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Gareth Farr  

Ahi

Duration: 16' 00" Year: 2003
for piano trio

  • Instrumentation
    for violin, cello and piano
  • Programme Note

    In January 1998 Gareth Farr was commissioned by the James Wallace Chariable Trust to write this Piano Trio for the Ogen Trio, a leading NZ ensemble. Taking its subtitle Ahi from the Maori word for “fire”, it received its debut performance in Auckland, NZ in March 1998 in the presence of the composer. The style of the work varies in each of the four movements: the flavour of a French lullaby predominates in the first; an intense and unrelenting second movement harbours overtones of a Russian military factory; whilst a Balinese pop-inspired fourth movement contains numerous gamelan-like effects. The brief third movement is merely a quiet interlude, with a melodic reference to the first movement. The composition stands in stark contrast to Farr’s previous works. He has experimented with stripping away the density characteristic of past compositions in favour of clearer textures, exploring classical form, and allowing a simplicity of line to come through and speak for itself.

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Yvette Audain  

An Irksome Vengeance

Duration: 05' 00" Year: 2009
for clarinet and cello

  • Programme Note

    “I enjoyed playing the first performance of ‘An Irksome Vengeance’ with Yvette. The piece explores quite complex rhythmic patterns at a high level of expertise, calling to mind jazzy and folk-type drive with well-executed lyrical connections. The audience seemed to relate warmly to the work, so I think it is well deserving of future airings." – Katherine Hebley, cellist, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and 175 East

    This piece was largely informed by my involvement in the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra’s Remix the Orchestra courses, during which fascinating syntheses of classical and hip-hop musics are created.

    I have an all-encompassing view of music and have never shied away from influences outside the ‘classical’ genre: in this short work can also be heard a fleeting post-grunge-informed bassline and maybe, even, a slight tinge of progressive rock.

    It recently occurred to me that many of us have a rap song from our formative years to which we know, if not ALL the words, at least most (often entirely despite ourselves!). Upon rediscovering Monie Love’s It’s a Shame (chorus originally recorded by the Spinners and written by Stevie Wonder), the phrase ‘an irksome vengeance’ jumped out at me from the lyrics.

    Upon catching up with a former mentor prior to the composition of this work, I was reminded of the concept of a ‘groove-based’ piece, and to this end I have tried not to let the basic pulse abate for too long at a time, so as to create as much continuity as possible.

    Yvette Audain

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Neville Hall  

and the snow's lace is spread there like sea foam

Duration: 13' 00" Year: 2001
for mixed chamber sextet

  • Instrumentation
    flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, bass trombone, cello and bass
  • Programme Note

    There are two main forces shaping this work, which could be thought of as an “internal” force and an “external” force. The internal force is a process of growth that begins with a complex event heard towards the end of the composition. Variations of this event fan out in all directions across the work’s temporal space, ensuring that every event has a relationship, however distant, to every other event. The detailed crafting of each event, with its constant microscopic fluctuations in pitch and timbre, reflects the detailed activity in a spectral analysis of the title of the piece, a line from one of Ezra Pound’s ‘Cantos’. This analysis is expanded to have the same duration as the composition, so that the entire work is, on one level, an elaboration of a few seconds of spectral activity. The harmonic content of the spectrum is not, however, reflected in this rendering, but rather the morphology, with its evocative twistings, compressions and expansions. The harmonic organisation forms a third structural layer. It originates in the first five odd numbered partials of the natural harmonic series, built on the log ‘G’, an octave below the bass clef. Each partial forms the centre of a narrow band of pitches, from which the “melodic” material is drawn. Ultimately, however, the resulting contrapuntal writing is largely submerged in the surface timbral activity, as the other two structural layers tear at and distort its fabric.

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Rachael Morgan  

...and yet, not

Duration: 08' 00" Year: 2005
for flute and cello

  • Programme Note

    Angst: an acute but non-specific sense of anxiety or remorse (Collins Concise Dictionary). This is not intended to be an easy-listening, carefree piece. I wanted to portray a deep-seated sense of angst, creating a feeling of uneasiness in the listener. The flute and cello bear a similar angst, at times dealing with this independently, yet always returning to share in their anxiety. Quarter-tone inflections disconcert the harmonies, with tremolo, flutter-tongue and a recurring minor ninth adding to the tension. The material gradually unravels, only to fold in on itself again, remaining unresolved.

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Philip Brownlee  

As if to catch the fleeting tail of time

Duration: 16' 00" Year: 2009
for guitar and ensemble

Jonathan Crehan  

At the Breaking Point

Duration: 06' 30" Year: 2008
for piano trio

Ross Harris  

At the Edge of Silence

Duration: 11' 00" Year: 2003
quintet for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano

Eve de Castro-Robinson  

At water's birth

Duration: 10' 00" Year: 2008
for piano trio

  • Instrumentation
    violin, cello, piano (some preparation required); all performers required to speak

    Piano preparation: the strings between c’’’ and a’’’ need to have a flat metal object laid on top to achieve a bright, jangly ringing sonority (especially from mm 26-37). This/these to be removed by the pianist in the section from m 45.

    The three strings F, G, A flat, should have firm rubber wedges between them to create a dull thuddy sonority (for the section at m42), but with a still discernible pitch
  • Programme Note

    At water’s birth is a meditative, ritualistic work, whose sonic palette includes prepared piano sonorities and some vocalising from the players, including whispering, spoken words and whistling.

    The pushing out of the boundaries of the conventional instrumental sounds is something I have employed in other works such as the whistling and knocking on the piano lid in small blue for piano and the bell and tamtam playing in Ring True. The meandering sections of the music suggest a relationship with the forces of water, its depth, currents and undercurrents and there is a sense of ritual in some of the chant-like rhythms.

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Chris Adams  

Athena's Nymphs and the Downfall of Troy

Duration: 06' 00" Year: 2009
for flute, violin and viola

John Rimmer  

Au

Duration: 13' 00" Year: 2002
concerto for bass clarinet and ensemble

  • Instrumentation
    Flute doubling alto flute; clarinet doubling bass clarinet; horn; bass trombone; percussion (3 tom toms, 2 bongos, 2 suspended cymbals, crotales, vibraphone, bell tree); cello; double bass and bass clarinet solo
  • Programme Note

    Au began as a series of musical reflections on the Auroroa with pitch material based on the name of bass clarinettist Andrew Uren whose initials provide the title. This title, ‘Au’ is also the abbreviation for ‘aurum’, the Latin word for gold. As I was composing I realised that I was dealing with golden qualities not only of the sounds in the piece but also of the musicians in the ensemble 175 East who would be giving its first performance. This was particularly the case with the soloist Andrew Uren whose adventurous bass clarinet playing has revolutionised the way in which composers in New Zealand think about the instrument.

    The work was commissioned by Andrew Uren with funding provided by Creative New Zealand and was first performed on 15 September 2002 at The Space, Wellington, by Andrew Uren and ‘175 East’ conducted by Hamish McKeich.

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