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Philip Norman  

A Christmas Carol

Duration: 1h 40' 00" Year: 2001
ballet music for orchestra

  • Instrumentation
    2222;2221;timp,2perc,keyboards;strs
  • Programme Note

    Our version of A Christmas Carol began as a glint in Russell Kerr’s eye. I remember a phone call from Russell in late 1988: “Philip – I think I’ve got an idea for a ballet that might work…”.

    Two years later, A Christmas Carol opened in the Theatre Royal, Christchurch in a polished production by Southern Ballet, with Russell himself in the demanding dual roles of Scrooge and choreographer.

    The success of the Southern Ballet’s presentation led to an unexpected invitation from Angela Gorton, then General Manager of Canterbury Opera.

    “Would it be possible to convert the ballet into an opera?” Angela asked. “You’ve got to be joking” I remember thinking. “Yes, of course, no problems” I replied.

    The temporary bout of insanity continued. I chose to write the libretto, as well as taking on the challenge of converting what was an electronic tape score into a 500-page manuscript for live orchestra and singers.

    Thankfully, as it transpired, much of the original electronic score translated fairly readily into the different medium. At most, keys and speeds were altered, and occasional phrases tweaked to suit the range and breath requirements of the human performers. This left under half the ballet requiring either substantial revision or fresh material.

    1993 disappeared in a blur of notes, rhyming couplets and spectral apparitions. One memory remains clear, and that is the thrill of seeing my labours brought to life in a gratifying premiere season of the opera by Canterbury Opera.

    Someone once said ‘being a composer in New Zealand must be like being a bullfighter in Finland”. Certainly conventional wisdom has it that while a first performance of a new work is relatively easy to secure, opportunities for subsequent performances are as rare as a happy Wagnerian heroine.

    Thus it was with relish and gratitude that I leapt upon the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s invitation to turn my opera score back into a ballet. This time, it was to be for humans to play, and a full orchestra no less. Oh joy oh bliss.

    And it has given me the opportunity to use the wonderful line – I spent most of 2001 decomposing.

    I feel enormously privileged to have the opportunity to work once again with Russell, Kristian, the Royal New Zealand Ballet and, of course, Charles Dickens.

    Philip Norman
    Composer
    “A Christmas Carol”

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Philip Norman  

A Christmas Carol

Duration: 1h 45' 00" Year: 1993
an opera for an ensemble of principals, chorus, dancers and orchestra

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Philip Norman  

A Christmas Carol

Duration: 1h 41' 00" Year: 1990
three act ballet with music for computer controlled keyboards

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David Downes  

A Green Piece

 Year: 1989
dance score for tape

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David Farquhar  

A Short Suite from "Ring Round the Moon"

Duration: 15' 00" Year: 1975
for full orchestra

  • Instrumentation
    2222; 4230; timp, perc; strs.
  • Programme Note

    This music was originally commissioned by Richard Campion for the New Zealand Players’ production of Ring Round the Moon by Jean Ahhouil, translated by Christopher Fry. In the second act there is a ball taking place offstage and demanding a large number of dances which are specified in the text.

    The music was first recorded on acetate discs by a ad hoc orchestra led by Alex Lindsay; these small recordings were then played through speakers for the production, sounding very loud to the cast but filtering out more gently to the audience. At the end of the long national tour, the cast knew the music very well and suggested to me that I should do something with it.

    The result, some years later, 1957, was a suite of nine dances first performed by the Alex Lindsay Orchestra. This rapidly became my most performed piece and was commercially recorded by the Alex Lindsay Orchestra in the 1960s, a recording still available today from Kiwi Pacific Reords.

    Ashley Heenen, through the NZ APRA Committee, commissioned an arrangement for full orchestra for the NZ Youth Orchestra to take on a tour of Europe and China in 1975. This version was shortened to six dances by leaving out the first three numbers. The music has also been used for a ballet, The Wintergarden, choreographed by Arthur Turnbull for the Royal New Zealand Ballet Company – this version included a tenth dance not in the 1957 Suite. Since 1975 two further version have been commissioned: Waltz Suite (1989), for string orchestra (five dances) for the Nova Strings, and an arrangement of the original Dance Suite (1992) for violin and piano (nine dances) for Isador Saslav.

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Ashley Heenan  

A Time for Offenbach

Duration: 1h 00' 00" Year: 1967
ballet in one act based on the music of Offenbach with choreography by Jurek Shabelewski

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David Farquhar  

A Unicorn For Christmas

Duration: 2h 00' 00" Year: 1962
an opera in three acts

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Jack Body  

Alley

Duration: 1h 30' 00" Year: 1997
an opera in two acts based on the life of Rewi Alley

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Nigel Keay  

At the Hawk's Well

Duration: 55' 00" Year: 1991
opera in one act

Score Sample
  • Instrumentation
    2 sopranos playing percussion; 1 bass playing percussion; Bass; Tenor; Dancer; women's chorus; flute, alto flute, clarinet in A, bass clarinet, bassoon; horn, trombone, bass trombone; timpani, piano; strings (including solo electric violin); Percussion: Javanese drums, bass drum, tamtam and optional Javanese gong, gender, slentem, kempul.
  • Programme Note

    An operatic setting of the dance-play by W.B. Yeats which is also performable as a dramatic cantata in a concert version. This is a one-act work and is ritualistic in nature reflecting Yeats’ modeling of the text on the Japanese Noh play. The music is at times dark and atmospherlc, and the archetypal symbolism and metaphysical suggestion of the text, wlth its archaic language and bleak images, is a rich source of inspiration for this. The musical language is comprehensive with tonality and atonality used in conjunction with each other to express literary ideas. Written for five solo singers with the main roles being a tenor and a bass, and a dancer, the backing ii provided by a 30 or so piece orchestra including piano, solo electric violin, and gamelan instruments.
    (Programme note from composer’s website)

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William Dart  

Away with the Fairies

Duration: 50' 00" Year: 1983
a divertissement for diva

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