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• Hall: a splinter of silence in the belly of time; facsimile 

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• Hall: a splinter of silence in the belly of time 

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• Neville Hall: Selected Works 

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The electronic part for this work was prepared in the computer music studio of Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, using real-time granular synthesis to process samples produced by the viola. A small resource of bowed and plucked sounds has been treated in this way to produce a large-scale mosaic of sounds to background the solo viola part, which explores playing techniques involving small changes, drifts, in pitch. For instance the opening is played with the fingers in closer than normal position to produce rhythmic patterns on very small intervals, a technique which recurs as a sort of technical motto throughout, and later material makes considerable use of much larger slides to produce a very fluid melody in the upper reaches of the instrument.

The first performance was given by violist David Nalden in the
ExtravaCANZa festival at Victoria University of Wellington in November 1994. David Nalden describes ‘Drift’ as ‘a vast soundscape of seemingly infinite varieties of colour, pitch and rhythm which bore as much resemblance to the sequence of sounds in my initial recording as a luxuriant garden to a handful of seeds which had given it its existence.’

• Elmsly: Drift; computer-set 

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• Elmsly: Drift; facsimile 

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In 1994 I kept a musical diary. At the time I had been in Slovenia for a year and, being a saxophonist myself, I was practising the saxophone most days but did not have a lot of contact with other musicians. Perhaps it was natural that this diary took the form of a rather inward looking set of pieces for solo saxophone. The result was a set of pieces concerned equally with saxophone technique (more specifically, with my own technical explorations at the time) and the compositional problems that I was then concerned with.

The saxophone techniques employed will be obvious at first listening. They include multiphonics (especially the filtering of multiphonics), quarter tones, an extended pitch range and an extended palette of dynamics and articulations.

As a composer, I was working on a graphic system for notating dynamics, which allowed dynamic “shapes” to be much more structurally significant in my music. New notations were also employed for microscopic pitch changes and for rhythm. The organisation of pitch is an ongoing concern for most composers and each of the pieces in this collection reflects a slightly different approach to this problem. Some of the solutions worked out here were later applied to larger scale pieces. The use of silence is another area that has often attracted my attention. In the third piece of this collection I have tried to “foreground” silence by introducing an alternative element as the “ground” of the piece.

Apart from these compositional concerns there is the central problem of building form with sound, which is particularly acute when writing for a single instrument. I have tried to avoid linear formal processes, preferring to disperse the unfolding of events, often resulting in a kind of spiral motion where a variety of elements are developed more or less simultaneously.

• Hall: some points in time, book I; facsimile 

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This string quartet is performed as one movement. The first section is predominantly contrapuntal, including the opening bars where each performer sings ‘Aue’ (meaning ‘Alas!’, a Maori acclamation in some waiata tangi). The work continues with a section which features solo cello, followed by dance and song-like sections.

Much of the work is based on the intervals of a minor third, semitone and tone. Karanga, Maori song-calls, performed by women on the marae to welcome or farewell people, are one source of inspiration for this piece. A characteristic musical feature of karanga is a long drawn out cry (glissando). Since there is often more than one caller on the marae, it is not uncommon for the calls to overlap.

In October 1994 the New Zealand String Quartet gave its premiere performance at Lower Hutt. It is described as “quite probably the most successful synthesis of the contemporary Maori and European sound worlds.” Dominion 16-9-95.

• Fisher: String Quartet; computer set 

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• Fisher: String Quartet; computer set 

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• Helen Fisher: Matairangi  Year: 1998 

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In New Zealand there has been a reluctance on the part of pakeha men to move to music. Perhaps it is our Victorian background that makes us feel silly and self-conscious when dancing. We pefer to sit back and be still, like the Tuatara.

In this piece, the old reptile (Tuatara) shakes off his passive past and moves to some more contemporary-sounding dance rhythms. The work is in a continuous movement, divided into several sections. It opens with an ironical glance at the atonal past before flicking it away, like a fly. A jaunty ‘Tuatara’ theme is played on clarinet over bass ostinati, leading to a more vibrant and lively theme. While the first section is earthy and physical in character, the second is a fantasy, full of ethereal images. The initial delicate waltz theme develops and grows into a more menacing idea, before fading back into the ‘Tuatara’ theme. The rest of the piece comprises various dances that adopt certain styles: jazz, folky, rock. A gypsy-like theme combines with a version of ‘God Defend NZ’ in a section where pakeha men are on their feet! The finale uses log drum and Pacific Island rhythms to bring the piece to an exciting conclusion.

• Ritchie A.: The Tuatara Dances; facsimile 

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• Anthony Ritchie: Tuatara Dances 

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