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David Hamilton  

A Dorian Fanfare

Duration: 04' 00" Year: 1994
for SAATBB choir

Dorothy Buchanan  

A Matter of Timing

Duration: 08' 00" Year: 1996
for SATB choir with string quartet, female narrator and mezzo-soprano

David Hamilton  

A Shakespeare Garland

Duration: 17' 00" Year: 1999
for SAATB choir, guitar and piano

  • Programme Note

    Every now and then the deputy musical directors of Auckland Choral Society are invited to jointly conduct a concert. In 1999 this took the form of a ’subscriber’s bonus’ concert, containing works requiring minimal accompaniment forces. Early discussions lead us in the direction of a Shakespeare-themed concert. In addition to conducting some American settings of Shakespeare, I decided to write a new cycle using Shakespearean texts. Given the nature of the intended concert, I wanted to write a work which was immediately approachable and contained an element of fun. My original intention was to compose a cycle based on references to flowers in Shakespeare’s writings, as I had a copy of a book which detailed them. However, it soon became apparent that many references were part of texts which were not suitable for a musical setting : some were conversational and others merely a passing mention of a flower. I broadened my scope a little and fashioned a sequence of seven texts which all refer in some way to things botanical and/or seasonal. The first text is from ‘As You Like It’ and sets the well-known ‘it was a lover and his lass’ in a jazzy idiom. A complete contrast of mood is presented in ‘Come, buy’ from ‘The Winter’s Tale’, where the words detail a variety of items which might be purchased to charm a lady. The third piece is a short setting of ‘Hark, hark the lark’ from ‘Cymberline’. Unlike Schubert’s well-known setting, this lark is rather boisterous and rowdy! The music owes more than a little to mid-twentieth century film music, perhaps a film involving a frenetic chase sequence! The centerpiece of the cycle is a setting of Shakespeare’s best-known sonnet ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (sonnet 18). Here the women’s voices are heard on their own, with the 2nd altos given a rare chance to take the limelight. The fifth piece is a reflective setting of ‘I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows’ from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. Initially unison voices present the melody, breaking into harmony only for the second half of the song. Throwing caution to the wind, the sixth piece is a madcap, cartoonish setting of ‘When daisies pied’ from ’Love’s Labour’s Lost’. Where better to end the cycle than with the ‘flower-power’ era of the 1960’s and a swinging version of ‘Under the greenwood tree’ from ‘As You Like It’, using just about every harmonic cliche of the music of that time. ‘A Shakespeare Garland’ was written for, and is dedicated to, Auckland Choral Society who gave the first performance.

  • Availability

Tecwyn Evans  

Akaroa

Duration: 03' 00" Year: 1995
for SATB choir

Ross Harris  

... and the final sky

Duration: 05' 00" Year: 1995
for unaccompanied SATB choir

  • Programme Note

    This work was inspired by seeing interviews with returned servicemen on the television programme New Zealand at War. The emotional power of their recollections of long hidden experiences led me to look for ways to express my feelings about the horrors of war. The setting attempts to make a stark contrast between the imagery of the poetry and the music.
    (Ross Harris 1996)

  • Availability

Dorothy Ker  

and the rain...

Duration: 10' 00" Year: 1991
for double SATB choir

Anthony Ritchie  

as long as time

Duration: 10' 00" Year: 1991
for unaccompanied SSAATBB

  • Programme Note

    This work was commissioned by The Southern Consort of Voices in 1991, with funding from Creative NZ. It sets three NZ poems to music, with a fourth song being wordless: Timepiece to a poem by Cilla McQueen; Before the Fall to a poem by Rachel McAlpine; I lie, I watch the ceiling (wordless); and We could just disappear to a poem by Sam Hunt.

    In 2001 Auckland choir Viva Voce recorded this work on their CD entitled Snapshots – A Cappella Choral Favourites. Conductor John Rosser writes of the work – “Anthony has a wonderful knack of writing for voice. Timepiece portrays a woman struggling to break free of suburban neurosis and the tyranny of time. Before the Fall alludes to lost childhood innocence, and We Could just Disappear depicts the future as an endless tunnel of the mind.”

  • Availability

Ronald Dellow  

Bless, O Lord, us thy Servants

Duration: 02' 00" Year: 1994
for SSA chorus with unison semichorus

Eve de Castro-Robinson  

Chaos of Delight III

Duration: 06' 00" Year: 1998
for women's voices

David Griffiths  

Confitebor

Duration: 12' 00" Year: 1993
for two SATB choirs, 2 horns and organ with baritone and soprano soloists