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for 13 string players (4,4,2,2,1) or for full string orchestra

Extra chairs or stools: these need to be knocked over loudly, so they must be placed away from the musicians in such a way that they will not fall onto the musicians; 2-4 very cheap old violins and/or violas that can be smashed and destroyed (optional);

Players' voices: the instrumentalists must be of both genders, as both male and females are required to scream and yell

This work begins with two authentic folk melodies from two (European) ethnic groups that, most recently in 2008, were engaged in armed violence. The similarity of the melodies, and the fact that layman cannot tell the two melodies apart, highlights the fact that ethnic hatred requires group-internal discourses to be nourished and exacerbated.

Violence between two or more groups of people that see each other as ‘the others’, continues to shape the lives of millions of people globally.
Composer Samuel Gray has first-hand experience of ethnic violence as an independent volunteer in Kosovo. While Gray realises that is impossible to represent the suffering and terror of war and its emotional and societal aftermath in music and does not wish to belittle such experiences through this work, he believes that in order for contemporary classical music to continue play a role in modern society, it needs to not ignore the problems that modern society has to deal with.

• Gray: Ethnic Conflict for String Ensemble; computer-set 

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  $25.00
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• Gray: Ethnic Conflict for String Ensemble; computer-set 

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• Gray: Ethnic Conflict for String Ensemble; computer-set 

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• Samuel Gray: Ethnic Conflict for String Ensemble 

  Digital sound file - MP3
  

Four Pieces in progressively faster tempi, marked by the 4×108 quarter note pulses in the piano part; over this the violin independently plays its part. In the third piece the violin part consists of the beginning of number 2 of Three Pieces (Autumn Leaves) for violin solo.

• Carey: Four Pieces; facsimile 

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This single movement work is structured as follows: A – variation1(a) – var2(a) – B – var1(b) – var2(b) – var2(c ) – var1(c ) – C Capital letters refer to themes, “var” refers to the different variations upon those themes. Although there is only one continuous movement, it is divided into three sections with the aforementioned contrasting variations. “A” is a transcription of a prison work song I had five long years recorded at the notorious Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana in 1959 by Harry Oster (released on Folk-Lyric Recording Co., Louisiana Folklore Society). The original singer was James Russell and some other inmates. To appreciate the anguish and bitterness behind these prison songs, one must become familiar with the outrageous conditions to which inmates were subjected during its worst years. “B” is a transcription of the railroad song, John Henry as sung by Rich Amerson, a transient from Alabama as recorded by Harold Courlander in 1956 for Folkways Records. “I ain’t proud to be poor, but I ain’t too poor to be proud,” he was recorded as saying. Its treatment is also indicative of early jug band recordings of the 1920s which I enjoy. “C” is a transcription of the Bayou Teche Waltz as played by Columbus Fruge, a Cajun accordion player and singer recorded in the 1920s. As stated previously, each transcription is dealt with in a set of two variations. Variation 1 is a polytonal variation to be played exactly as written. Variation 2 is an optional improvised section which can either be played exactly as notated or partially as notated and/or completely improvised thereupon.

• Davidson: I had five long years; computer-set 

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• Davidson: I had five long years; computer-set 

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• Davidson: I had five long years; computer-set 

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• Davidson: I had five long years; computer-set 

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• Talencourt  Year: 2008 

  CD
  
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• Killin: Muoversi Lento; computer-set 

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• Killin: Muoversi Lento; computer-set 

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• Killin: Muoversi Lento; computer-set 

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• Anton Killin: Muoversi Lento 

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• Anton Killin: Muoversi Lento 

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This single movement work is a combination of the rhythmic techniques of Steve Reich with the harmonic language of Alban Berg, George Perle, et al. I call this new creation, “Pan-tonal phase music.” Originally a three movement piece, even a 1996 revision could not save the last two (which I felt were very weak), so the unrevised first movement is all that remains of what I now believe to be a much better (and shorter) creation.

• Davidson: Music for String Quartet; computer-set 

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• Davidson: Music for String Quartet; computer-set 

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• Davidson: Music for String Quartet; computer-set 

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  $22.00
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• Davidson: Music for String Quartet; computer-set 

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• Talencourt  Year: 2008 

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Note: If requested the composer could also produce a version for violin, viola and cello

• Chris Adams: Prelude and Fugue for two violins and cello - downloadable PDF 

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  $18.50
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• Chris Adams: Prelude and Fugue for two violins and cello - hardcopy score & parts 

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• New Zealand Composers Concert 

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violin 1, violin 2, viola, cello

The title refers to the 25th Variation of the Goldberg Variations by J. S. Bach. When I heard the New Zealand String Quartet perform the Goldberg Variations during their Bach and Mendelssohn series in 2007, I had a strong desire to pay my respects to the beauty and richness of the music and to write another work for the wonderful New Zealand String Quartet. I set about doing this by taking the music of the 25th Variation and using it as the basis of a single movement for string quartet. The work begins with canonic additions to the original and evolves from there.

Variation 25 was written while I was the Jack Richards/Creative New Zealand Composer in Residence at the New Zealand School of Music in 2008.

• Harris: Variation 25; computer-set 

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• Harris: Variation 25; computer-set 

  Parts - written | Pdf - computer set
  

• Harris: Variation 25; computer-set 

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• Ross Harris: Variation 25 

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• notes from a journey  Year: 2010 

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Variations for Violin and Piano was written in 1982 while Nigel Keay was studying composition at Victoria University of Wellington. The work won the inaugural Composition Competition there in 1982, being played on that occasion by Bruce Corlett (violin) and Hugh Stevenson (piano). It is a single movement work, and although tied in with the formal study requirements of the day, the piece saw the establishment of a personal style and harmonic language that developed along a path of “atonality” during the eighties. In fact the composer considers that this work marks the beginning of his catalogue. Nigel Keay played the violin part of this essentially abstract piece shortly after it was written, reflecting his desire to create a work that would be enjoyed by its performers.

• Keay: Variations; facsimile  Year: 1985 

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• Waiteata Collection of New Zealand Music Vol. 1 - A Violin and Piano Recital  Year: 1999 

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Commissioned by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra for the 2009 Michael Hill International Violin Competition, Wakatipu is a virtuoso romp around the violin, employing angular driving rhythms and unusual scales built on minor seconds and minor thirds.

The title of the piece refers to Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown NZ, and the Maori legend behind it.

One of the great mysteries of the lake is that its level rises and falls every few minutes. Scientists explain that it is due to changing atmospheric pressure – but the legend has it that this fluctuation is caused by the beating heart of a giant demon.

Long ago, the demon abducted the daughter of a local Maori chief and took her to his home in the heights of the ice clad mountains. After the long climb he became tired and lay down to sleep – however, the girl’s lover had followed close behind them all the way, and set the giant on fire as he lay sleeping. His burning flesh carved into the ice and snow and created a huge lake – but his heart remained indestructible, causing the rising and falling of the water level to this day.

• Farr: Wakatipu; computer set  Year: 2011 

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• Gareth Farr: Wakatipu; video 

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Throughout the last two summers, a tui has sung the same uncharacteristically repetitive song behind my house. This melodic fragment appears as a cadential echo to the flow of the music. The most immediate image is of gentle fluvial movement, agitated by falling drops and stronger currents. Yet beneath the surface there is an insistence, an energy in suspension.

• Brownlee: Water Sketch with Tui; computer set 

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• Brownlee: Water Sketch with Tui; computer set 

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  $14.50
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• Brownlee: Water Sketch with Tui; computer set 

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• Brownlee: Water Sketch with Tui; computer-set 

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• Philip Brownlee: Water Sketch with Tui; video 

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