Music
Search this list of all my publicly available works using the search box, or the category and year lists. Information about each work includes where to buy, borrow or listen to it.
Karohirohi
Concerto for chamber orchestra and solo harp
Karohirohi was commissioned by the NZSO, and is dedicated to harpist, Carolyn Mills who gave the first performance with the NZSO conducted by Alexander Lazarev in the Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington on 21 June 2006.
About the work
Karohirohi — which means iridescent, shimmering, the sparkling of light on water — is the point of arrival rather than of departure in this piece.
Written for the forces of a classical symphony, Karohirohi draws on characteristics of classical form, and of classical concerto form, not so much in terms of exposition, development and recapitulation, nor in terms of the syntactical sentence and period structure (although these aspects are doubtless present), but more in the sense of classical style as it was perceived in the 18th century. At that time there was a gradual rather than an abrupt change away from the characteristics of Baroque music, and classical masterpieces drew on and seamlessly combined a variety of influences. In the background were the dance forms of the Baroque, but on to these were mapped remnants of older styles — learned style, such as fugue and imitation, styles from different genres, or forms of expression, such as brilliant or virtuoso style, singing style, or sensibility style, and even imitative styles, such as military fanfares and hunting calls.
Karohirohi, to my ears, like much music written today, is similarly eclectic, drawing on a range of references appropriate to this time and place. Its single movement incorporates various aspects of 3-movement concerto form, before dissipating in a coda.
Instrumentation
Karohirohi is scored for: 2 (1+picc)222; 2200; timpani, strings, and solo harp.
Score and recording
Buy or borrow the score from SOUNZ.
Karohirohi is available on CD and can be bought from all good CD stores.
RNZ Concert recorded Karohirohi in 2006.
Hineteiweiwa
For kaikaranga, taonga pūoro and chamber ensemble
Text by Aroha Yates-Smith
The first performance of Hineteiwaiwa was given by the ERGO Ensemble, conducted by Alex Pauk, with Aroha Yates-Smith (kaikaranga) and Richard Nunns (taonga pūoro) in the Glenn Gould Auditorium, Toronto on 10 November 2006.
About the work
Hineteiwaiwa was commissioned by the ERGO Ensemble with financial assistance from Creative New Zealand.
Hineteiwaiwa is a wahine atua — a Maori goddess — the exemplary wife and mother who provided the pattern that all women follow. She assists at the entrances into and the exits from the world, with rituals concerned with tattooing of the lips prior to marriage, with the raising of tapu, and she is credited by some iwi with the introduction of weaving into the culture. Generally, she supports the role of women in traditional society.
Hineteiwaiwa was written at the time that Tungia Baker, herself an exemplary wahine toa, or woman of strength, was dying, and is dedicated to her memory.
Instrumentation
Hineteiwaiwa is scored for: kaikaranga (a woman who has the role of making the ceremonial call to visitors onto a marae), taonga pūoro, and an ensemble of: flute/ piccolo, flute/ alto flute, bassoon, harp, string quartet and percussion. It can be performed without voice, but must involve taonga pūoro.
In the improvisatory sections, which are guided and shaped by the taonga pūoro player, there are few indications in the score. Generally, the improvisations involve the percussionist. Māori texts, devised and sung by the kaikaranga, may be integrated into these sections. Also embedded in the improvisatory sections of the piece is a separate vocal composition by Aroha Yates-Smith, woven around the attributes and quality of Hineteiwaiwa.
Score and recording
Buy or borrow the score, or hire the parts from SOUNZ.
RNZ Concert recorded Hineteiweiwa in 2009.
Piano Trio
For violin, cello and piano
Piano Trio was commissioned by, and is dedicated to, the members of the NZTrio — Justine Cormack (violin), Ashley Brown (cello) and Sarah Watkins (cello). Its composition was funded by Creative New Zealand.
About the work
One winter morning, a short walk from the marae at Waihi, on the southern shore of Lake Taupo, I stood on the shore to watch the sun rise. Behind me, a waterfall led to a small stream that flowed into the lake, imposing its own patterns on those of the lake. The water was uniformly grey, but as the sun rose, for a moment the tops of the ripples were golden, with darker valleys between, before the whole area was flooded with light.
The ideas behind Piano Trio have to do with the changing perspectives of patterns in water — in the bubbling of streams, the tumble of a waterfall, in the spiralling eddies where stream meets lake at sunrise.
In the opening movement, a group of short themes and ideas initially form a mosaic-like section, which recurs in developed and varied forms around more reflective passages. The second movement reverses the first, in that slow, sustained sections are interrupted by more energetic material, and the final movement draws all the previous ideas together.
Score and recording
The score of Piano Trio has been published by Wai-te-ata Music Press.
NZTrio has recorded this work for the Rattle label.
