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Gillian Whitehead  

Moon, Tides and Shoreline

Duration: 15' 00" Year: 1989
for string quartet

  • Programme Note

    In this work, inspired by Paekakariki on the Kapiti Coast – ‘home’ during the composer’s six-week residency at Victoria University in 1989 – the relationship between music and environment is particularly strong. The cello’s low repeated D, which opens the piece, is the fundamental pitch heard in the sea and the restless semi-quavers evoke the continuous movement of waves crashing on the Paekakariki shore. Whitehead’s fascination with medieval philosophy and music, incorporating concepts of natural cycles, is reflected both in the title and in the compositional process, where magic squares were used to generate the background structure.
    (Programme note by Emma Carle and Jack Body).

    “This is a rich evocative piece that is never merely picturesque, as the title might suggest. It has a lyrical complexity reminiscent of Tippett… (it) achieves moments of great beauty.” (Tim Bridgewater, The Dominion).

    “The highlight for me was the premiere of Gillian Whitehead’s Moon Tides, and Shoreline. … Perhaps there are marine associations to be heard in the score, but, more importantly, one appreciates the work’s cool and eminently logical form. The various musical motifs are inventive in themselves and intriguingly handled.” (William Dart, Music in New Zealand)

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Geoffrey Hinds  

String Quartet ('Tale of a City')

Duration: 10' 00" Year: 1989

  • Programme Note

    This is a set of variations inspired by Copland’s Piano Variations and depicting Auckland rather than New York. Beginning quietly and sombrely, it moves steadily towards a fierce climax before dying away with a hint of better things to come. This work was written for the CANZ ’90 series of concerts held at Auckland University. The composer is pleased with it and the way it was performed though it did not receive a very good review in Canzona; it was considered too restricted in its make-up. The composer is unrepentant.

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