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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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• Alex Taylor: [f]at[on]ality; video 

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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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• 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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a furred tail upon nothingness for solo oboe was written for Slovene oboe player Matej Sarc and forms part of the cycle ‘Canto 2’ for wind quintet. The entire cycle was premiered at the 2010 Slowind Festival in Ljubljana, Slovenia by the Slovene wind quintet Slowind.

• Hall: a furred tail upon nothingness; computer set 

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• Hall: a furred tail upon nothingness; computer set 

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3[1.alto.3/picc]3[1.2.ca]3[1.2.bs cl]3[1.2.contra], 4331, timp., 2 perc., piano/celestra, harp, strings[14.12.10.8.6]

The overall conception of the piece is underpinned by an evolving, wave-like movement – continuous cycles stretching/compressing/proliferating. There is a strong connection to the sea, as in [… and…11], composed in 2002. A passacaglia of seven chords, gradually permutating until they eventually assemble into reverse order, form the ground or ‘canvas’. The various textural and linear surfaces of the piece all emerge from this ground as reflections, extensions, compressions, or distillations of the core material. Quarter-tones (division of the chromatic scale into 24 tones instead of the usual 12) enrich and intensify the harmony while rendering it more tactile and less pitch-defined.

Review:

“The 7-minute a gentle infinity…is both atmospheric and deft in Ker’s handling of a large orchestra, subtly dynamic (not least in the use of percussion), edgily communicative, and vibrant in its imagery; a piece full of good things, arguably cut off prematurely. Conducted by Pavel Kotla, the LSO once again suggested that Ker (in attendance) is a composer to watch out for.”

-Colin Anderson, www.classicalsource.com

• Dorothy Ker: a gentle infinity - hardcopy score 

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• Dorothy Ker: a gentle infinity - downloadable PDF 

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• Dorothy Ker: a gentle infinity - hire set 

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1 piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in B flat, 1 bass clarinet in B flat, 2 bassoons, 4 French horns in F, 2 trumpets in C, 2 trombones, 1 bass trombone, timpani, percussion 1: suspended cymbal, percussion 2: triangle, harp, vibraphone, strings

A message to Han Cho (the Yangzhou magistrate) for orchestra was inspired by the Chinese poem, A message to Han Cho by Du Mu (803-852AD, China) in the Chinese Tang dynasty. In this poem Du Mu expresses the sadness of the magistrate yearned for the day to return to his distant love. This orchestral work contains musical ideas influenced by the Eastern culture and utilising Western orchestration to imitate the sound of Chinese instruments (Chinese zither and vertical bamboo flute) to purposely maintain the cultural connection with the original tenor of the poem. To achieve this synthesis I experimented with the pronunciation of the poem in Mandarin, and then compose the melodic lines to suit the four-line poem which became the theme of the music. The image of a fair lady plays the flute under the moon on the Twenty-Four Bridges is a traditional Chinese painting specially selected for this particular poem.

青山隱隱水迢迢, From mist the green hills emerge and afar the river flows,
秋盡江南草木凋. grass still grows in Jiangnan, yet the end of fall is close.
二十四橋明月夜, Over the Twenty-Four Bridges the bright moon glows,
玉人何處教吹簫. where the fair lady teaches the flute no one knows.

• Chen: A message to Han Cho; computer-set 

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• Chen: A message to Han Cho; computer-set 

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2(picc)3(ca)3(bass cl) 3 (cb); 4331, harp, 2 perc: glockenspiel, 3 high roto-toms, large suspended cymbal, vibraphone, crash cymbals, 4 concert tom toms, bass drum, tubular bells and tam-tam; strings

My first foray into orchestral writing. Octatonicism abounds! Dedicated to my Dad on his 60th birthday. Adversaria was workshopped by the Auckland Philharmonia, conductor Marc Taddei in 2001.

• Watson, C.: Adversaria; computer-set 

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• Watson, C.: Adversaria; computer 

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• Watson, C.: Adversaria 

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This short work for solo flute was written in 2007 and is dedicated to my Grandmother, Mary Kingma (1917 – 2005). It was inspired by (but is not necessarily a direct depiction of) part of a poem that she wrote (published by New Zealand Art Press in the anthology New Beginnings in 1986), the last line of which I have used as the title.

They are waiting for me, the sparrows.
And so I throw the crumbs and watch.
So busy, so quick, so hungry.
After a while only the green of the grass is left.

Ben Hoadley

• Hoadley: After a while only the green of the grass is left; facsimile 

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violin 1, violin 2, viola, cello

• Crehan: After the Crank Rush; computer-set 

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Afterword commissioned by the University of Auckland Orchestra and inspired by the history of Anti-Chinese riot in Indonesia. The Tubular bells imitated the bells in the Indonesia temple. The soft dynamics, diminished triads and minor tonality were used to depicting the sense of fear, anger and sadness. The intensive triplets created a sense of uncertainty about the future and feeling of hopelessness as the ethnic Chinese lost their freedom, peace and equality of human rights.

• Chen: Afterword; computer-set 

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• Chen: Afterword; computer-set 

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