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Lachlan McKenzie  

Flute Quintet

Duration: 25' 00" Year: 2002
for flute and string quartet

John Psathas  

Helix

Duration: 20' 00" Year: 2006
for piano trio

Gillian Whitehead  

Hineputehue

Duration: 25' 00" Year: 2002
for string quartet and taonga puoro (Maori instruments)

  • Instrumentation
    Taonga puoro (improvised): poi awhioahio, hue puruhau, koauau ponga ihu, nguru, ororuarangi, ku, putatara, pu kaea, pumotomoto, pupu harakekek, tumutumu
  • Programme Note

    Hineputehue translates literally as the woman of the sound of the gourd, and she is the Maori goddess of peace. The work was written in 2001, at the time of President Bush’s State of the Union address shortly before the invasion of Afghanistan, and suggests the fragility rather than the celebration of peace, particularly in a pre-European environment.

    A number of instruments used in Hineputehue are made of gourds – the gourd, which carried food and water, is a symbol of peace. These include the poi awiowhio, a very quiet bird lure which is swung around the head, the tiny koauau ponga ihu or noseflute which ends the piece, the hue puru hau, a large gourd which is blown across its top opening and the gourd rattles played by the quartet. Two other wind instruments frequently made from gourds, the nguru and the ororuarangi, are also used. Other instruments are the putatara or conch shell trumpet, traditionally used for signalling, the pu kaea or war trumpet, a nguru niho paraoa or flute made from a whale’s tooth, the pumotomoto, associated with birth, and tumutumu (tapped percussion).

    There is a similarity between the stringed instruments of the quartet and the gourds, in that they are made from plant material, with sound emitted through sound holes. Another link is the ku, the only stringed instrument known to Maori, which is a small musical bow played like a jaws harp (jews harp) using the mouth as a resonating chamber. The idea of ororuarangi, which can be translated as spirit voice (or double stopping in a different context) has had some influence on this piece as in the parallel movement of the strings.

  • Availability

Eve de Castro-Robinson  

Len Songs

Duration: 25' 00" Year: 2003
for mezzo-soprano, clarinet, violin and piano

Lyell Cresswell  

Of Smoke and Bickering Flame

Duration: 25' 00" Year: 2002
concerto for chamber orchestra

  • Instrumentation
    2 fl, 2 ob+ C.A, 2 cl, 2 bsn; 2 hn, 2 tpt; strings
  • Programme Note

    “And from about him fierce effusion roll’d Of smoke and bickering flame, and sparkles dire” John Milton Paradise Lost Book IV Smoke and bickering (or flashing) flame surround Messiah’s chariot “driving into the midst of his enemies” on the third day of the battle against Satan and his Angels. Unable to resist “they leap down with horror and confusion into the place of punishment prepar’d for them in the Deep: Messiah returns with triumph to his Father”. With consignment to “The Deep”, I imagine Satan’s followers must be faced with many conflicting emotions – even nostalgia for their past condition. “Of Smoke and Bickering Flame” comprises eight short movements. The movements are related to each other in pairs after the following pattern: I and VI, II and V, III and VII, and IV and VIII.

  • Availability

Matthew Davidson  

Papillons

Duration: 20' 00" Year: 2008
for solo piano

Gillian Whitehead  

Piano Trio

Duration: 20' 00" Year: 2005

  • Programme Note

    One winter morning, a short walk from the marae at Waihi, on the southern shore of Lake Taupo, I stood on the shore to watch the sun rise. Behind me, a waterfall lead to a small stream that flowed into the lake, imposing its own patterns on those of the lake. The water was uniformly grey, but as the sun rose, for a moment the tops of the ripples were golden, with darker valleys between, before the whole area was flooded with light. So the ideas behind this trio have to do with the changing perspectives of patterns in water – in the bubbling of streams, the tumble of a waterfall, in the spiralling eddies where stream meets lake at sunrise.

    In the opening movement, a group of short themes and ideas initially form a mosaic-like section, which recurs in developed and varied forms around more reflective passages. The second movement reverses the first, in that slow, sustained sections are interrupted by more energetic material, and the final movement draws all the previous ideas together.

  • Availability

Ross Carey  

Recollections (Volume 2)

Duration: 20' 00" Year: 2004
for solo piano

  • Programme Note

    Seven pieces for piano reconstituting the music of J.S.Bach, Javanese Gamelan and Kurt Weill.

    First performed by Ross Carey at Hei Tiki Gallery, Whakarewarewa, as part of the Taonga Puoro Wananga held in March 2004.

  • Availability

Anthony Ritchie  

String Quartet No. 2

Duration: 24' 00" Year: 2003
for string quartet

  • Programme Note

    Melodic ideas and motifs are derived from a magic square by Renaissance artists Albrecht Durer, which appears on the woodcut called ‘Melancholia’. The first movement is energetic in character, while the second is sad and melancholic, with a slowly rocking idea being suggestive of a lullaby. The third movement is obsessive in rhythm, with a gentler contrasting middle section. After a reflective opening, the finale bursts into a rustic, dance-like mood. Towards the end, various motifs from earlier movements are integrated into the texture and the work ends with a flourish. This is a substantial, yet approachable work for professional musicians.

  • Availability

Keith Statham  

Suite for Flute and String Quartet

Duration: 20' 00" Year: 2007
for flute and string quartet