Work
Hale
for trombone, ensemble and tape
Films, Audio & Samples
About
Hale, 2011, for solo bass trombone, alto flute, clarinet, contrabass clarinet, cello and pre-recorded tape.
'Dum spiro spero. While I breathe, I hope.'
Hale is a sonic meditation on life and death, dedicated to the memory of my mother Brya who died in August 2011. Intimate, incantatory and nostalgic, it contains few instrumental lines, but rather seeks to present a contained meditative ritual in which the listener may reflect on issues of mortality. Recordings of breathing, Brya’s poems, fleeting memories of Bach, church bells and birds provide a sonic halo to the heartbeat tread of the cello and the trombone’s keening of a tune based on Flanagan and Allen’s 'Hometown'.
Leave your shadow when you go
So your going’s not complete
And I’ll have your company
In thin measure till we meet
– Brya Kings (1931–2011)
Commissioned note
Hale was commissioned by 175 East with funding from Creative New Zealand
Difficulty note
Suitable for a contemporary ensemble
Dedication note
dedicated to the memory of my mother
Text note
Poems: 'Were we to meet' and Unlike the sunrise' by Brya Kings