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David Farquhar
A Christmas with Carols
Duration: 31' 00" Year: 1994
for SATB choir and narrator with organ
Bryony Jagger
A Poet's Requiem
Duration: 1h 15' 00" Year: 1998
for 3 narrators, soprano, mezzo & contralto soloists, choir and orchestra
John Wells
Benedicite Aotearoa
Duration: 03' 00" Year: 1995
for unison singers with keyboard accompaniment
Anthony Ritchie
Dogwobble and other Songs
Duration: 11' 00" Year: 1990
songs for mixed SAB choir and flexible instrumental ensemble
David Farquhar
Enchanted Island
Duration: 1h 40' 00" Year: 1997
an opera in three acts based on Shakespeare's "The Tempest"
Anthony Ritchie
From the Southern Marches
Duration: 2h 00' 00" Year: 1997
for choir, soprano, alto, tenor and bass soloists and orchestra
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Programme Note
From the Southern Marches was the brain-child of George Griffiths, historian and owner of Otago Heritage Books in Dunedin. He writes: ‘For many years I’d pondered the nature of the southern region and the people who live in it – particularly the contradictory characteristics passed on from our Scots forebears, with their unrelenting capacity for hard work and their uncertain trust in the rewards to be gained from it. In a broader view, it seemed the development of a southern character was a story so rich in human spirit and diversity that it demanded some kind of expression.’ The ‘kind of expression’ depended very much on George’s choice of texts which come from a wide variety of sources, ranging from old Maori chants to more recent poetry.
The work progresses more or less in a chronological manner, but avoids becoming a potted history of the south. Each text from each particular era focuses on a special characteristic of the time – whether it is the reckless optimism of the gold miners in the 1860s, or the grim reality of the needle-workers in the 1880s who were virtual slaves. George has drawn on a rich variety of ideas and texts, so that more serious items are contrasted with humour, as in Thatcher’s The Old Identity or ‘King’ Dick Seddon’s political speech. Some items involve text with existent tunes, and the music becomes an arrangement (as is the case with The Old Identity). Sometimes these tunes are just a starting point for lengthy elaboration, as in Bright Fine Gold, based on the tune for Hot Cross Buns.
From the Southern Marches has a format that is similar to oratorio, with alternations between solo vocal items and choruses, with the addition of two purely orchestral sections. There is even references to the ‘recitative’ style in The Jubilee, Southern Education and elsewhere. It runs to almost two hours in length, and is divided into two halves.
Such was the success of the premiere in March 1998, From the Southern Marches was repeated in December of the same year, this time with Dobbs Franks conducting. In 1998, Otago Heritage Books won a Special Merit Award in the National Business Review’s Business Sponsorship of the Arts Awards .
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Availability
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Anthony Ritchie: From the Southern Marches; computer set
Full score | Hardcopy - computer set
$45.00-
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Anthony Ritchie: From the Southern Marches; computer-set
Vocal score | Hardcopy - computer set
$38.00-
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Anthony Ritchie: From the Southern Marches Year: 1998
CD
$42.00-
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John Rimmer
Galileo
Duration: 1h 30' 00" Year: 1998
a chamber opera using for 6 singers, small chorus and 8 players, also using electroacoustic music and DVD of visuals