Happy Birthday, John Rimmer

The School of Music at the University of Canterbury host a lunchtime concert of works by John Rimmer, in celebration of his seventieth birthday. A pdf poster for this concert can be "downloaded here":http://sounz.org.nz/catalog/DrRimmer.pdf .

The full programme is :

• Composition No.3 for harp and Electronic Sounds from Helen Webby (harp)
• Composition No.4 for flute and Electronic Sounds from Tony Ferner (flute)
• Kokako for piano solo from performance student Philip Sung
• Tides for Horn and Electronic Sounds from David Cox (horn)
• Reflection in the Night by Joanie Lee

Joanie Lee is a composition student at the university and she says of this new work:
"This piece is written for the New Zealand composer, John Rimmer, for his 70th Birthday. He is well-known internationally by his set of piano pieces For the Kōkako (a New Zealand bird). This work has been played in distant countries, such as Morocco, Paraguay, Norway, and Singapore. The music develops various melodic ideas of the kōkako call, the flight patterns and also man’s encroachment on the habitat of the bird.

My Reflection in the Night is a homage to John’s life as a composer and to his work, For the Kōkako. The images of the kōkako with its beautifully clear, bell-like call are represented by the short melodic motif and, in particular, the falling interval of a fourth. The stillness and echoes of the night are reflected through resonance, especially at the beginning and the end of the piece. This, in turn, is a reference to, and reflection of, John’s own work."