Music
Arapātiki
A landscape prelude for piano
Arapātiki was commissioned by Stephen De Pledge with funding from Creative New Zealand. It is one of 12 landscape preludes by New Zealand composers that he commissioned and premiered at the New Zealand Festival in 2008.
About the work
Arapātiki translates as ‘the path of the flounder’ and is the old name of the sandflats in front of my house at Harwood, on the Otago Peninsula.
The piece has to do with the advance and retreat of the tide across the flats, where many species of sea and water birds spend much of their day — an ever-varying waterscape. The opening flourish is based on the sound of the korimako or bellbird.
Kenneth Young recorded an introduction to all the landscape preludes for SOUNZ’s Resound project.
Landscape Preludes: introduction — RNZ
Stephen de Pledge talks about the project to SOUNZ.
The Landscape Preludes — Youtube
Scores and recordings
Buy or borrow the score and CDs from SOUNZ.
Arapātiki has been released on 3 CDs, each recording by a different pianist.
Hear and watch Stephen de Pledge give the premiere of the work in 2008.