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David Hamilton  

A Child Comes Forth

Duration: 13' 00" Year: 2006
for SSA choir with percussion and harp

  • Programme Note

    This work was written at the request of conductor Elise Bradley for her highly regarded choir Key Cygnetures at Westlake Girls High School (Auckland).

    It was intended for a ‘mid-winter Christmas’ concert which was to also feature Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols. I therefore felt happy to turn to Christmas texts with some of the more traditional Christmas references (snow etc).

    The first text is from the fifteenth century and is a general text mentioning Mary, the manger, the wise men, and the gifts they brought, and ends with call to delight in the Christ child. The second text, by G.K. Chesterton contains images of snow and night, and ends with the line that gives the work its overall title. The third text is a variant of the carol ‘I saw three ships come sailing in’ and may refer either to the medieval myth that Joseph and Mary travelled to England, or obliquely to purported journeys of the relics of the wise men. The fourth text is a lullaby by nineteenth century poet John Addington Symonds. Again the wise men and their gifts are mentioned along with the shepherds. The final text is another anonymous one, and is simply a brief and energetic welcome to ’heaven’s King’.

  • Availability

Neville Hall  

And saw the waves taking form as crystal

Duration: 10' 00" Year: 2002, r. 2003
for mixed choir

  • Instrumentation
    for either 12 solo voices (SATB) or 36 voice SATB choir
  • Programme Note

    This is the fifth consecutive piece for which I have taken the title from Ezra Pound’s “Cantos”. “And saw the waves taking form as crysta” struck me as being particularly musical, purely in metrical and phonetic terms. Initially, it was the phonetic content that was of particular interest to me, because I intended to break the line of poetry into its phonetic components and use these sounds as the basic material for the composition. As the listener will hear, this is, in fact, what I did. The complete line of text, with only a slight modification, can be heard towards the end of the work, but in “slow motion”, spread over some 60 seconds. What precedes this “exposition” is its own detailed deconstruction into some 88 “variations”, which simultaneously break down and develop its material. These 88 events are often layered and interact in a rather complex way, so are not heard as distinct or self-contained sound objects. Although I was originally more interested in the text for its sonic qualities, while working with it I became intrigued by the image of waves “taking form as crystal”. It seemed like an apt metaphor for the compositional process itself, with the fluid and mobile potential of sonic material gradually crystallising into a specific gestalt, interacting and connecting with surrounding material. The water image also encouraged me to follow through with an idea that I had been thinking about for some time – the notion of rhythmic fields radiating outwards from specific points in time, like ripples on the surface of a pond. The composition contains hundreds of these “ripple” structures, which overlap and interact with one another. The resulting rhythms were used to determing subdivisions of glissandi, timbral profiles and other features within the web of “events” that make up the composition. “And saw the waves taking form as crystal” was commissioned by the Radio Slovenia Chamber Choir. It is dedicated to Uros Rojko, with thanks for his support and encouragement during my first ten years in Slovenia.

  • Availability

John Wells  

Gloria Tonga

Duration: 10' 00" Year: 2000
for SATB choir and piano

Chris Adams  

Mass for Double Choir

Duration: 13' 00" Year: 2005, r. 2013
setting of the traditional Latin Mass for double choir

Philip Norman  

Ravenous Uncles (and Many Thin Greedy Aunts)

Duration: 10' 00" Year: 2003
four songs for children's choir with piano

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

Eve de Castro-Robinson  

These arms to hold you

Duration: 12' 00" Year: 2007
for children's voices and orchestra

Richard Oswin  

Three New Zealand Folk Song Settings - 2009

Duration: 10' 30" Year: 2009
for SSATBB choir

Chris Gendall  

Visionnaire

Duration: 13' 00" Year: 2003
for vocal soloists, SATB choir and piano