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cor anglais, 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass

‘faccee’ is composed as a set of loosely related, programmatic movements which portray different moods through the day. ‘faccee’ is intended as a lighter work of chamber music with elements of mystery, humor, charm and satire.

‘Dawn’ begins the work slowly, with the darkness and solitude of morning blossoming full fruit into daylight, then relaxing into the day. Movement two, ‘Boogie’, quickens the pace and is akin to experiences while walking the streets of the city. The further one travels, the more activity one encounters until reaching the heart of the city, where a rousing canon surrounds you with people and congested traffic. Then, suddenly, you arrive at your destination and with one last exclamation are in the door.

‘Daydream’ is a brief visit into the realm of nostalgia and sentiment, with a pleasant, recurring melody in the english horn and violin. What better for a finale than an old-fashioned ‘galop’ ? This ‘galop’ is, rather, a musical pun on the Viennese version. The ‘Galop’ gives way to the ‘Trio Satirico’ which pokes fun at traditional trios with a duple/triple reconfiguration of 9/8; making for a gawky feel. Then on to the ‘Finale’ where themes from earlier in the day are revisited in a whirlwind finish.

• Stabler: faccee; computer-set 

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• Stabler: faccee; computer-set 

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• Stabler: 'faccee'  Year: 2002 

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2 trumpets, horn, trombone, tuba

This work for brass quintet and narrator was written for the NZ Brass Quintet to perform in schools.

• Freed: A Nursery Tale; facsimile 

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• Freed: A Nursery Tale; facsimile 

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• Freed: The Circle and A Nursery Tale 

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clarinet in A (doubling E flat, C or B flat), bass clarinet, horn, bass trombone, cello, double bass

Many painters — most notably Francis Bacon — have produced series of satellite “studies” around one subject. While these works are complete and interesting in their own right, they also function as commentaries and footnotes on each other, and on the cluster of preoccupations they share, as much as on the “main” paintings for which they are nominally studies. Composers do this sort of thing less often, but it was with this idea of a study in mind that I set out to write a miniature “clarinet concerto” for Gretchen Dunsmore and 175 East some eight years ago.

The piece makes use of the contrasts between the generally light and lithe clarinet writing and the weightier interjections of the ensemble, and the repeated attempts of the soloist to escape the “gravitational pull” of the ensemble could be seen as one narrative strand in the work.

While a study for voicing doubts is a complete composition it was also a testing ground for ideas which have been incorporated into Rank and File Movements, a much larger clarinet concerto for Gretchen, which will be finished in early 2010.

James Gardner

• Gardner: a study for voicing doubts; computer set 

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• 175 East Vol. 8 

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• James Gardner: Selected Works 

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flute, trumpet, cello, percussion, 2 keyboard (2 pianos, celesta, harpsichord)

Ahotu is the sixth in a series of instrumental pieces based on the phases of the moon, and refers to the seventh day of the cycle. The entire thirty-day cycle has been used as one of the rhythmic generators of the piece, with vowels and consonants translated into durations to provide the apparently irrational rhythms, which are contrasted in a series of short ensemble or solo sections with either proportional or regular rhythms. The two longest sections are centrally placed. The first, featuring trombone and percussion, presents the language-based material in the percussion; the second, starting with the long piano solo, begins a mensural canon based on the proportional material. However, half-way through this canon, recapitulatory material begins, and subsequent appearances of the canon occur in continually shorter blocks, each transformed very differently. O Matenga, in the title of the piece, refers to the Maori custom, found also in many other civilisations, of providing sustenance for the spirit to the next world after death.

• Whitehead: Ahotu (O Matenga); facsimile 

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• Lontano: New Zealand Women Composers 

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flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, bass trombone, cello and bass

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.

• Hall: and the snow's lace is spread there...; facsimile 

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• Neville Hall: and the snow's lace...; audio 

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• Two Works by Neville Hall 

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1. The first movement illustrates the plethora of fish to be seen at the Aquarium at feeding time. There are small fish, big fish, colourful fish and plain fish. I have tried to mimic the darting movements of the small fish with quick high grace notes and tremolos. In contrast, the darker notes of the oboe and the piano represent the bigger, slower and brooding fish.

2. Watching the harbour in the morning is one of the most serene and beautiful experiences one can have in Barcelona. One morning I visited the harbour when the skies were clear and the sun was sparking on the ocean, which was a most brilliant blue. The area was almost deserted; it was early. I have captured the tranquillity of the moment with an intimate trio of cello, violin and clarinet.

3. Finding large as life puppets in the square outside the Cathedral was a delight. I imagined them to be alive, moving jerkily, interacting and dancing a little in an empty space.

4. Stepping out of the Metro and being confronted by La Sagrada Familia was a momentous experience. I have chosen two aspects of what I felt for this movement. Firstly, there is the foreboding nature of the building; the way it looks as though it were melting, twisting and almost lurching as it towers over you. Secondly, there is the light and peace that radiates from it through the optimistic spires and delicate bird decorations.

5. The fun side of Gaudi can be seen in the fairytale-like Park Gell, which is full of excitement, laughter and maybe (if you’re lucky) at bit of dancing.

Barcelona Postcards received a Honorific Mention Award in the 2005 Frederic Mompou International Award for the Young Composer Competition of the Joventuts Musicals de Barcelona.

