The overall conception of the piece is underpinned by an evolving, wave-like movement – continuous cycles stretching/compressing/proliferating. There is a strong connection to the sea, as in [… and…11], composed in 2002. A passacaglia of seven chords, gradually permutating until they eventually assemble into reverse order, form the ground or ‘canvas’. The various textural and linear surfaces of the piece all emerge from this ground as reflections, extensions, compressions, or distillations of the core material. Quarter-tones (division of the chromatic scale into 24 tones instead of the usual 12) enrich and intensify the harmony while rendering it more tactile and less pitch-defined.
Review:
“The 7-minute a gentle infinity…is both atmospheric and deft in Ker’s handling of a large orchestra, subtly dynamic (not least in the use of percussion), edgily communicative, and vibrant in its imagery; a piece full of good things, arguably cut off prematurely. Conducted by Pavel Kotla, the LSO once again suggested that Ker (in attendance) is a composer to watch out for.”
A Musical Party was commissioned by the New Zealand Accordion Association (NZAA) to commemorate their 30th anniversary in June 2001. The weekend and Musical Party was dedicated to Silvio De Pra, honouring him for his outstanding contribution to the accordion in New Zealand. He has chaired the Accordion Examination Board of NZ Inc. since its inception in 1972 and been chief examiner since 1992.
A Musical Party was premiered by a massed accordion orchestra and conducted by the composer, Gary Daverne. It was later revised and arranged for solo accordion and symphony orchestra, which is the version that appears here.
Ecstasy of Flight captures a moment in the life of a child who longed for a companion in her isolated life in the precise middle of nowhere. She was visited by a powerful dream, of wings, the curling of the wind in the cloud-tops, the perfect peace of the blue land of the sun, and the shape of the world as one great, majestic song. That was the moment in her life from which she could look back later as an adult composer and say that it all began.
Fault had its genesis in the line ‘phrases shifting tectonically’ from an electro-acoustic work by John Cousins, and suggestions of subterranean tension and earthquake are perhaps audible. Fault was written in 2004 and was workshopped by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. It was premiered by the NZSO at the 2007 Asia Pacific Festival.
Feral is the story of a creature that lives somewhere humans seldom go. His environment is dank and dark. Sunlight seldom penetrates the tree canopy – day is differentiated from night only by a thin translucent film. This area is down the side of a hill in a remote, inhospitable valley not easily accessed by others. Perhaps it’s a forbidding lost world at the back of your garden.
The creature is aggressive, easily spurned, and thoroughly anti-social – both by environment and by choice. He has no need of a name, because nobody ever sees him long enough to give him one – or at least nobody lives to tell the tale. You find yourself on his turf. Nobody can hear you.
You’re never to be heard from again.
Feral was workshopped by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and conductor Hamish McKeich as a finalist in the 2009 NZSO/Todd Corporation Young Composers Competition. The piece was highly commended through winning the Orchestra’s Choice Award.