Sub Navigation

Search Music:

Search for music by typing a word or phrase in the box below or by selecting one or more categories from the list on the side.

Or search for products by selecting an option below, and typing a word or phrase in the box above

  • Scores
  • CDs and DVDs
  • Downloads
  • Education Resources

Jonathan Crehan  

Aftermath

Duration: 20' 00" Year: 2004
a sonata for cello and piano

Dorothy Buchanan  

An Ocean Between Us

Duration: 25' 00" Year: 2006
for mezzo-soprano and piano quartet

Gillian Whitehead  

Hineputehue

Duration: 25' 00" Year: 2002
for string quartet and taonga puoro (Maori instruments)

  • Instrumentation
    Taonga puoro (improvised): poi awhioahio, hue puruhau, koauau ponga ihu, nguru, ororuarangi, ku, putatara, pu kaea, pumotomoto, pupu harakekek, tumutumu
  • Programme Note

    Hineputehue translates literally as the woman of the sound of the gourd, and she is the Maori goddess of peace. The work was written in 2001, at the time of President Bush’s State of the Union address shortly before the invasion of Afghanistan, and suggests the fragility rather than the celebration of peace, particularly in a pre-European environment.

    A number of instruments used in Hineputehue are made of gourds – the gourd, which carried food and water, is a symbol of peace. These include the poi awiowhio, a very quiet bird lure which is swung around the head, the tiny koauau ponga ihu or noseflute which ends the piece, the hue puru hau, a large gourd which is blown across its top opening and the gourd rattles played by the quartet. Two other wind instruments frequently made from gourds, the nguru and the ororuarangi, are also used. Other instruments are the putatara or conch shell trumpet, traditionally used for signalling, the pu kaea or war trumpet, a nguru niho paraoa or flute made from a whale’s tooth, the pumotomoto, associated with birth, and tumutumu (tapped percussion).

    There is a similarity between the stringed instruments of the quartet and the gourds, in that they are made from plant material, with sound emitted through sound holes. Another link is the ku, the only stringed instrument known to Maori, which is a small musical bow played like a jaws harp (jews harp) using the mouth as a resonating chamber. The idea of ororuarangi, which can be translated as spirit voice (or double stopping in a different context) has had some influence on this piece as in the parallel movement of the strings.

  • Availability

Eve de Castro-Robinson  

Len Songs

Duration: 25' 00" Year: 2003
for mezzo-soprano, clarinet, violin and piano

Gillian Whitehead  

Piano Trio

Duration: 20' 00" Year: 2005

  • Programme Note

    One winter morning, a short walk from the marae at Waihi, on the southern shore of Lake Taupo, I stood on the shore to watch the sun rise. Behind me, a waterfall lead to a small stream that flowed into the lake, imposing its own patterns on those of the lake. The water was uniformly grey, but as the sun rose, for a moment the tops of the ripples were golden, with darker valleys between, before the whole area was flooded with light. So the ideas behind this trio have to do with the changing perspectives of patterns in water – in the bubbling of streams, the tumble of a waterfall, in the spiralling eddies where stream meets lake at sunrise.

    In the opening movement, a group of short themes and ideas initially form a mosaic-like section, which recurs in developed and varied forms around more reflective passages. The second movement reverses the first, in that slow, sustained sections are interrupted by more energetic material, and the final movement draws all the previous ideas together.

  • Availability

Gareth Farr  

Te Wairua o Te Whenua

Duration: 20' 00" Year: 2000
for orchestra, soprano, bass, Maori Kapa Haka artists

Helen Fisher   Ngapo Wehi  

Tete Kura (Fern Frond)

Duration: 20' 00" Year: 2000
bicultural work for solo soprano and tenor, choir and kapahaka

  • Instrumentation
    Karanga, haka, waiata Tangi, Poi +SATB choral, guitar, soprano and tenor soloists
  • Programme Note

    The title “Tete Kura” represents “fern frond” [from the Maori saying :“Mate atu he tetekura, ara mai he tetekura”, and this is a work about journey and growth dedicated to the Youth of New Zealand. “Tete Kura” takes the shape of a “Hohou Rongo”, a process of reconciliation, where issues of pain and injustice are brought into the open, in order to restore people’s inner dignity and to bring about true peace. It opens with an expression of te taha wairua of two Aotearoa cultures (Karanga and Gregorian Chant “Veni Sancte Spiritus”), then a journey away from te taha wairua and te taha aroha towards greed and materialism (Corporate Beat, Haka). This leads to experiences of pain, confusion and abuse (I Crave That Place, Waiata Tangi ), out of which come insights, hope and a sense of self-worth ( Kia Hoatu He Tumanaako, Karakia ki te Wairua Tapu), to embrace energetically and enthusiastically the questions and challenges of the new millenium : about individuals-in-community, and social and cultural values based on te aroha and te taha wairua (Nga Porowhita Aroha). “Tete Kura” is a bicultural, collaborative composition for choir, kapa haka, kai-karanga and solo soprano and tenor. The music was composed by Helen Fisher, Ngapo and Pimia Wehi and Taru mai-i-tawhiti Kerehoma. The lyrics were written by Ngapo and Pimia Wehi, John Greally, Oriini Kaipara, Helen Fisher, as well as including some biblical extracts. “Tete Kura” was performed by Te Waka Huia and the New Zealand Youth Choir for the Wellington Youth Arts 2000 Festival, being funded by a project grant from Creative New Zealand Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa.

  • Availability