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2222 (with doublings); 4331; 2perc, timp; strs.

This orchestral work with mezzo-soprano and baritone soloists was commissioned anonymously for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and is inspired by “Macbeth” Act IV Sc III. The text is by Patrick McGuire and the work is in seven movements.

• Cresswell: A Modern Ecstasy; facsimile 

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• Cresswell: A Modern Ecstasy; facsimile 

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• Lyell Cresswell: Orchestral Music -1  Year: 1991 

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3343, 3310, harp, timp., 3 perc., strings, mezzo-soprano

In 1909 Alice Adcock, a lively and adventurous young woman from Manchester, was on her way to New Zealand. She was 23, and had recently developed TB, for which there was then no cure. Somehow she persuaded her widowed father to let her travel alone to the other side of the world in case a healthy climate would save her life. (It worked – she lived for another 50 years). The family kept her entertaining letter describing shipboard life, and a few postcards from her have also survived, but most of what we know about her time in New Zealand comes from her father’s letters to her, of which he kept copies, or from family tradition. On her arrival in New Zealand, Alice went into service, travelling widely, much to the consternation of her father. As housekeeper (and the only woman) on a farm in Makarora (a remote settlement on Lake Wanaka) she became pregnant to an unknown man, but was ‘rescued’ by marriage to a local farmer, Charles Pipson, shortly before the birth of her daughter. In 1911, her beloved father died; in 1912, Alice and Charles had a son and the following year, pregnant again, Alice took her children back to England to visit her family. Tragically, while she was away, her husband died suddenly of typhoid fever. Alice hurried back to Makarora to claim her inheritance, but left the two babies with her brother Sam and his wife (who were shortly to emigrate to New Zealand) and took only her eldest child, the illegitimate one, with her. This outraged her sisters-in-law, who saw it as an insult to their dead brother; they sent her away from the farm empty-handed. Once again she had to take a housekeeping job, this time in the North Island. In 1914, Alice and her brother’s family met up again, and Alice began a new life. (Fleur Adcock – abridged) The music of Alice is text-driven, ranging between a language at times extremely simple, as was the basic musical language of the settlers, and at times quite complex, evoking a storm at sea, or the unease of the settlers in a new environment, or Alice’s reaction to the problems which beset her. The piece is held together by various referential motifs. The initial idea, which perhaps suggests the instability of the sea, is also present in the bell-like sounds marking Charles’ death, music associated with a storm at sea is later associated with mental stress, while music suggestive of the movement of shipboard lice later underlies Alice’s traumatic encounter with her sisters-in-law.

There are eight sections, which often merge into one another: 1. in a letter to her father, Alice describes shipboard life; 2. in New Zealand, she compares her past life and hopes for the future; 3. a dialogue between father and daughter, expressed through their letters; 4. in Makarora, Alice discovers she is pregnant; 5. Alice hears of her father’s death; 6. in England, she learns of her husband’s death; 7. back in Makarora, Alice is turned away by her sisters-in-law; 8. turning her back on the South Island, Alice looks forward to her new life with her brother’s family in the north.

While writing this piece, I was drawn again and again into the thought that, although this is a true story, set in a particular place at a certain time, it has the resonances of a universal myth, known to all of us who live here. Our forebears, or we ourselves, have crossed the seas to begin a new life, with unforeseen and unimaginable difficulties and felicities, whether ten years, a century or a millennium or so ago.

• Whitehead: Alice; computer-set 

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• Whitehead: Alice; computer-set 

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• Whitehead: Alice; computer-set 

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• Gillian Whitehead: Alice; audio 

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• Whitehead: Quintet and Alice  

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• Gillian Whitehead: Alice 

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(1)11(1)22; 4331; timp., perc. (3), hp; mezzo soprano; strings

• Cresswell: Canterbury Rhymes; computer-set 

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3+pc,3+ca,3+bs-cl,3+c-bn; 4331;3perc,timp,hp;strs and solo cello.

