Search Music:

Since enjoying 2007 as the Ursula Bethell writer-in-residence at the English Department of the University of Canterbury, I had wanted to thank the University in kind by setting one of Ursula Bethell’s poems. On receiving an invitation from the Christchurch City Choir to compose a work to celebrate the choir’s 20th anniversary I immediately thought of Bethell’s ‘At the Lighting of the Lamps’, which carries the subtitle in brackets ‘(For Music)’. In the first three cantos of this she describes, in an extended musical metaphor, the setting of the sun over the Southern Alps, the beginnings of a symphony of light as lamps are lit across the Canterbury Plains, and the heavenly effects of ‘the music of the spheres’ as starlight illuminates the night sky.

Bethell, one of the pioneers of modern New Zealand poetry, was a long-time resident of Cashmere until her death in 1945 and recorded in verse many such sights, and associated reflections, from her elevated vantage point on the hills.

With the tragedy of the 2011 earthquakes and the postponement of many cultural activities, the Christchurch City Choir’s anniversary for celebration passed from the 20th to the 21st. As a result of the earthquakes, Ursula Bethell’s words have assumed new meaning – the lighting of the lamps can now symbolise hope, signs of a city and its surrounds in renewal: ‘from the deepening dark, sudden a new song springs…’.

I have dedicated this work to my muse, Alison, on the occasion of our thirtieth wedding anniversary.

- Philip Norman, 2012.

• Norman: At the Lighting of the Lamps; computer set 

  Full score | Hardcopy - computer set
  
  • Borrow

As young children, some of us see our parents more as gods than as human beings. Time goes by and the feet of clay may start to emerge, with possibly scary or enigmatic aspects. Finally our parents die, maybe somewhat shrivelled, physically and possibly also spiritually. And how do we feel about all this?

In this brand new song cycle for soprano, flute and piano, we encounter the child’s vividly remembered emotional experiences as the adult protagonist revisits and eventually comes to terms with this.

The connecting of poetry in Maori on a universal theme of childhood and maturity in a New Zealand context, with its expression via classical art song, here produces the sort of work that might always be expected to arise in a society where cultural expression, cross-connection and interactions are increasingly alive, affectionate, meaningful and robust.

• Jenny McLeod: He Whakaahua o Maru (A Portrait of Maru) - hardcopy score & part 

  Score and parts | Hardcopy - computer set
  
  $55.00
  • • Quantity:
  • Borrow

• Jenny McLeod: He Whakaahua o Maru (A Portrait of Maru) - downloadable PDF 

  Score and parts | Pdf - computer set
  
  $45.00
  • • Quantity:

These songs are to honour the astonomer Beatrice Tinsley, who was amongst the first to prove the universe is infintely expanding, and not, as was generally thought, a fixed state. She was born in England, grew up on New Zealand, and was Professor of Astronomy at Yale when she died in 1981 at the age of forty.

• Ross Harris: Songs for Beatrice - downloadable PDF 

  Full score | Pdf - computer set
  
  $17.00
  • • Quantity:

• Ross Harris: Songs for Beatrice - hardcopy score 

  Full score | Hardcopy - computer set
  
  $20.50
  • • Quantity:
  • Borrow

This piece is the second work of mine which draws on the poetry of Bill Sewell (1951-2003), specifically his “Erebus” cycle. It follows on from “Breaking the Quiet” of 2008. Both works set texts relating to the crash of an Air New Zealand sight-seeing flight in the Antarctic on 28 November 1979. At the time it was the world’s fourth worst aviation disaster, killing 257 passengers and crew. Both pieces are beginning steps towards an opera based on that event, and more particularly on the aftermath – the royal commission and its conclusions.

“Erebus: a poem” by Bill Sewell was published in 1999. It is an extended poem in thirty-four sections, and covers not only the events of the crash, but also the aftermath and its effect on New Zealand society. “The Necessary Rain” is the sixteenth section of the poem, and as with “Breaking the Quiet” the poet draws attention to the fact that nobody was there to witness the crash, and nobody was there who could have warned the pilot of the imminent danger as the plane headed directly at Mount Erebus.

The ‘necessary rain’ of the title is the rain that always seems to accompany times of great loss and sadness. It “…does not discriminate but has a preference for death and death’s rituals”. The poem includes passing references to the Tangiwai rail tragedy (1953). and the sinking of the ferry Wahine (1968).

To Bill Sewell’s poem I have added the ‘Lux aeterna’ from the Requiem mass text. Light was a crucial factor in the crash on Erebus: the phenomenon of ‘whiteout’ created no visual distinction between the snow and the white clouds. The counterpoint of the contemporary words, with the traditional Latin and its plea for rest, seemed appropriate.
My thanks to Amanda Powell, Bill Sewell’s wife and literary executor, for permission to set this poetry.

“The Necessary Rain” was commissioned by Auckland Choral (music director Uwe Grodd). Its composition coincides with my own 30 years of singing in the choir, and the recent conclusion of fifteen years as deputy music director.

• Hamilton: The Necessary Rain; computer set 

  Vocal score | Hardcopy - computer set
  
  • Borrow

• Hamilton: The Necessary Rain; computer set 

  Full score | Hardcopy - computer set
  
  • Borrow