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This song cycle for soprano and piano has texts by the composer in Maori and English.

“Awa Herea memorably evokes the physical appearance of symbolic significance of these braided rivers… cosmic weather-driven energy.” (Covell, Sydney Morning Herald).

“Its pace was shrewdly varied and the music encompassed a range of styles – from sung declamation to florid lyricism – without incongruity.” (Jack, Independent).

“The cycle displays all the characteristics of her [Gillian Whitehead’s] mature work. The vocal line is at once exultant and contemplative, the piano writing incisive or lulling; the formal shaping novel yet accessible. It is a memorable piece, filled with the energetic spirit of the natural world and finding through that spirit its own serenity.”

• Whitehead: Awa Herea; computer-set 

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• Whitehead: Awa Herea; computer-set 

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• Whitehead: Awa Herea; facsimile 

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• NZIAF: Gillian Whitehead Portrait; part 2 

  CD
  

• Waikohu: Mere Boynton and Friends 

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• Tracey Chadwell's Songbook  Year: 1995 

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• Ears Wide Open Taringa Areare Education Resource CD  Year: 2000 

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• John Rimmer: Fleeting Images  Year: 1993 

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• Buchanan: Carnival of New Zealand Creatures; computer-set 

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In 3 movements, this work was reviewed as follows, “There are proper tunes, there are pattems that can be traced, brass and percussion in abundance, and rhythms that dance light off the stage at you.” Christchurch Press 11-95. This work was commissioned and premiered by the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra.

• Norman: Concerto; computer-set 

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• Orchestra Works: Body and Norman 

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• Scholes: Islands II (2nd movement)  

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• Different Tracks  Year: 1993 

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First performed by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Joseph Swenson with Christian Lindberg as soloist in St. Andrews 18 February 1998.

‘Kaea’: a wooden Maori war trumpet, somewhere between four and six feet in length with a diameter of about one inch at the blowing end widening to about eight inches at the bell. It was made of hollow sections of wood lashed together with a flax cord. Wedges of wood were glued to the bell to amplify and direct the sound. Inside the bell end it was fitted with a tongue or vibrating reed. The sound was loud and booming and was used to raise the alarm in times of danger or to terrify the enemy by shouting curses through it.

• Cresswell: Kaea; computer-set 

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• Cresswell: Kaea; computer-set 

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• Lyell Cresswell: The Voice Inside 

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Maui Tikitiki a Taranga (“Maui formed in the topknot of Taranga”) was a demi-god found in the tribal myths of the Māori people of New Zealand.

Maui, the fifth and youngest child, was born at the edge of the sea. His mother, Taranga, thought he was stillborn, and wrapped him in a tuft of her hair and set him adrift. He was cared for by the seaweed until a breeze blew him ashore, where he was saved and brought up by one of his great-ancestors.

Maui was a great prankster. In one of his mischievous moods he decided to put out all the fires in the world. To bring fire back, he had to find Mahuika, the goddess of fire. He was awestruck upon meeting her, but decided to play a trick on her by taking fire from her fingernails one at a time, until she realised his game and threw fire to the ground, catching everything alight. Maui changed himself into a hawk to escape the flames, which singed his feathers. He called upon his ancestor to send rain and drench the fire, depriving Mahuika of her powers.

Maui decided to defeat death by journeying to where the earth meets the sky, where lived his great-ancestress Hine nui te po (“Great Hine the Night”). He was accompanied by many birds, and told them his plan to enter the body of the sleeping Hine and so defeat death. The birds sat quietly trying not to laugh as Maui, in the form of a caterpillar, crawled towards Hine. Suddenly the fantail could be quiet no longer and laughed aloud, dancing about with delight. Hine awoke with a start, realised Maui’s trickery, and he was killed.

• Maria Grenfell: Maui Tikitiki a Taranga - hardcopy score 

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• Maria Grenfell: Maui Tikitiki a Taranga - downloadable PDF 

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• Maria Grenfell: Maui Tikitiki a Taranga - hire set 

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• Maria Grenfell: Maui tikitiki a Taranga; audio 

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• Grenfell: Four Works 

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• Grenfell: Maui Tikitiki a Taranga; cassette 

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• Norman/Grenfell/MacKenzie; cassette 

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Nga Tapuwae o Kupe is a music drama directed by Rangimoana Taylor. It is based on the story of Kupe’s journey from Hawaiki to Aotearoa and his discovery of various landmarks around Whanganui-a-Tara / the Wellington region.

While this work maintains a strong Maori theme, with karanga, haka and waiata, as well it weaves in other Pacific and European elements.

For school choir, instrumentalists, dancers and kapa haka, this work was composed with the financial assistance of a composition grant from Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council, was first performed by 140 students from South Wellington Intermediate School in July 1992 for Artsplash, the Wellington Young People’s Festival.

• Fisher: Nga Tapuwae o Kupe; facsimile 

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• Fisher: Nga Tapuwae o Kupe; facsimile 

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• Helen Fisher: Works 1  Year: 1992 

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This work for orchestra and organ was commissioned by Uwe Alexander-Grodd and the St. Matthews Chamber Orchestra and premiered in November 1996. Based on Maori themes, it is in three movements.

• John Wells: Organ Concerto (organ part) - hardcopy score 

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• Wells plays Wells 

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Composed using a style located somewhere between Prokofiev and the neo-classicism of the 1920s and 30s with a little Messiaen and musical quotations thrown in along the way.

• Carey: Pastiche Sonata; facsimile 

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• Carey: Pastiche Sonata; facsimile 

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