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Fl(2), Ob (2), Bsn(2), Tpt (2), Timp, Organ, Vln1, Vln2, Vla, Vc, Db with SATB choir

A setting that incorporates new and old styles of composition, the work evolved from the two-trumpet figure opening the work.

• Bell: Magnificat Antiquitatis; computer set 

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• Bell: Magnificat Antiquitatis; computer set 

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• Michael Bel: Magnificat Antiquitatis 

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soprano and alto soloists, mixed-voice SSATB 'youth' choir, large mixed-voice choir, 3 tpt, 3 tbn, 5 perc., 2 harps, strings (at least 66442)

When I was initially approached to write this work to celebrate Auckland Choral’s 150th anniversary, I knew I wanted to write a piece that would be accessible, both chorally and instrumentally, to the wider choral community. I wanted it to have a life beyond that of the specific occasion for which it was commissioned. I was also keen to include a ‘youth’ choral element.

My first decisions concerned the text. I felt that in writing a work for New Zealand’s oldest arts organisation, I wanted to set one of the texts traditionally associated with a large symphonic choir. Hence the Latin Mass as the basis of the text. I also wanted to include elements which would place the work securely in the Asia/Pacific area. New Zealand is uniquely placed between these two areas of the world, and increasingly looks in both directions for its cultural identity. The ‘additional’ texts are drawn from New Zealand, Pacific and Asian sources. While the main choir largely sings the traditional Latin text, the ‘youth’ choir and soloists sing the other texts. At times this distinction is blurred, most notably towards the end of the work. I also wanted to avoid writing a work that became a catalogue of ‘trendy effects’ and ethnic/cultural associations. I’ve used specific musical allusions sparingly in both the choral parts and the scoring. (Hence also the deliberate spelling ‘Pacifica’ rather than ‘Pasifika’.)

The instrumentation is the same as that of Bernstein’s ‘Chichester Psalms’. This was a practical decision. It is an ensemble that is not hard to assemble: 3 each of trumpets and trombones, 5 percussionists, 2 harps, and strings. It also provides the Bernstein with a companion piece suitable to fill out a concert.

The opening ‘Kyrie’ begins with a distant voice suggesting a Maori ‘karanga’ a calling together. The music then becomes more rhythmic with the women’s voices presenting a lyrical melody. The men’s voices enter at the ‘Christe eleison’, with the repeat of the ‘Kyrie’ introducing the two solo voices. The second movement combines a traditional Maori text of unknown authorship with Joy Cowley’s bi-lingual Morning Blessing. The percussionists suggest the rhythmic sound of pois, while the upper strings and harps suggest a guitar (a guitar may also be added). The ‘youth’ choir sings the Maori text while the women of the main choir sing the English words of the Cowley text, and the men the Maori words.

The next four movements set the text of the ‘Gloria’. The third movement begins with lively and rhythmic music, giving way later to more sustained singing. The end of the movement pays homage to the ‘Chichester Psalms’ where the opening rhythmic music returns quietly against as sustained note in the choir, emulating the end of the second movement of the Bernstein. The fourth movement, ‘Domine Deus’ is for soprano solo, while the fifth movement ‘Qui tollis’ features both soloists. The sixth movement initially features the alto soloist, with the main choir soon joining in. The music is lively until more sustained music from the first part of the ‘Gloria’ returns at the words ‘Cum Sancto Spiritu…’. Finally the opening ‘Gloria’ music returns and the movement ends with a noisy and energetic ‘Amen’.

The seventh movement features the ‘youth’ choir with just the percussion section. Here the music suggests a type of Pacific Island choral singing, using a ‘call and response’ technique typical of such choral traditions and also of many Afro-American spirituals. The text is a simple entreaty to God, sung in the Tongan language.

This work is essentially a ‘missa brevis’, a Mass without the Credo. Once I reached the Credo text it became obvious that to include it would mean a work of more substantial length than required. However I decided to include a short instrumental movement, as a meditation on that text. While working on the music I added the two solo voices as well, they sing the opening and closing lines of the Credo text. It is a dark, brooding and questioning movement. Following a brief dissonant opening section, the music develops into a long slow canon for the strings and harps. Once the voices enter, the preceding music reappears with a simpler harmonic framework. The movement ends rather abruptly although quite gently, but still without a sense of complete resolution.

The Sanctus allows the men’s voices a chance to feature. After two attempts at writing a noisy vigorous movement, I ended up writing music that starts gently and rather like plainsong – the music is marked ‘reverently’. The ‘Pleni sunt coeli’ section begins softly, but gradually as more voice parts enter, it builds to a massive climax. The music returns briefly to a softer and more reflective mood at the end of the movement.

The Benedictus returns to music from the Quoniam section of the Gloria. The traditional Latin text is replaced by a Maori translation of the words. The soprano soloist has a melodic line that at times suggests the contour of traditional chant. The Hosanna (‘Ohana i runga rawa’) has the main choir alternating bold tonal chords with the treble voices of the youth choir. While writing this movement I felt I wanted something to complement the energetic and noisy singing, and finally decide to incorporate a setting of ‘Whisper to me’, a lullaby text by Patricia Grace. This work already existed as an independent piece having been commissioned by St Cuthbert’s College (Auckland) in 2003. The words, partly in English and partly in Maori, provide a beautiful counterpoint to the blessing of the preceding music.

