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Poems of a Bright Moon for flute/alto flute, clarinet and piano was inspired by the Hsiang-Yang Songs of Li Po, an 8th-century Chinese poet of the T’ang Dynasty (ca.618-906 A.D.).

On a visit to New Mexico in the United States, the discovery of the poet William Carlos Williams and the art work of Georgia O’Keeffe led to the poetry of Li Po, which conjures up visions of mountains and rivers, also very much part of the New Mexico landscape. Li Po was something of a mischievous travelling minstrel and liked to indulge in the drink somewhat. A legend says that “while out drunk in a boat, he fell into a river and drowned trying to embrace the moon.”

The moon appears in over a third of his poems, and the opportunity to combine Li Po’s images of moonlight with the rich dark tones of the alto flute was irresistible. The individual titles of the movements of this piece come directly from the poems, and the music attempts to evoke the spirit of the titles: Hsien mountain rises above emerald Han river, On a moonlit night, a recluse plays his pale white ch’in and A pure ten-thousand-mile wind arrives.

Poems of a Bright Moon was commissioned by Ethos trio with funding assistance from Creative New Zealand.

• Grenfell: Poems of a Bright Moon; computer set 

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• Grenfell: Poems of a bright moon; computer-set 

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• Grenfell: Poems of a Bright Moon; computer set 

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• Poems of a Bright Moon 

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• Music by Maria Grenfell 

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• NZ Composers - Whitehead and Grenfell  

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Seven bagatelles featuring (in numbers one to four) triadic motion, step-wise melodic figures and canonic movement; the fifth bagatelle is a recomposition of a late Beethoven Bagatelle; number six is scored for oboe and marimba and is a gentle melody and accompaniment; while the seventh bagatelle of the set is a passacaglia where the triadic and harmonic movement of the earlier pieces is effectively combined. Composed while I was Mozart Fellow at the University of Otago, and dedicated to Yasuko Takahashi and ‘Le Ciel Bleu’ of Antwerp.

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The idea for this piece began with the Portuguese word “sono” which describes the felling of wanting to go to sleep – but in a mental rather than a physical way. In the case of this piece, the desire for sleep is inspired by wanting to rejoin a dream – and in my experience, it is always impossible to do this once having woken up.

The trio begins with an impassioned even which soon disappears, leaving the piano alone to dream about it – and you will hear a repeating note emerge which sits throughout the music, representing the real world lingering in the background. Around this note, the dream wander, in chords and gestures on the piano, and in deep breaths and ascending melodies on the strings, which never quite seem to arrive at thier destination.

Victoria Kelly
Notes taken from The NZTrio – Spark, Morrison Music Trust MMT2066

• Victoria Kelly - composer  Year: 1994 

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• New Zealand Trio - Spark  Year: 2004 

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