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Ronald Dellow  

Fanfare and Finale

Duration: 10' 00" Year: 1999
fanfare and finale for massed choirs and narrator

Jenny McLeod  

He Iwi Kotahi Tatou (We are one people)

Duration: 25' 00" Year: 1993
for Maori choir, chamber choir and mixed choir with keyboards

Dorothy Freed  

Lament for Te Wano

Duration: 07' 00" Year: 1974
for a cappella SATB

Helen Fisher  

Papatuanuku

Duration: 05' 00" Year: 1992
vocalise for unaccompanied choir

  • Instrumentation
    1.TB; 2. and 3. SATB
  • Programme Note

    These three vocalises, using Maori vowel sounds, were first recorded by the Wellington members of the National Youth Choir. They were composed for the opening section of ‘Wahine Toa’, a dance theatre celebration of Maori female ancestral figures. This work was performed at Taki Rua Theatre in Wellington in 1992 and in Christchurch in 1993. The three pieces are: 1. Te Po Nui, Te Po Roa, where male voices hum a series of sustained chords. 2. The Earth Lay in the Womb of Darkness – inspired by Robin Kahukiwa’s painting of the same title. This choral vocalise by full choir begins with alto melodic line, soon building to a widely spaced texture of superimposed fifth chords. 3. Papatuanuku – the Separation of Ranginui and Papatuanuku. The vocalise begins gently, becoming increasingly contrapuntal, building to five strong chords, and ending with a sighing texture of vocal glissandi. Wahine Toa was choreographed by Keri Kaa, Jan Bolwell and Sunny Amey, and was commissioned with assistance from the Queen Elizabeth 11 Arts Council of New Zealand.

  • Availability

Helen Fisher  

Pounamu

Duration: 07' 00" Year: 1989, r. 1997
for solo flute, SSAATB choir

Richard Oswin  

Sweet Sleep and Altered Days

Duration: 06' 00" Year: 2011
for SSATB choir

  • Programme Note

    These two a cappella folksong settings were written for the 2011 – 2012 NZSSC to sing during their NZ concerts and on their trip to the Ihlombe South Africa Music Festival in July 2012 . The settings were based on existing folk melodies and texts and were designed to challenge the choir. ‘Lullaby’ is a gentle song featuring both Maori and English text, in which a mother encourages her child to go to sleep. The rousing ‘Altered Days’ relates a tale of changed fortunes, for the better, of an emigrant from Scotland to New Zealand.

  • Availability

Aroha Yates-Smith   Gillian Whitehead  

Taiohi taiao

Duration: 11' 00" Year: 2004
for SSAATBB choir with koauau

  • Instrumentation
    upper bass voice are baritones; taonga puoro includes koauau koiwi kuri
  • Programme Note

    Na Aroha Yates-Smith koropupu ake ana nga wai o te matapuna he wai matao he wai reka ki te korokoro he wai tohi i te punua waiora waimarama wairua te puna o te tangata te putanga mai o nga reanga hei poipoi I nga taonga tuku iho pukenga wananga manaaki tangata tiaki whenua tamaiti taiohi taiao.

    Bubbling upwards rise the waters from the spring cool, refreshing water fluid delighting the taste buds blessing the young water – life-giving, clear – the spirit. The springs of humankind producing generations who will nurture their inheritance learning from the storehouse of knowledge hospitality/generosity to all guardianship of the land Child Youth Universe. The waiata acknowledges the vital role natural springs have in providing clean, delicious drinking water, which nourishes humankind and the wider environment. The water is also used in traditional and contemporary forms of blessing our young. The line “waiora waimarama wairua” refers to the life-giving force of the water, its clarity and purity, and the spiritual essence which pervades it and every life force. The second verse focuses on the importance of generation after generation preserving all that is important: “Te puna o te tangata” refers to the fountain of humankind, that is, the womb which produces the future progeny of our people. From woman is born humankind: generations of people who continue to nurture and maintain those treasures passed down through eons of time: knowledge and wisdom, the importance of caring for others and looking after the environment. The final line, “tamaiti taiohi taiao”, creates a link between the (tiny) infant, youth and the wider environment, and ultimately the Universe.

  • Availability

Yvette Audain  

Taku Papawira

Duration: 03' 00" Year: 2008
arrangement for children's voices and orchestra, of a song written by Karl Teariki

Carol Shortis  

Tangi

Duration: 09' 00" Year: 2009
for SSAATTBB choir with SATB soloists

  • Programme Note

    The poem Tangi was written my Megan Simmonds, a New Zealand poet who lives in the Bay of Plenty. I wanted to explore the use of vocal overtones in this piece; they have often been connected with the spiritual or other-worldly in the various cultures where the technique is practiced. Whilst researching this subject I came across the poem Overtone by American writer W. S. Merwin:

    …the names were read of those no longer there
    that sound of what made no sound anymore
    made up the chords that in a later year
    some still believed that they could overhear

    Notes by Carol Shortis

  • Availability

Christopher Marshall  

Tangi

Duration: 12' 00" Year: 1999
for SATB choir with mezzo soloist

  • Programme Note

    Te Heuheu Herea, a high chief of Ngati Tuwharetoa in the Taupo district, died in 1820 and was mourned by his son in this song of lament (waiata tangi). The text was collected by Sir Apirana Ngata in his book ‘Nga Moteatea’ of 1959. It is written in a dialect differing in several aspects from present day Maori. There is no record of the original chant; however this setting utilises some of the devices and conventions from that tradition.

  • Availability