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Felicity Williams  

A Cat and Mouse Love Story

Duration: 15' 00" Year: 1991
a dance drama for assorted classroom instruments

Gary Daverne  

A Man With a Mission

Duration: 1h 20' 00" Year: 1991, r. 2011
an opera in two acts based on life of Missionary John Hobbs

  • Programme Note

    Synopsis

    It is a historic story of a young man who travels from England via Australia, in the early 1820s, to become an ordained minister and set up a Wesleyan Mission in the Hokianga, in Northland, New Zealand.

    The story portrays the relationships, frustrations, conflicts and troubled times with the early settlers, the native Maori people and their Chiefs, especially Chief Te Aara, Tamati Waka Nene and Patuone.

    There is his special love for his devoted wife Jane, their learning, teaching and preaching, their unjustified exile to Tonga, then his reinstatement two years later to the Weslyan Mission in the Hokianga, culminating in the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi at Horeke, in the Hokianga.

  • Availability

Nigel Keay  

At the Hawk's Well

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

  • 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)

  • Availability

Anthony Ritchie  

Behind our Masks

Duration: 2h 00' 00" Year: 1991
musical

  • Instrumentation
    unison or 2-pt mixed choir, 3 principals, keyboard (chord charts)

Felicity Williams  

Dragon Kite

Duration: 25' 00" Year: 1991
dance drama based on a Japanese legend

Ross Carey  

Kocho

Duration: 1h 15' 00" Year: 1991
chamber opera in two acts

  • Instrumentation
    soprano, tenor, choir (3 sopranos), flute, oboe/cor anglais, clarinet, bassoon, horn, strings, piano solo
  • Programme Note

    Based on the Noh drama Kocho (“Butterfly”), this chamber opera was written as part of my composition folio for my Honours year of study at Victoria University of Wellington. Although at this particular time I had never heard or seen a Noh drama, I was captivated by this text which I had found in the university library, and decided to make my own setting. This particular drama belongs to the genre of “Spirit Pieces” where the chief motivation is the desire for Nirvana promised by Buddha. In Kocho, the spirit of the butterfly is denied the bliss of Nirvana for a specific reason – her desire for the companionship of the plum blossom that blooms before her time. She tells her story to a travelling monk, asking him to pray for her. In the second act, the butterfly dances joyfully amongst the plum blossoms, her wish fulfilled at last.

    The musical language I have used is a mixture of freely written tonal passages with strong doses of modal (often rather Asian sounding, although not based on any particular system) and minor harmonies, as well as minimalist elements. The choir sings mainly in unison, and in contrast to a traditional Noh choir is made up entirely of women’s voices. On occasion the pianist takes on a more soloistic role, as does the leader of the orchestra. Presented in an unstaged performance at Victoria University of Wellington, in November 1991.

  • Availability

Philip Norman  

Making It Big

Duration: 2h 00' 00" Year: 1991
a musical

  • Instrumentation
    8 actor-singers (4f,4m) and piano and/or backing tape (computer-controlled keyboards)

Rod Biss  

Marriage a la Mode

Duration: 1h 30' 00" Year: 1991
musical based on Hogarth

  • Instrumentation
    soprano, mezzo, 2 tenors ,bariton, bass, countertenor. Accomp: 2 flutes, percussion, harpsichord, strings

Helen Fisher  

Nga Taniwha

Duration: 20' 00" Year: 1991
bicultural work for dance and school instrumentalists

  • Instrumentation
    flute, clarinet, recorders, voices, percussion, piano, rock band
  • Programme Note

    This children’s dance theatre work choreographed by Rangimoana Taylor is based on taniwha (sea-monsters) Whataitai and Ngake, a traditional Maori legend from the Wellington region.

  • Availability

Gillian Whitehead  

The Art of Pizza

 Year: 1991
a chamber opera in two acts for 12 singers and ensemble

  • Instrumentation
    six female voices, six male voices; flute/piccolo, oboe, clarinet/bass clarinet, bassoon; horn, trumpet (C), trombone; percussion (2), harp; violins (2), viola, cello, double bass. Tape of electronic sounds required.
  • Availability