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.
Weaving time and distance
For string quartet
Weaving time and distance was commissioned by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (APO). The premiere was delayed because of Covid-19 restrictions and was given by the Viereinigkeit Quartet on 10 July 2022 at Whitakers Musical Museum on Waiheke Island.
About the work
Although the opening of Weaving time and distance takes a few ideas from Beethoven’s first quartet, written when he was 28, I’ve used those ideas purely as a jumping off point for my piece, which structurally probably has more in common with the formal integration of later Beethoven quartets.
The title reflects the distance in time and place from Beethoven’s world and ours; the opening, which recurs, reflects the call of the bellbird outside my studio.
It is dedicated to John Ure — horn player and long-time Director of Operations for the orchestra — in memory of his passion and enthusiasm for the APO and new New Zealand music.
Scores
Buy or borrow the score from SOUNZ.
Weaving time and distance — SOUNZ
Interview
SOUNZ interviewed me about this work before the premiere.
Gillian Whitehead on ‘Time steps out of line’ and ‘Weaving time and distance’ — publication
Te waka o te rangi
For violin, cello, piano and kōauau
Te waka o te rangi was commissioned by NZTrio and premiered by them with Horomona Horo (kōauau) at the Loft at Q Theatre, Auckland on 14 July 2019.
About the work
Te waka ō te rangi is a waka in the sky, whose prow is the constellation Matariki, and whose stern is Tautoru, the belt of Orion.
Every night the captain, the star Taramainuku, trawls with his net to collect the souls of the people who had died that day, and when Matariki sets in May, takes them to the underworld. When Matariki rises again, the souls are released to the heavens as stars.
My piece responds to Horomona Horo’s waiata for kōauau ponga iho (gourd nose-flute) which precedes it, and I have also quoted the refrain of a piece for solo voice which I wrote some time ago. The text of the waiata roughly translates as: ‘People gather to prepare the land, preparing mounds for kumara planting. It’s winter, the rainy season, pools lie everywhere. The small eyes of Matariki’.
Score and recording
Buy or borrow the score from SOUNZ soon.
RNZ Concert recorded the premiere performance.
Time steps out of line
For baroque ensemble
Time steps out of line was commissioned by Chamber Music New Zealand for the brilliant young players of Juilliard 415 for their 2020 New Zealand tour. The premiere was given by them, conducted by Kyle Ritenauer, at the Gallagher Auditorium in Hamilton on 27 February 2020.
About the work
Time steps out of line is in a single movement but passes through various moods and tempi.
Writing for a baroque ensemble today is a very different challenge from that facing the composers of the Baroque, who were discovering the possibilities and sonorities and delights of their new evolving medium, producing a perfect and varied repertoire in the process. I did not want to imitate the music of the baroque era, and decided to give solo roles to some instruments, particularly the wind, less featured as soloists in the ensembles of the time.
The title is a quotation from Claire Beynon’s poem ‘At home in Antarctica’ and refers to the approximately 3 centuries between my piece and the others on the programme. While writing it, I found suggestions of harmony and gesture from earlier times were creeping into the fabric of the piece.
Instrumentation
Time steps out of line is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, bassoon, theorbo, harpsichord and strings.
Score and recording
Buy or borrow the score from SOUNZ.
Time steps out of line — SOUNZ
Time steps out of line was filmed as part of SOUNZ’s Resound project.
Time steps out of line — video
RNZ Concert recorded the performance.
Time steps out of line — audio
Interview
SOUNZ interviewed me about this work before the premiere.
Gillian Whitehead on ‘Time steps out of line’ and ‘Weaving time and distance’ — publication
Consider
For mezzo soprano and piano
Text by Claire Beynon
Consider is dedicated to Prague-based pianist Patricia Goodson and was written for her to sing and play.
still, echoing
For piano and string quartet
still, echoing was commissioned by Chamber Music New Zealand for a national tour of the New Zealand String Quartet and British pianist Kathryn Stott. They premiered the work at the Adam Chamber Music Festival in Nelson on 7 May 2017.
About the work
still, echoing takes its title from Greg O’Brien’s poem ‘Te Whanga Lagoon’, which collects the water from most of the Chatham Islands’ rivers before draining into the Pacific at Hanson Bay.
The work is unified by a set of 6 notes that form the basic cell or idea of the piece. It explores the sound possibilities of different combinations of the instruments: at times the piano falls silent, leaving just the violins and viola in dialogue; elsewhere the viola and cello sing together with the piano.
The moments at which all the strings play in rhythmic unison provide cohesion and drive, evoking the irrevocable ebb and flow of wave and tide, and contrasting the tumult of the Pacific with the stillness of Te Whanga Lagoon on Chatham Island.
Score and recording
Buy or borrow the score from SOUNZ.
SOUNZ filmed a performance for their Resound project.
RNZ Concert recorded the performance.
Rakiura
3 micropieces for piano
About the work
These 3 pieces were written to celebrate William Dart’s 70th birthday in 2017. They were written just after I had visited Rakiura (Stewart Island) for the first time.
Score
Buy or borrow the score from SOUNZ.