1989

for string quartet

By:

• Gillian Whitehead

Duration:

15' 00"

Contents:

one movement

Samples

	Score (589k)	Page 1	© Waiteata Music Press
	Recording (456k)	No description given
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Availability

• This work has 2 scores and 2 recordings

Programme Note

In this work, inspired by Paekakariki on the Kapiti Coast – ‘home’ during the composer’s six-week residency at Victoria University in 1989 – the relationship between music and environment is particularly strong. The cello’s low repeated D, which opens the piece, is the fundamental pitch heard in the sea and the restless semi-quavers evoke the continuous movement of waves crashing on the Paekakariki shore. Whitehead’s fascination with medieval philosophy and music, incorporating concepts of natural cycles, is reflected both in the title and in the compositional process, where magic squares were used to generate the background structure.
(Programme note by Emma Carle and Jack Body).

“This is a rich evocative piece that is never merely picturesque, as the title might suggest. It has a lyrical complexity reminiscent of Tippett… (it) achieves moments of great beauty.” (Tim Bridgewater, The Dominion).

“The highlight for me was the premiere of Gillian Whitehead’s Moon Tides, and Shoreline. … Perhaps there are marine associations to be heard in the score, but, more importantly, one appreciates the work’s cool and eminently logical form. The various musical motifs are inventive in themselves and intriguingly handled.” (William Dart, Music in New Zealand)

Commissioned:

Commissioned by: Music Federation of New Zealand (Now Chamber Music New Zealand)

• Chamber Music New Zealand

Difficulty:

Advanced

Influences:

• Sea and water - NZ

Performance History

	28 Sep 1992	Performed by the New Zealand String Quartet; Napier
		New Zealand String Quartet
	16 Aug 1994	Performed by the New Zealand String Quartet
		New Zealand String Quartet
	13 Mar 2010	Performed by the Aroha Quartet at St Andrew’s on the Terrace
		Aroha String Quartet
	18 Jul 2010	Performed by the Aroha String Quartet at the Mulled Wine Concert Series in the Memorial Hall, Paekakariki, Kapiti Coast
		Aroha String Quartet
	24 Sep 2010	Performed by the Aroha Quartet as part of a CMNZ Associated Societies Tour, at the Old Library Building, Whangarei.
		Aroha String Quartet
	25 Sep 2010	Performed by the Aroha Quartet as part of a CMNZ Associated Societies Tour, at the Rotorua Concert Chamber hosted by the Rotorua Music Federation.
		Aroha String Quartet
	26 Sep 2010	Performed by the Aroha Quartet as part of a CMNZ Associated Societies Tour, at the Timber Museum, Putaruru hosted by the South Waikato Music Society.
		Aroha String Quartet
	03 Oct 2010	Performed by the Aroha Quartet as part of a CMNZ Associated Societies Tour, at the Tauranga Park Auditorium hosted by Tauranga Musica.
		Aroha String Quartet
	28 Jun 2011	Performed by the Geminiani Quartet at St Michael Cornhill as part of the 2011 City of London Festival, in London