Almost an island
For soprano and piano
Haiku by the Otago Peninsula writing group
The first performance of Almost an island was given by Ana Good (soprano) and Joyce Whitehead (piano) on 21 March 2007 at a reunion of Otago University Mozart Fellows in Dunedin.
About the work
Almost an Island, a phrase which refers to the Otago Peninsula, was written as a wedding present for my then neighbours, Breffni and Dave.
The poets are Eleanor Koch, Kay Sinclair, Fran Bolgar, my sister Joyce Whitehead and me.
Scores and recordings
Buy or borrow the score from SOUNZ. An archival recording of the first performance can also be borrowed from SOUNZ.
Hinetekakara
Works with taonga pūoro, Voice and instrumental ensemble, Collaborations
For kaikaranga, taonga pūoro, flute, alto flute and bassoon
Text by Aroha Yates-Smith
This version of Hinetekakara was arranged for a taonga pūoro workshop at which both Alexa Still and Ingrid Culliford were present.
About the work
Hinetekakara is an ancestress of Aroha Yates-Smith, whose own composition is embedded in mine. The interpretation of her chants is as follows:
- The singer invokes the spirit of her ancestress beside the rippling waters of Lake Rotorua.
- Tuhohomatakaka conducts the tapu-raising ceremony over Ihenga.
- Hinetekakara, participating in the ceremony, meets Ihenga and they fall in love.
- Hinetekakara’s lullaby welcoming her new-born son, Tuariki.
- Ihenga discovers the murdered body of Hinetekakara at the lake.
- The singer farewells her ancestress.
There are 3 other versions of this work.
Hinetekakara for kaikaranga, taonga pūoro and flutes
Hinetekakara for kaikaranga, taonga pūoro and ensemble
Hinetekakara for kaikaranga, taonga pūoro and bassoon
About Hinetekakara
Many years ago, Hinetekakara lived with her husband (or father, according to some traditions) Ihenga on the edge of Lake Rotorua. Returning from a hunting trip, Ihenga discovered the body of his beloved Hinetekakara by the lake, murdered, and sang his mournful lament. The settlement at Ohinemutu is named for her (meaning ‘the end of the woman’).
Instrumentation
The taonga pūoro played in this piece are, in order:
- pūtatara — conch shell trumpet
- pūtōrino matai — wooden pūtorino
- pūmotomoto — shakuhachi-like wooden flute
- pūpūharakeke — flax snail
- pūkaea — war trumpet, and
- nguru rākau maire — wooden nose flute.
Score
Buy or borrow the score and parts from SOUNZ.
Hinetekakara
Works with taonga pūoro, Voice and instrumental ensemble, Collaborations
For kaikaranga, taonga pūoro, flute, cello and bassoon
Text by Aroha Yates-Smith
The first performance of this version of Hinetekakara was given by Aroha Yates-Smith (kaikaranga), Richard Nunns (taonga pūoro), Ingrid Culliford (flute), Ashley Brown (cello) and Ben Hoadley (bassoon) at the Hei Tiki Gallery, Whakarewarewa in late 2004.
About the work
Hinetekakara is an ancestress of Aroha Yates-Smith, whose own composition is embedded in mine. The interpretation of her chants is as follows:
- The singer invokes the spirit of her ancestress beside the rippling waters of Lake Rotorua.
- Tuhohomatakaka conducts the tapu-raising ceremony over Ihenga.
- Hinetekakara, participating in the ceremony, meets Ihenga and they fall in love.
- Hinetekakara’s lullaby welcoming her new-born son, Tuariki.
- Ihenga discovers the murdered body of Hinetekakara at the lake.
- The singer farewells her ancestress.
There are 3 other versions of this work.
Hinetekakara for kaikaranga, taonga pūoro and bassoon
Hinetekakara for kaikaranga, taonga pūoro and flutes
Hinetekakara for kaikaranga, taonga pūoro, flute, alto flute, and bassoon
About Hinetekakara
Many years ago, Hinetekakara lived with her husband (or father, according to some traditions) Ihenga on the edge of Lake Rotorua. Returning from a hunting trip, Ihenga discovered the body of his beloved Hinetekakara by the lake, murdered, and sang his mournful lament. The settlement at Ohinemutu is named for her (meaning ‘the end of the woman’).
Instrumentation
The taonga pūoro played in this piece are, in order:
- pūtatara — conch shell trumpet
- pūtōrino matai — wooden pūtorino
- pūmotomoto — shakuhachi-like wooden flute
- pūpūharakeke — flax snail
- pūkaea — war trumpet, and
- nguru rākau maire — wooden nose flute.
Scores and recordings
Buy or borrow the scores from SOUNZ
The work was released on CD in 2007.
An excerpt was filmed for a DVD you can borrow from SOUNZ and there’s also an archival CD recorded by the group Tūhonohono.