 20' 00" Year: 1996

Add to Wishlist

Full information

Thomas Goss  

Concerto in b minor

Duration: 11' 35" Year: 2001
for cello and string orchestra

Score Sample
Audio Sample
  • Programme Note

    Using the baroque concerto as a model, this work is designed to feature a baritone voice, of which bassoon, baritone saxophone, and even bass clarinet would work effectively as soloists. The key of B minor was chosen for its ease of playing and dark yet resonant qualities in the string ensemble. The first movement is a deviation from the traditional form of theme-and-variations, in which the theme is expressed with ever-accelerating note values while maintaining the same steady tempo. First, a somber statement in quarter-note octaves arcs across the landscape of strings, from basses and cellos to the first violins and back, then picked up and transformed by the cello solo with an edge of longing. The icy second statement of the theme in eighth notes allows the cello to push against the ensemble a little in the contrast of the solo string tone, while the warm triplets of the third statement give the ensemble a chance to work out. The brief cadenza that follows pushes the theme from quarter notes to eighths to triplets, finally settling on the 16th notes that drive the theme to a bustling conclusion.

    The second movement relies on simplicity in its use of the ABA aria form. The cello’s gentle but indulgent melody floats over a cushion of pulsing chords. The strings introduce a countermelody in triplets that leads up to a solemn chordal statement, and then becomes a factor in the development of the original melody.

    The concluding rondo blends both the modern and baroque concepts of the “hook,” a catchy phrase that sticks in the mind because of some unusual note. In this case, the snag is a diminished 5th, more common to the blues than to the baroque concerto. Here it is explored using all of the opportunities that the freedom of the rondo form allows, boldly stated at the beginning, punctuating episodes of development, sneaking in at times where it is least expected, then bringing the movement to a close with a feeling of unsettled finality.

  • Availability
Add to Wishlist

Full information

Thomas Goss  

Concerto in F

Duration: 15' 00" Year: 2002
for violin and string orchestra

Score Sample
Audio Sample
  • Programme Note

    Violin Concerto in F takes its themes and forms from folk song and dance music of old Europe. The first movement is an extended recasting of the classic Scottish Ballad _Wild Mountain Thyme". After an extended introduction that states the melody of the ballad, the music accelerates and tightens into a jig. Throughout the piece, tension is maintained between the free-flowing natural melody and the choreographic energy of 6/8 time, even during the long cadenza. A brief episode from the ensemble brings the music back to the mood of the opening before finishing on a high, unexpected chord.

    The second movement, entitled Reverence, is a synthesis of Balkan choral rhythms and melodies, with shifting bars of 7/8, 3/8, and 5/8. The solo part teams up with principal first and second violin soloists in central episodes reminiscent of choral drone singing of Bulgaria and Macedonia. The title refers to the respect a ballet class shows to their pianist at the end of their time together, and in a greater way the honor we show to those who help to bring our lives meaning.

    Brawl, the title of the first movement, refers not to a fistfight but a round dance of the Renaissance that was popular in England and France in which participants play “follow the leader.” This dance may be the ancient ancestor of hoedown music, to which it bears a strong resemblance. The opening violin solo is derived from a tune of the great French lutenist Robert Ballard, and is answered by a raucous, offbeat countermelody in the strings. The scope of the rhythmic jousting touches on many disparate styles, including spy movie music and a trace of heavy metal before returning to the reel-and-drone of the beginning.

  • Availability
Add to Wishlist

Full information

Henry Shirley  

Concerto in F minor

 Year: 1944
for piano and orchestra

  • Programme Note

    The only piano concerto by Henry Shirley and possibly the first piano concerto written in New Zealand, was written in 1944 though it took over 14 years of trying before the composer was able to get an orchestra to perform it in 1958. It was performed by the NZBC Symphony Orchestra (the former New Zealand Symphony Orchestra) with Henry Shirley himself as the soloist, conducted by Oswald Cheesman. It was also performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in the 1960s.

  • Availability
Add to Wishlist

Full information

Thomas Goss  

Double Bass Concerto in e minor

Duration: 11' 10" Year: 2004
for double bass and string orchestra

  • Programme Note

    Double Bass Concerto in e minor was written as a showpiece for the more natural characteristics of the double bass, such as the warmth and solidity of plucked strings, the ease of harmonics, the resonance of open strings, and the extended 4-octave range. The double bass is a member of the viol family, with an inherently more delicate quality to its timbre than its modern orchestral cousins the violin, viola, and ‘cello. As a solo instrument, it offers an alternate view of virtuoso string playing; a low register dark with rich, complex broodings, a middle range filled with anticipation and veiled longing, and an unusually graceful and poetic high compass bereft of throaty tension or shrillness.