An essay in tension between soloist and orchestra. In the first movement long cello solos are contrasted with outbursts from the orchestra; in the second movement cello and orchestra merge – the cello sound coloured by various doublings; and the last movement is a moto perpetuo again contrasting soloist with orchestra. Premiered by cellist Alexander Baillie, conducted by Matthias Bamert and the Scottish National Orchestra.

• Cresswell: Cello Concerto; facsimile 

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• Lyell Cresswell: Orchestral Music -1  Year: 1991 

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3*2*3*2; 4231; timp., perc. (3), hp; strings Percussion 1: tubular bells, 2 temple blocks (high and low), tam tam; Percussion 2: vibraphone; Percussion 3: marimba, glockenspiel, tam tam

• Blake: Concerto Aoraki; computer-set 

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• Blake: Concerto Aoraki 

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piano and double wind orchestra, with slightly extended percussion section

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra is untitled but the music is hardly “absolute”. On the contrary, it is often extroverted, evocative, and full of passionate expression. The piece is both a concerto, in terms of the amount of writing for the piano (including three extended cadenzas), and also a symphony since it has an equally demanding role for the orchestra. The relationship between the two forces alternates between independence and embracement.


The first movement, in moderate tempo, is lyrical in nature and evolves around singing lines. The melodic style shares similarities with the music of some of the nationalities of Southern China, for example, of the Miao people.


The second movement has a long slow introduction which unfolds from a series of mysterious chords. They form the basis for the rest of the movement that becomes fast and virtuosic, combining dancing rhythms and long melodic lines. The whole work evokes an atmosphere of songs and dances of ancient times.

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra was commissioned by Professor Jack Richards who is an ardent supporter of New Zealand music. I played the 1st performance with New Zealand Symphony Orchestra conducted by Keneth Young in the Wellington Town Hall in May 2008.

Gao Ping, August 2008

• Gao: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra; computer-set 

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• Gao Ping: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra 

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The composer writes: "Movements 3, 4, 5 and 6 were written before Edward (Harper) died, but he was already ill with cancer and the whole concerto was written under the shadow of this.

The first movement, Funeral March, opens with a sequence of low six-note chords in the piano. These chords provide the basis for the complete concerto and are treated in various contrasting ways in each movement. The orchestra becomes an extension of the piano, sustaining these chords and taking them where the piano can’t go. The concerto is not a confrontation between soloist and orchestra – the piano is more like another section of the orchestra. A slow throbbing, but varying, pulse runs through the Funeral March – first in the harp, sometimes the timpani, sometimes pizzicato and, at the climax, with brass and woodwind. In the following tranquil Adagio the six-note chords are turned into serene melodic lines with quiet sustained chords in the strings. The first scherzo is short, fast and restless. The central movement, Addolorato (distressed, grieved, upset), is, in turn, slow and reflective (in the piano), and querulous and disturbing (in the orchestra), posing questions rather than offering solutions. The second scherzo is fast, light and fleeting – with a hushed centre. The second Adagio is composed of slow, unsettled and quiet chords leading to an angry outburst at the climax, and the pace in the final presto is only interrupted briefly with some reference to Adagio 1."

Extract from a review by Michael Tumelty for “The Herald” in Scotland, 19 March 2012.: “Stars of the night were Lyell Cresswell, for his volcanic, volatile Piano Concerto, and pianist Stephen de Pledge for his powerhouse delivery, with its sledgehammer force and shockingly steel-like clarity in the poignant, reflective moments in the music.”

• Cresswell: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra; computer-set 

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• Lyell Cresswell: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra 

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• Whitehead: Eleanor of Aquitaine; facsimile 

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• Whitehead: Eleanor of Aquitaine; facsimile 

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(1)2121;2220;3perc, kybds,hp;strs (10-8-6-6-4) and tape.

• Jonathan Besser: Jean - The Ballet  Year: 1990 

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• SOUNZfine Volume 3 

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• New Zealand Composers On Screen 

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• Memory and Desire - soundtrack from the movie  Year: 1997 

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