• Toan: Barcelona Postcards; computer set 

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• Toan: Barcelona Postcards; computer-set 

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for saxophone/bass clarinet, percussion, piano, electric guitar, violin and cello

Bout is inspired by the sport of women’s boxing. In an interview with Canadian boxing pioneer Savoy “Kapow” Howe, I was struck by her detailed demonstration of the inner monologue of a fighter. Melodic and rhythmic material from her words insinuate themselves into the piece, along with referee’s whistles, counts and bells, training routines and the dogged persistence of the fighter.

Bout: A round at fighting; a contest, match, trial of strength, physical or intellectual.

• Palmer: Bout; computer set 

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• Palmer: Bout; computer set  

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• Palmer: Bout; computer set 

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• Juliet Palmer: Bout 

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piccolo (doubling flute), clarinet in B flat, violin & cello (both preferably amplified), piano, percussion (4 tomtoms, Chinese cymbal, bongos, 2 break drums, metal plate, cowbell, foot operated bass drum, finger cymbals)

I The remote control – You are in a small, sparsely furnished room. The curtains are a lurid green-and-orange striped pattern. A TV sits in the middle of the room – you are strangely drawn to it. A remote control is in your hand, and as you tentatively push the red button marked ‘on’, the TV erupts in an angry blare of noise. Flustered, you turn down the cacophony, and flick through a few channels. But it seems the remote has a mind of its own – it starts changing the channels by itself, at first slowly, then faster and faster. The volume roars, the bizarre programmes fly past, and you can’t stop it no matter what you do…

II The derivation of musical wisdom – Suddenly the remote stops. The picture blurs – you stare at the screen to try to make out a vaguely familiar silhouette. A thick Parisian accent crackles through the speaker. ‘…Sound and Chaos – Hell’s Eternal Rhythm…’ The picture snaps into focus – Pierre Boulez is hosting a cooking show. He is dropping long rows of notes into a pan with herbs, garlic and white wine. He turns, looks straight into the camera, gives you a knowing wink, and mouths ‘Et violà…’

III The game show – The channel abruptly switches to a frenetic daytime game show, where the contestants are competing for fabulous prizes beyond their wildest dreams. An hysterical woman spins the giant wheel, laughing wildly. Bells ring, lights flash – the host shrieks excitedly in a nasal voice ‘It’s the grand prize! Four weeks in a small hotel room with your family of nine!!’ The woman stops laughing.

IV The rachenitza – The channel switches once more. Musicians are playing and people are dancing. There is barbed wire surrounding them. A man with his ribs showing stares mournfully at you. Suddenly he shouts ‘Roll up – the greatest show in the world is here! Experience horrors beyond the limits of your imagination!’ You watch, fascinated, reassured in the knowledge that there is a button marked ‘off’ on your remote control.

Notes from Promethean Editions

• Farr: Cadenza; computer set 

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• SOUNZfine Volume 2 

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• Gareth Farr: Chamber Music  Year: 1997 

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flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon and piano

Clairmont Triptych was written in fulfilment of a commission by Chamber Music New Zealand for the Auckland Wind Quintet with pianist David Guerin to perform on a New Zealand tour in 1988.

The music derives its inspiration and impetus from the work of the New Zealand painter Phillip Clairmont (1949 – 1984). He was something of an enfant terrible of the New Zealand art world, living his life and his painting with a reckless passion and energy. His work is vibrant and strong, conveying an intense and energetic power. Aspects of these elements are captured in the music, although it is not programmatic, but connects with paintings through analogy and allusion. Amongst the profusion of themes and ideas there are two prominent recurrent subjects in Clairmont’s work – the domestic interior and the self portrait. These form the thematic base of the first two of the three inter-linked movements of the work. The first movement, Interiors, mirrors the fractured vibrancy of the Clairmont interiors by use of a very fast toccata-like movement in sequences of fluctuating tempo. This creates a continuously “flexing” aural effect which reflects the unsettling quality of the images. The second movement, Self Portraits, uses a recurring three note motif C-B-Bb. These are the composer’s initials (C-H-B in German), thus the self portrait becomes ambiguous. The music seeks to realise to an extent the technique and viewpoint of the self portraits. The third movement, Jimi Rocks, refers to the influence of rock music on Clairmont’s painting, particularly during his studies and the early part of his career in Christchurch. The three movement formal structure is a musical equivalent of the triptych format Clairmont often used in his painting.

• Blake: Clairmont Triptych; computer set  Year: 1995 

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• Waiteata Collection of New Zealand Music Vol. 2 - Chamber Music  Year: 1997 

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The main theme of the first movement is built on a deliberately ‘square’ 4 note scale figure; this is interlaced with perfect 4th ‘wobbles’ and triplets and together they weave tonal games in a capricious journey.
Four rich chords (all essentially triads with added semitones) which open out, bloom and close again are the flowers displayed in the tranquil second movement, and for the final a jaunty but restrained dance through various tonalities grows out of the subtle thematic combination of notes from both C and F sharp, normally the most distant keys.

Notes taken from Ritual Auras, Atoll CD (ACD 842)

• Farquhar: Concerto for Six; facsimile 

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• Farquhar: Concerto for Six; facsimile 

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• Farquhar: Concerto for Six; facsimile 

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• Ritual Auras - Karlheinz Company  Year: 2011 

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