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As I listened to media reports on the ownership of Young Nick’s Head, I began to wonder about the life of the real ‘Young Nick’, who first sighted this land from the deck of the ship Endeavour. What was life like on board the ship for the young boy, and how did it feel to sight the land? Various images came to mind, including a silhouette of land in the early morning light, or a murky shape barely visible through grey storm spray, or a dark smudge on a bright blue horizon. This piece was written with these images in mind.

For Young Nick was premiered by Wellington Youth Orchestra in 2003.

• Holmes: For Young Nick (hire set); computer set 

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• Holmes: For Young Nick; computer set 

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• Holmes: For Young Nick; computer set 

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• Leonie Holmes: For Young Nick; audio 

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Alberton is a historic, romantic 18-room timber mansion in Auckland. In the late 19th and early 20th century it was famous for its hunts, garden parties, dances, music and friendly welcomes, which is still evident today. The atmosphere of the Victorian period, with the ballroom and spacious grounds, is captured in this music. The powerful brass chords show the strong character of Allan Kerr Taylor, owner and builder of this stately home. The spirits of the three unmarried daughters, the last family residents, are solo woodwind features. The shimmering tremolo string passages and harp arpeggios depict the ‘ghostly’ games played by Aunt Muriel on the children.

• Daverne: Ghosts of Alberton; computer-set 

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• Gary Daverne: Gallipoli 

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This work is an exploration of the possibilities of the string orchestra as a body of sound, the orchestra at times acting like one giant super-instrument composed of intricately superimposed layers. Old textures are continually swallowed up, recycled and transformed, playing out a finely balanced tension between static and active, supple and brittle, strong and fragile. From a fluid, tangled haze, individual voices periodically emerge to assert some kind of nostalgic lyricism, but each time they are ultimately subsumed, swallowed up in an eerie, ambivalent mass of sound. Stylistically the music is varied and eclectic, weaving together the intricate, spidery lines of Ligeti, the delicate chordal sonorities of Messiaen, the caustic anger of Shostakovich and even the brooding menace of Anthony Watson.

• Taylor: silk / gravel; computer-set 

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• Taylor: silk / gravel; computer-set 

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• Taylor: silk / gravel; computer-set 

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• Alex Taylor: silk / gravel; audio 

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‘Te Arikinui’ for tenor, strings and percussion is an homage to the late Māori Queen, Dame Te Atairangikāhu. Its composition was suggested by the late Dr Mīria Simpson in 1991. In that year, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra travelled to Ngāruawāhia, outside of Hamilton, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Coronation of Dame Te Atairangikāhu. It was Mīria’s idea that a piece of music be commissioned for this occasion.

She approached Tīmoti Kāretu of Ngāi Tūhoe for a text befitting this purpose. Late in 1990, she approached myself to compose the music, which I readily agreed to. Unfortunately, the invitation came quite late and there was not enough time to complete the composition. A first version, however, was completed late in 1991 but it was not performed.

An opportunity to perform the piece came in 2003 when Ngāti Kahungunu violinist Elena approached me to support the development of her project entitled ’Elena’s Cultural Symphony’. I asked a colleague, Craig Utting, to assist with the scoring of a new version of Te Arikinui. This was completed and the work was then performed as part of ’Elena’s Cultural Symphony’ in 2004 by members of the then NGC Wellington Symphonia at the Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington. Unfortunately, I was not satisfied with the work and decided to rework the piece.

I revised the piece in 2005 and 2006 and in that time there were a number of attempts to perform the work in the presence of Dame Te Atairangikāhu (including a proposed performance at Government House, Wellington, in honour of Dame Te Ata’s 30th anniversary in 2006). Unfortunately, none of these were successful. The work was never performed before her as Dame Te Ata passed away in 2006.

It was not until 2010 when the piece was finally performed in its current version at the WEL Energy Academy of Performing Arts, Waikato University, Hamilton. The occasion was the ‘Kīngitanga Day’ held at the university each year to celebrate King Tūheitia’s birthday on 14 April. And so on that day, 14th April 2010, the piece was finally performed in the presence of the King, with his wife Te Atawhai, in the Academy. It was performed by the Waikato University Orchestra conducted by Adam Maha. Howard McGuire, from Ngāti Kahungunu, was the singer.

• Royal: Te Arikinui; computer set 

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• Royal: Te Arikinui; computer set 

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• Charles Royal: Te Arikinui; video 

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