Work
Te Ngaru
for solo piano
Borrow/Hire:
To borrow items or hire parts please email SOUNZ directly at info@sounz.org.nz.
About
Te Ngaru is a place not far from where I live on the west side of the Otago Peninsula, just short of Aramoana. When the tide is out the mud flats are vast and I love to walk there. The surrounding hills are at once forbidding and yet somehow also comforting.
This place represents the passage of time, for me, in that my Great Grandfather, at the age of 23, sailed into that very peninsula, all the way from Scotland in 1862, to begin a new life.
The opening of the piece simply represents time, and the lush, soft chords that follow, bring a sense of comfort and home, in that beautiful space. Later, when the opening theme is accompanied by more challenging harmonies, one could see it as representing our continued awareness of the dichotomy of life's vicissitudes and our need to belong somewhere and feel safe. And always the light. The eternal light.
Commissioned note
Commissioned by Sharon Joy Vogan for "Suite Aotearoa". Funded by Creative NZ.