    This concerto is written in the form of a rhapsody or capriccio, in one movement with an extended, freer exposition. Under alert tremolo, the bass opens with an impulsive statement that climbs three times from its rock-bottom open E string to its highest harmonics. The strings answer with a quiet, gentle elegy, soon transformed by the bass into a more yearning episode that ends on an unsettled note. A bravura melody leaps forth from this cloud, a folk-dance tune that gambols between soloist and orchestra, leading the music through restless changes of key and expectation. A heartfelt strain emerges, eventually guiding the music to a floating, dreamy musical landscape. Over pulsing strings, the bass ponders the themes of the concerto in tender detail throughout its range of pitch and color, suggesting a haven of peaceful beauty. The previous mood springs back to life in a boisterous answer, leading to a cadenza in which the bass’s ruminations are gruffer and more pointed than before. In the final coda the strings return to their elegy, then the bass takes the orchestra back to the beginning, reversing the sprawling gestures to drift down from the heights, fading to silence on a lingering octave E.

  • Availability
Add to Wishlist

Full information

Anthony Ritchie  

Flute Concerto

Duration: 17' 00" Year: 1993
for flute and orchestra

  • Instrumentation
    221 bass cl 1; 1210; 1perc; strs
  • Programme Note

    The Flute Concerto was composed for flautist Alexa Still in 1993 while Ritchie was Composer-in-Residence with the Southern Sinfonia. Unlike the Symphony “Boum”, written in the same year, this Concerto is a generally happy and open-sounding work, and reflects aspects of Alexa Still’s personality as well as her playing. She first performed the concerto on September 4th, 1993 in The Glenroy Auditorium, and subsequently recorded it with The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

    The first movement is energetic in style, with a bubbling first theme. This is contrasted by a darker and slower second theme, exploring the lower register of the flute. The music accelerates back to the main theme before heading into a percussive middle section. The flute then presents a lyrical idea that is related to earlier themes, and this leads to a cadenza. A brief recapitulation drives the music to a forceful ending.

    The slow second movement is lyrical and improvisational in style, and begins with a solo for bass clarinet. A warm and gentle theme appears, followed by a short cadenza for flute. The orchestra returns with a fuller version of the theme, but it soon fades into anxious repeated chords on the oboes and bassoon while the flute plays nervous, flickering gestures. As the tension dissolves the clarinet introduces a laconic theme, interspersed with little cadenzas on the flute. The music builds to a climax where the main theme returns in a contrapuntal version, again fading into the anxious chords. A brief and mysterious coda contains references back to the opening cadenza, and the movement ends unresolved.

    The third movement is like a sequence of dances with different characters, bound together by a buffeting crotchet rhythm. After a flourish from the orchestra, the flute introduces a sprightly theme, followed by a quirky, subsidiary idea. The buffeting rhythm from the start is transformed into a pop-styled ostinato pattern, and the flute plays a lyrical melody above it. This theme was inspired by the composer attending a performance by The Muttonbirds, a well-known NZ rock group. The quirky theme returns in a more subdued setting, the music slows, and unexpectedly becomes a dreamy and child-like waltz. This distraction is swept away by a loud chord, and the main theme returns with renewed purpose, leading to an exciting conclusion in which all the elements of the movement are combined.

    The Flute Concerto was recorded by Alexa Still and the NZSO in 1996, on the Koch CD 3-7345-2-H1, entitled ‘Kiwi Flute’. The second movement of the concerto was published in a special version for piano and flute by the Centre for NZ Music, in their 1998 publication Little Dancings: A Selection of flute music by New Zealand Composers.

  • Availability
Add to Wishlist

Full information

Cheryl Camm  

In the Teeth of It

Duration: 25' 00" Year: 1990, r. 1992
for marimba and string orchestra

Score Sample
Score Sample
  • Instrumentation
    violin I, violin II, viola, cellos
  • Programme Note

    This piece can be played as a concerto with string orchestra or as a marimba quintet with string quartet. If the piece is played as a concerto, the second movement should be for solo strings only.

    The piece was formally known as the Marimba Concerto, composed in 1990, and revised in 1992, and was first performed at that time by Richard Horne with string players from Auckland University in New Zealand. The piece was inspired partly by the concertos of Antonio Vivaldi and uses some techniques found in his concerti, such as elements of ritornello form and decorated melodic patterns in the slow movement. The 12-chord harmonic sequence of the first movement acts as a kind of “tonic” or home throughout that movement which utilizes both the rich chordal sonorities and more dexterous melodic capabilities of the marimba. The second movement is more expressive and defies a common misconception that percussion instruments are not suitable for emotion and sensitivity. The last movement was inspired by hearing the pounding rhythms and energy of African drumming and marimba playing and includes a cadenza which uses the full range of the solo instrument.

  • Availability
Add to Wishlist

Full information