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‘Alegria’ is an education piece for children of primary school age. It focuses on aspects of rhythm and ostinato, and it is based on the flamenco principle of 3+3+2+2+2 (12 beat cycle). Flamenco music is based on Spanish gypsy music, and is often accompanied by clapping, so there are clapping parts included for members of the orchestra. The audience may learn the simple clapping patterns so they can accompany the orchestra when they hear the patterns. The central section in 5/8 is intended as an asymmetrical contrast to the duple and triple meters of the outer sections. “Alegria” means ‘joy’ or ‘happiness’ in Spanish.

• Grenfell: Alegria; computer-set 

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• Grenfell: Alegria; computer set 

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• Maria Grenfell: Alegria and River Mountain Sky 

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Arapatiki was commissioned by Stephen De Pledge as one of a series of Landscape preludes, and received its first performance in the Wigmore Hall, London, in January, 2004. Arapatiki translates (from the Maori language) as ‘the way of the flounder’, and is the ancient name of the sand flats in front of my house at Harwood, near Dunedin. The piece has something to do with the advance and retreat of the tide across the flats, where many species of sea and water birds spend much of the day – an ever-varying water-scape. The opening idea is based on the song of the korimako or bellbird.

• Whitehead: Arapatiki; computer-set 

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• Whitehead: Arapatiki; computer-set 

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• Landscape Preludes  Year: 2011 

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• Gillian Whitehead: Arapatiki; video 

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• Gillian Whitehead: Various Works 

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• Stephen de Pledge - Landscape Preludes  

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• Stephen de Pledge plays Arapatiki by Gillian Whitehead 

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• Tuhonohono: Music by Gillian Whitehead 

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• An Interview with Gillian Whitehead 

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• Stephen de Pledge: Three Landscape Preludes  Year: 2004 

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• Gillian Whitehead: Arapātiki CD  Year: 2012 

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The title of this work may seem unexpected as there is no ‘Concert Grosso No. 1’ in my list of works! However I’ve always considered my 1985 work for strings and percussion ‘Well Done, Mister Bach’ to be a concerto grosso. That work features the leaders of all five string parts as a ‘concertante’ group. In a more traditional Baroque manner, this work features just the leaders of the first and second violin and cello sections as the soloists. My intention with the work was to write something in the manner of a Baroque concerto grosso, drawing inspiration from typical styles of the period. Mixed in are my own musical and compositional preferences, so that in the end the piece might be described as ‘Baroque meets minimalism’. I finally gave into the temptation to give the three movements titles. The title, ‘Prelude’, of the first movement is a little ironic as it is longer than the remaining two movements combined. The second movement, ‘Air on a Shoestring’ suggests a rather brief, perhaps truncated air, in this case, a piece which fails to return to its home key. The final movement is in the manner of a Baroque fugue, I knew that university paper would finally come in useful one day!. ‘Concert Grosso No. 2’ was commissioned by the Music Department of St Cuthbert’s College in Auckland, and follows a commission from them the previous year for ‘Whisper to me’ (for choir, strings and percussion).

• Hamilton: Concerto Grosso No. 2; computer-set 

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• Hamilton: Concerto Grosso No.2; computer-set 

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Written for the 2004 Douglas Lilburn Trust Composition Prize competition, Fanfare of the Earth dates from my second year of undergrad at the University of Auckland. The première was by a scratch ensemble in the Prize Gala Concert. Due to the difficulty in scheduling and assembling 11 brass players (an unwieldy task I set myself mostly to prove I could), the one and only rehearsal finished 55 minutes before the gig. The performance was, as I remember, functional to put it kindly; dodgy to put it honestly; a bit shit, to be blunt.

Losing nearly all of my Sibelius files in a hard drive crash the following year, it was only on paper that this piece languished in my archives (a Bernadino wine box in my parents’ attic). But when Lee Martelli, Education Manager of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, mentioned to me that she’s always on the look-out for brass music, I saw a chance to literally dust off and figuratively resuscitate it. Inputting it into Sibelius again (and reflecting on how that software has changed – what wonders Dynamic Parts and Magnetic Layout are!) I’ve made revisions, mostly to articulation, phrasing and dynamics.

The piece itself then? I suppose I should say something about it. So…
It’s a fanfare… and it’s written for brass… kind of does what it says on the tin, really. No complex layers here.

• Ellis: Fanfare of the Earth; computer set 

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• Ellis: Fanfare of the Earth; computer set 

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• Ellis: Fanfare of the Earth; computer set 

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• Hamilton: Folk Song Suite for Strings; computer-set 

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• Hamilton: Folk Song Suite for Strings; computer-set 

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• Hamilton: Folk Song Suite for Strings; computer set 

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• Morgan: idiosyncrasies; computer set 

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• Morgan: idiosyncrasies; computer set 

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• Morgan: idiosyncrasies; computer set 

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• Three Generations 

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In writing this piece I was influenced by the concept of differing perspectives of time and also by Berio’s Sequenzas. I have tried to incorporate his idea of creating a polyphonic type of listening through the use of contrasting motifs, textures and tempi. The title for the work came during the writing process and led the piece to be slightly programmatic. According to Maori legend, Pania is a sea-goddess who ventured onto land only at night. There she met a man who later became her husband and together the couple bore a son. Wishing his family wouldn’t return to the sea with every sunrise, the husband cast a spell on the pair. The spell however, had the opposite effect. Pania and the boy returned to the sea forever where she became a reef, lying with her arms outstretched towards her husband.

• Morgan: Pania; computer set 

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• Morgan: Pania; computer-set 

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• Works by Rachael Morgan 

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• Crehan: Soft Leaf Falls of Light; computer-set 

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Stellar Meditations is a series of musical meditations on “Ave Maris Stella” (Hail O Star of the Ocean) a popular liturgical chant of unknown origin. It can be dated back to at least the 9th century for it is preserved in the Codex Sangallensis, a 9th century manuscript now in the Swiss Monastery of St. Gallen.

Two sound images permeate the piece. One is an ocean image of gentle wave surges and is heard in the introduction. The other is a bell sound which appears in the mallet percussion instruments with resonances in the harmony of muted cornets and trombones. This harmony consists of perfect intervals; fourths and fifths which are subsequently spiced by bell-like tone qualities which create colourful brass sounds.

Structurally, Stellar Meditations consists of an introduction and three chorales separated by two interludes and followed by a coda. The chorales feature the full brass while the interludes and coda are delicately scored in a contrapuntal texture.

• Rimmer: Stellar Meditations; computer-set 

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• Rimmer: Stellar Meditations; computer set 

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• Rimmer: Stellar Meditations; computer set 

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This work was written for the Taharoto Orchestra – a group consisting of students from both Westlake Girls and Westlake Boys High Schools conducted by Liz Cable.

The name ‘Taharoto’ is derived from two Maori words and is an approximation of the idea of ‘Westlake’. Literally it means ‘beside’ (taha) ‘lake’ (roto). The lake is Lake Pupuke on Auckland’s North Shore. A feature of the lake is the swans, and the symbol for Westlake Girls High School is the swan. I was asked to include ideas of the lake covered in mist and the swans taking flight, but also to include music which suggested aspects of the characters of the students at Westlake Girls High School: generous, assertive and energetic!

Overall the music has a sense of spaciousness, building to an emphatic climax, and subsiding into silence again at the end. The music includes some ‘contemporary’ playing techniques for the string players, with some more challenging parts for the leading wind players.

• Hamilton: Taharoto; computer-set 

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• Hamilton: Taharoto; computer set 

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