Work

Programme Note

Aotearoa is a long narrow land surrounded by sea and buffeted by the wind. We who live here learn to know the direction of the prevailing winds and to track the changes in the sky and on the water. As a child visiting grandparents in Wellington I was mesmerised by the evanescent sweep of wind and wave patterns on the harbour surface as gusts blew silver and black across the water. I listened to the adults talk; they spoke of ‘southerly changes’, of ‘squalls’, and of the wind ‘going around to the south’. A new language that conjured images of a dynamic interchange with the wind. The line ‘learning to nudge the wind’ is taken from a Stella McQueen poem, and captures for me that relationship. ‘Learning to nudge the wind’ was written for St. Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra and had its first performance in May 2010.

Text Note:

The title of this work is taken from the poem 'Quark Dance' by Cilla McQueen

Commissioned:

Commissioned by St Matthew's Chamber Orchestra

Difficulty:

Intermediate

Difficulty Note:

good community orchestra with good wind players

Influences:

• Culture - NZ
• Landscape - NZ

Performance History

	16 May 2010	Performed by the St. Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra conducted by Michael Joel at St. Matthew’s in the City, Auckland

Awards

• NZSO-SOUNZ-RNZC Recordings (2012)
  

  Learning to nudge the wind by M Louise Webster was performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra with conductor Hamish McKeich in June 2012