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John Rimmer  

Bowed Insights

Duration: 10' 00" Year: 1993
for string quartet

Gareth Farr  

Cadenza

Duration: 12' 00" Year: 1993
for piccolo, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion

  • Instrumentation
    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)
  • Programme Note

    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

  • Availability

Neville Hall  

Kontinuum I

Duration: 13' 00" Year: 1993
for saxophone quartet

  • Programme Note

    The notion of “form as a product of growth” was central to the process of composing kontinuum 1. A network of interrelated material is evolved from a single cell and it is the subsequent linking, overlapping and extending of this material generates the piece’s thirteen short movements. Thus, rather than seeking contrast, all thirteen movements explore the same ideas, as if viewing the same object from many different angles. It is hoped that each movement has a very clear exterior shape which can be easily apprehended by the listener on first hearing the work. Within this is an interior containing sonic events that are extremely detailed, both in their make up and in their relationships to one another.

  • Availability

Neville Hall  

Kontinuum II

Duration: 13' 00" Year: 1993
for solo violin

  • Programme Note

    “kontinuum 2” is the second in a series of pieces that share compositional techniques and even a small amount of specific material. As with “kontinuum 1”, for saxophone quartet, the notion of “form as a product of growth” was central to the process of composing “kontinuum 2”. A network of interrelated material is evolved from a single cell and it is the subsequent linking, overlapping and extending of this material that generates the piece’s final form.

    “kontinuum 2” was composed for, and is dedicated to, Slovene violinst Branko Brezavscek.

  • Availability

John Rimmer  

Mahurangi

Duration: 10' 00" Year: 1993
for solo viola

David Hamilton  

Rakiura

Duration: 10' 00" Year: 1993
for SSAATTBB choir with alto solo

  • Programme Note

    “Rakiura is the Maori name for Stewart Island – the Land of the Glowing Sky. The island lies to the far south of New Zealand. It is separated from the mainland of the South Island by Foveaux Strait. It is rugged, remote, bushclad, and very beautiful.” (from the ’Author’s note’ by Eileen Philipp in the published play script Rakiura).

    “Rakiura” is the name of a play by Eileen Philipp. It retells, in the style of a Japanese Noh play, the true story of a Japanese woman found living in a cave on Stewart Island in the late 1970’s. The woman had no coherent reason for being there, simply that she had had an obsessive need to travel far from Japan. Eventually convicted as an overstayer, she was escorted back to Japan by relatives. The play incorporates many of the stylized features of Noh drama including a chorus which comments on the action. My setting of parts of the text in no way tries to re-tell the narrative. Instead, I selected parts of the text which speak mainly of the landscape. In doing so, I have taken several liberties: the selected texts are presented here as though a single entity, whereas they come from various places in the play. Also, I have allocated the texts to choir or the alto solo according to structural or musical needs, rather than trying to retain the solo/chorus divisions of the original.

    The music oscillates between E minor and G minor harmonic centres. It is often quite static although there are two major climax points. Structurally the work is something of an arch, with the opening musical ideas returning at the end.

    Rakiura was commissioned by the Auckland Dorian Choir (conductor, Karen Grylls) with funding provided by the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council whose assistance is gratefully acknowledged.

  • Availability

Neville Hall  

the way time accumulates

Duration: 13' 00" Year: 1993
for chamber septet

Anthony Ritchie  

Underwater Music

Duration: 12' 00" Year: 1993
for small orchestra

  • Instrumentation
    2*222; 2000; 1perc; Str(65431)
  • Programme Note

    The Auckland Chamber Orchestra requested a piece from me that adopted the theme of the sea. My title was partly motivated by the famous Handel precedent, but focuses on creatures that live in the sea. The first movement is titled ‘Seahorses’ and captures the gently undulating movements of these small creatures. More dramatic gestures suggest the ebb and flow of the sea. The second movement is titled ‘Sting rays’ and the music suggests the slowly flapping motion of the rays. In the third movement, ‘Dolphins’, the orchestra presents an energetic theme, and the movement is full of strong, upward sweeping gestures. A piccolo solo in the middle section derives from the opening, and portrays a baby dolphin. The work ends with a blow from the dolphin’s spout. This 12 minute-commissioned work was first performed in 1994, and recorded for Concert FM under the baton of John Matheson.

  • Availability

Kit Powell  

Whale

Duration: 10' 00" Year: 1993
for SATB choir and tape

John Ritchie  

Zhivago's Mary Magdalene Songs

Duration: 13' 00" Year: 1993
for voice and piano