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The Concerto was commissioned by Matthew Marshall and the Wellington Regional Orchestra (now Vector Wellington Orchestra), completed in May 1992 for a first performance planned for November 1992, and later postponed until May 1993.

This work is in three movements (quick – slow – quick), but these are connected by cadenza-like links for the guitar soloist, so that the music is continuous. In view of the balance problems in a guitar concerto I have written for a small orchestra (flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, percussion and strings), and treated the relationship between solo and orchestra in a concertante style – sharing material rather than opposing each other, and aiming throughout to make the guitar easily audible. Dance rhythms, with touches of rhumba and jazz, predominate in the quick movements, while the slow central movement uses variable speed tremolo on the guitar to enhance its singing qualities.

• Farquhar: Concerto for guitar and small orchestra; facsimile 

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• Farquhar: Concerto; facsimile 

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• Farquhar: Concerto for guitar and small orchestra; facsimile 

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• Ritchie, J.: Concerto for Saxophone; computer set 

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• Ritchie J.: Concerto for Alto Saxophone; computer-set 

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• John Ritchie: Concerto - 3rd movement; audio 

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• John Ritchie: Concerto - 2nd movement; audio 

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• John Ritchie: Concerto - 1st movement; audio 

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This is a quirky but also soulful piece for an unusual and beautiful instrument. It is reasonably easy to play for the orchestra. It was commissioned by saxophonist, Mark Hobson. It lasts 17 minutes. (The original title of this work was Cartoon: Fantasy for Soprano Saxophone and orchestra)

• Ritchie A.: Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra (Cartoon); facsimile 

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The Double Concerto was designed to explore the unusal combination of solo instruments, extend the soloists and, at the same time, be performable by regional orchestras.

The opening movement has a lilting quality and is based on the Brahms’ lullaby, which only appears (abridged) at the end, played on glockenspiel. The three themes that appear in this movement are related, in some way, to this lullaby. The movement is dedicated to my daughter Annabelle, who was born some months before the composition of this work. A short melody based on letters from her name (A-A-B-E-E) is played by the soloists in the coda.

By contrast, the second movement is fast and jagged, with a somewhat playful second theme shared between the soloists and woodwinds. The main theme has a toccata-like quality, and builds up to a strong conclusion.

Whereas birth was the theme behind the first movement, it is death that concerns the third, and in particular the sudden death of a close friend and musician, Angela Campbell, at the time of writing this concerto. It is an intimate piece for the two soloists only, and based on letters from Angela’s name (A-G-E-A) which are heard at the beginning as a recurrent bass line. The cello melody at the start is a variation on a melody from the first movement, suggesting birth and death are inextricably linked.

The mood lightens in the finale which is a slightly bizarre waltz based on two contrasting themes. Near the end, the soloists have a cadenza which flows into the coda uninterrupted.

• Anthony Ritchie: Double Concerto for bass clarinet and cello - hire set 

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• Anthony Ritchie: Double Concerto for bass clarinet and cello - hardcopy score 

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• Anthony Ritchie: Double concerto for Bass clarinet and Cello 

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• Remember Parihaka - orchestral music by Anthony Ritchie  Year: 2009 

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The Flute Concerto was composed for flautist Alexa Still in 1993 while Ritchie was Composer-in-Residence with the Southern Sinfonia. Unlike the Symphony “Boum”, written in the same year, this Concerto is a generally happy and open-sounding work, and reflects aspects of Alexa Still’s personality as well as her playing. She first performed the concerto on September 4th, 1993 in The Glenroy Auditorium, and subsequently recorded it with The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

The first movement is energetic in style, with a bubbling first theme. This is contrasted by a darker and slower second theme, exploring the lower register of the flute. The music accelerates back to the main theme before heading into a percussive middle section. The flute then presents a lyrical idea that is related to earlier themes, and this leads to a cadenza. A brief recapitulation drives the music to a forceful ending.

The slow second movement is lyrical and improvisational in style, and begins with a solo for bass clarinet. A warm and gentle theme appears, followed by a short cadenza for flute. The orchestra returns with a fuller version of the theme, but it soon fades into anxious repeated chords on the oboes and bassoon while the flute plays nervous, flickering gestures. As the tension dissolves the clarinet introduces a laconic theme, interspersed with little cadenzas on the flute. The music builds to a climax where the main theme returns in a contrapuntal version, again fading into the anxious chords. A brief and mysterious coda contains references back to the opening cadenza, and the movement ends unresolved.

The third movement is like a sequence of dances with different characters, bound together by a buffeting crotchet rhythm. After a flourish from the orchestra, the flute introduces a sprightly theme, followed by a quirky, subsidiary idea. The buffeting rhythm from the start is transformed into a pop-styled ostinato pattern, and the flute plays a lyrical melody above it. This theme was inspired by the composer attending a performance by The Muttonbirds, a well-known NZ rock group. The quirky theme returns in a more subdued setting, the music slows, and unexpectedly becomes a dreamy and child-like waltz. This distraction is swept away by a loud chord, and the main theme returns with renewed purpose, leading to an exciting conclusion in which all the elements of the movement are combined.

The Flute Concerto was recorded by Alexa Still and the NZSO in 1996, on the Koch CD 3-7345-2-H1, entitled ‘Kiwi Flute’. The second movement of the concerto was published in a special version for piano and flute by the Centre for NZ Music, in their 1998 publication Little Dancings: A Selection of flute music by New Zealand Composers.

• Ritchie: Flute Concerto (hire set); computer set 

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• Ritchie A.: Flute Concerto; facsimile 

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• Ritchie, A.: Flute Concerto; computer-set  Year: 2009 

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• Orchestra Reading Panel 1 

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• Kiwi Flute  Year: 1995 

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• Remember Parihaka - orchestral music by Anthony Ritchie  Year: 2009 

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Tabuh Pacific was composed as a lively dialogue between two diverse instrumental ensembles, the symphony orchstra and the Balinese gamelan. Like the orchestra, the gamelan is a large ensemble of multiple timbres, primarily percussion.

The pitched elements of the gamelan gong kebyar are tuned to a five-note scale covering several octaves, and each member of the ensemble plays a limited number of single pitches. Consequently, the music of one individual in the group is meaningless until it weaves and blends with the other players to create a multitude of intricate, delicate patterns. These patters (kotekan) shift and interlock in subtle, graceful combinations which are occasionally articulated by the booming resonance of the largest gongs, and the drums which signal time and sectional changes.

Tabuh Pacific is sort of concerto for two orchestras which take turns in displaying the types of sounds with which they are traditionally associated – the gamelan, bright and energetic or smooth and flowing; the orchestra, heavy and romantic or transparent and static. The groups alternate for a while and then come together in a crazed romp at the end of the piece.

Gareth Farr

• Farr: Tabuh Pacific; computer-set 

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• Tabuh Pacific  Year: 1995 

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• Gareth Farr: Orchestral Music  Year: 1997 

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• Gareth Farr: From the Depths Sound the Great Sea Gongs  Year: 2009 

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• Rimmer: Your Piano Is My Forte; facsimile 

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• Rimmer: Your Piano Is My Forte; facsimile 

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