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Jenny McLeod  

Indigo I

Duration: 04' 30" Year: 1983
for SATB choir and bagpipe

Jenny McLeod  

Kumara, E Tupu! (Grow Kumara!)

 Year: 1997
for three part or four part choir, percussion with improvised drum part and optional piano accompaniment

David Hamilton  

Laudamus Hodie!

 Year: 2003
arranged for concert band and SSA choir

Jenny McLeod  

Little Owl Song (The Ruru)

Duration: 04' 00" Year: 1997
a festival song for 3 choirs and ensemble

Gillian Whitehead  

Low Tide Aramoana

Duration: 23' 00" Year: 1982
for mezzo, SATB large choir and brass

  • Instrumentation
    3 trumpets 2 trombones, timpani
  • Programme Note

    Low Tide – Aramoana is a setting of a poem by Cilla McQueen, and is used with her kind permission. The piece, written for large choir and a small brass ensemble, is an evocation of an estuary at the turn of the tide. Although the poem itself describes Aramoana at the mouth of Otago harbour (significant at the time because of the threat of the aluminium smelter that, because of the strength of local protest, was in fact not built), for the composer it was the estuary where the Ruakaka river meets the sea south of Whangarei that was significant.

  • Availability

Dorothy Buchanan  

Magnificat

Duration: 37' 00" Year: 1981
for mezzo, choir, flute and brass ensemble

David Hamilton  

Matariki

 Year: 2008
for 2 SATB choirs, piano and bells

  • Programme Note

    Matariki is the Maori name given to a group of stars that rises in the north-east around the end of May each year. This constellation is known traditionally at the Pleiades, and in the ancient world was known from Greece to India. Maori gave names to seven of the stars, and the first moon after the appearance of the stars was celebrated as the Maori New Year. This was a time of feasting (the crops had been gathered and food was plenty), and a time to remember those who had passed away. As with many myths and legends, there are contradictory ideas – some suggest that Matariki is the name of the largest star (with the other stars being her sisters) while others suggest the name refers to the whole cluster.

    Maori mythology named the stars of the night sky “Te Whenua Marama” (the family of light”) – the children of Ranginui the Sky Father and Papatuanuku the Earth Mother. The word Matariki has conflicting origins: some say it is a combination of ‘mata’ (eyes) and ‘Ariki’ (God), while others see it as a combination of ‘mata’ (eyes’ and ‘riki’ (tiny).
    For this work several traditional texts associated with Matariki are used, each of which presents a different facet of Matariki. No traditional music is used in the work although much of the melodic writing uses rhythmic patterns suggestive of traditional waiata. Bell sounds are also used to suggest the seven stars of Matariki.

    Matariki was written for the choir Choralation (Westlake Girls’ and Westlake Boys’ High Schools) and conductor Rowan Johnston.

  • Availability

Neville Hall  

Mir

Duration: 04' 00" Year: 1994, r. 1995
for SATB choir with alto saxophone

  • Instrumentation
    Non standard notation for the singers - phonetic alphabet used.
  • Programme Note

    This piece for SATB choir with alto saxophone was awarded first prize in the 2nd International competition for Choral Composition of the APZ Tone Tomsic Choir. The first performance in Ljubljana in 1996 was broadcast live on television and radio in Slovenia.

  • Availability

Helen Fisher  

Nga Tapuwae o Kupe (The Footprints of Kupe)

Duration: 20' 00" Year: 1992
a bicultural work for school choir, instruments and dance

  • Instrumentation
    choir, percussion, Rarotongan drums, guitars (students), Taonga Puoro (koauau), piano, clarinet in B flat, alto saxophone, horn in F, flute, guitar (advanced performer)
  • Programme Note

    Nga Tapuwae o Kupe is a music drama directed by Rangimoana Taylor. It is based on the story of Kupe’s journey from Hawaiki to Aotearoa and his discovery of various landmarks around Whanganui-a-Tara / the Wellington region.

    While this work maintains a strong Maori theme, with karanga, haka and waiata, as well it weaves in other Pacific and European elements.

    For school choir, instrumentalists, dancers and kapa haka, this work was composed with the financial assistance of a composition grant from Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council, was first performed by 140 students from South Wellington Intermediate School in July 1992 for Artsplash, the Wellington Young People’s Festival.

  • Availability

Colin Gibson  

Now the star of Christmas

 Year: 2009
for unison voices with two flutes or other obbligato instruments and piano