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Bryony Jagger  

A Nursery of Pain

Duration: 15' 00" Year: 1989
for solo treble recorder (with optional spoken voice )

Alexander Cowdell  

A Place of Quiet

Duration: 15' 00" Year: 1987
for solo tenor and chamber orchestra

  • Instrumentation
    flute/picc., 2 clar. (2nd dbls bass cl.); tpt; strings
  • Programme Note

    This composition is a setting of a poem by the Australian philosopher, poet and musician Melvyn Cann. The first part describes a spiritual journey through suffering to transcendence and peace. The second part describes a state of consciousness where both thought and time cease, and only feeling remains.

  • Availability

Eve de Castro-Robinson  

A Resonance of Emerald

Duration: 15' 00" Year: 1988, r. 1990
for mixed chamber ensemble

Craig Utting  

Apocalypse

Duration: 15' 00" Year: 1985
for bass singer and chamber ensemble

Denise Hulford  

Cantata: A Disciple Dreams

Duration: 18' 00" Year: 1985
for soprano, tenor, flute, cello, organ and SATB chorus

Jack Speirs  

Cantico del Sole

Duration: 15' 00" Year: 1989
for soprano soloist, mixed choir and chamber orchestra

  • Instrumentation
    3000;0330; perc, hp, pf; strings
  • Programme Note

    Commissioned by the Schola Cantorum of Dunedin to celebrate its 125th Jubilee in 1988, this work for for soprano soloist, mixed choir and orchestra sets the first part of S. Francesco d’Assisi’s Canticle of Brother Sun.

    The Canticle is an expression of the medieval belief in the beauty, goodness and intelligibility of the created world. It is also an expression of Francis’s own idea of all creation living in a spirit of fraternity and community. This vision of the total reconciliation of humanity with the universe is symbolized in a number of ways. One such is the ordering of the elements in pairs, which combine the masculine and feminine: sun-moon, wind-water, fire-earth.

    In this setting, the soprano soloist represents the feminine principle, and the choir the masculine. A version of the work has been arranged for a smaller orchestra, with organ replacing the strings. The work has been described by one critic as “one of the most exciting and satisfying works for choir and orchestra by a New Zealander”, and by another as a work which “will undoubtedly continue to be performed regularly on account of its accessibility and performability”.

  • Availability

Kit Powell  

Chinese Songs

Duration: 16' 00" Year: 1988
for high soprano and tape

  • Programme Note

    First performed in a concert of the Swiss Computer Music Center with soloist Franziska Staeheli. Later performances in Bern (with a short lecture about it by me) and in Schaffhausen. Bruno Spoerri also played the tape abroad, in a demonstration of our work here.

    Preparation for the work involved analysis of several Chinese instruments; Ch’in (a zither), gong and wood block. The wave analysis was done with a computer program and my imitations were realized on the Computer Music Center’s DMX. There are two sets of texts: from the Tao Te Ching (Lao Tse) and from the I Ching. The Lao Tse texts were chosen by me and set with traditional notation. The I Ching texts were chosen by chance (with the computer) and set with a computer generated graphic notation. Proportions within the piece were also made with a computer program using chance and units of Golden Section. (More details in the introduction to the score).

    This piece could be performed with two singers: one singing the Tao texts, the other singing the I Ching texts.

  • Availability

Bill Barclay  

Circular Concerto

Duration: 15' 00" Year: 1988
for string quartet

Christopher Blake  

Clairmont Triptych

Duration: 15' 00" Year: 1988
for wind quintet and piano

  • Instrumentation
    flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon and piano
  • Programme Note

    Clairmont Triptych was written in fulfilment of a commission by Chamber Music New Zealand for the Auckland Wind Quintet with pianist David Guerin to perform on a New Zealand tour in 1988.

    The music derives its inspiration and impetus from the work of the New Zealand painter Phillip Clairmont (1949 – 1984). He was something of an enfant terrible of the New Zealand art world, living his life and his painting with a reckless passion and energy. His work is vibrant and strong, conveying an intense and energetic power. Aspects of these elements are captured in the music, although it is not programmatic, but connects with paintings through analogy and allusion. Amongst the profusion of themes and ideas there are two prominent recurrent subjects in Clairmont’s work – the domestic interior and the self portrait. These form the thematic base of the first two of the three inter-linked movements of the work. The first movement, Interiors, mirrors the fractured vibrancy of the Clairmont interiors by use of a very fast toccata-like movement in sequences of fluctuating tempo. This creates a continuously “flexing” aural effect which reflects the unsettling quality of the images. The second movement, Self Portraits, uses a recurring three note motif C-B-Bb. These are the composer’s initials (C-H-B in German), thus the self portrait becomes ambiguous. The music seeks to realise to an extent the technique and viewpoint of the self portraits. The third movement, Jimi Rocks, refers to the influence of rock music on Clairmont’s painting, particularly during his studies and the early part of his career in Christchurch. The three movement formal structure is a musical equivalent of the triptych format Clairmont often used in his painting.

  • Availability

Brent Parker  

Concertino No. 2

Duration: 15' 00" Year: 1987
for solo guitar and piano