The lively eleventh movement mixes the Agnus Dei text with a Maori hymn text by Hirini Melbourne. The words speak of being ‘cleansed by the wind, washed by the rain’. The women of the main choir sing a simple counter-melody part based on the chorale from the fifth movement. I wanted to include texts beyond the immediate Pacific area, to acknowledge that New Zealand is also part of Asia. I finally found the poem ‘Outing’ by noted Singaporean poet Edwin Thumboo. Professor Thumboo is Director of the Centre for the Arts at the National University of Singapore. The text begins ‘Therefore bring your words with you. They grow in number, shuffle, show disquiet…’, and this seemed to be a wonderful summary of the ideas behind the whole work, a gathering together of diverse texts with their many associations and cultural meanings. The music, sung by the two soloists, is based on music from the canon section of the Credo, somewhat simplified. One of my early choral experiences was to sing in the ‘Dona nobis pacem’ from Bach’s ‘B minor Mass’, and the gradual unfolding of that music is suggested in my own setting of those words. The music which was first heard as the ‘Pleni sunt coeli’ in the Sanctus reappears. At first it appears intermittently, interrupting the text of ‘Outing’, then builds gradually to include the youth choir’s voices in a final climax. ‘Missa Pacifica’ then ends with an extended jubilant ‘Amen’ section.

The premiere of ‘Missa Pacifica’ was scheduled for not long before my fiftieth birthday. It seemed, on reflection, that this major work presents a summary of my compositional style up to this point. I also sense the beginnings of a change to a leaner style in other recent works, so perhaps ‘Missa Pacifica’ marks a watershed moment in my compositional career. ‘Missa Pacifica’ was commissioned by Auckland Choral to mark the choir’s 150th anniversary in 2005. Special thanks go to the authors of the texts used in the work, who so willingly allowed their poetry to be part of this project.

• Hamilton: Missa Pacifica; computer-set 

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• Hamilton: Missa Pacifica; computer-set 

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• Hamilton: Kyrie eleison; computer-set 

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• Missa Pacifica [2004]  Year: 2005 

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for SATB choir, solo soprano, solo tenor, harp, piano, organ and four percussionists ( mark tree(chimes), cymbals (suspended), anvil, tam tam, glockenspiel, vibraphone, temple blocks, xylophone, snare drum, bongo drums, bass drum, timpani).

Dedicated to my father, who died in 1999, the requiem (in nomine patris) started off as an optimistic work, a celebration of life rather than as a morbid fixation on loss. However, the reality of loss and the anger that comes with it soon began to take over the work. It was only after several months of constant revision that any sense of lyricism began to shine through. In the forefront of my mind were my friends Jenny Rowe, Patrick Beraud, Steve Johnson and Judi Pattinson, all bright lights no longer with us but whose spirits live on. They, too, are in the tapestry of this work. Anger at losing them is part of the work, as is deep unutterable sadness but the overriding sense (I hope) is of joy, typified by the uplifting Agnus Dei which concludes the work. The ‘Requiem’ uses parts of the Latin mass interspersed with poetry by Emily Bronte, Walt Whitman, William Drummond, Kahlil Gibran and myself. It is scored for soprano, tenor, choir and small chamber ensemble. The instrumental ensemble provides the rhythmic and harmonic structure of the work but the main focus is the vocal material, the emotional crux of which is the Whitman setting concluding the Recordare. The ‘Requiem’ combines plainsong motifs with dance elements, atonalism with minimalism and extended vocalising to present the requiem in a unique way – the ritual is still there but so is my personal comment on it. The requiem was written for the Jubilate Singers and their conductor John Pattinson and was premiered by them on 31st August 2001 in Christ Church Cathedral, Christchurch, New Zealand.

• Shepherd: Requiem (in nomine patris); computer set 

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• Shepherd: Requiem (in nomine patris); computer set 

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• Patrick Shepherd: Requiem  Year: 2001 

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SATB with organ

Requiem For An Unknown Soldier was written in 2004, as a salute to those who have fallen in so many wars. It is also a statement about the barbaric futility of such conflicts, and the dishonesty of nations who sacrifice their young men, on the pretext that ‘it is a good and noble thing to give one’s life for one’s country.’ ‘Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.’

The work uses traditional Latin texts from various parts of the Requiem Mass, and also settings of words by Wilfred Owen, the First World War poet. The short Requiem takes just over thirty minutes to perform, and requires a four-part choir, soprano and bass/baritone soloists, and organ.

Three movements are a cappella, including the ‘Pie Jesu’ and ‘Agnus Dei’ which have been widely sung in other contexts. The Latin text is well known and gives the work universal acceptance throughout the choral world. The work has been available on the internet since late 2004, and well over a hundred copies have been downloaded. Requiem will be performed in Wanganui on or about Anzac Day 2007; in the northern hemisphere it would usually be performed on or about Remembrance Day 11 November.

Benjamin Britten’s great War Requiem, commissioned for the consecration of Coventry Cathedral in 1962, and secondly by Helen Clark’s determination to have New Zealand’s own Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Wellington. The work’s bitterest moments recall the waste of so many young lives on foreign battlefields. It is not a comfortable work, but the many performances of ‘Pie Jesu’ and ‘Agnus Dei’ show that its quieter and more contemplative moments have general appeal. In contrast, the ‘Dies Irae’ for male voices uses vigorous repeated notes and tumultuous scale passages to conjure up the dreadful Day of Judgement. The ‘Sanctus’ presents unison voices with an opportunity to make a glorious declamation of “Hosanna in excelsis!” Owen’s harrowing words are the most touching moments of the work, and the bass/baritone has the task of communicating the horror of young men thrown into a situation of ‘kill, or be killed’.

• Cruise-Johnston: Requiem for an Unknown Soldier; computer-set 

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