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.
Marduk
For mezzo-soprano, flute, clarinet, violin/viola, cello, guitar, harpsichord, piano and percussion
Texts by Jacopone da Rodi, CK Norvid and William Blake
Marduk was commissioned by The Fires of London with funding from the Arts Council of Great Britain. It was premiered by them at Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank, London in 1973.
About the work
I devised Marduk initially as a dance-drama exploring the relationship between the divine and humankind, with 4 huge masked figures on stilts — possibly atua — moving slowly in ritualistic patterns while a ‘human’ figure tried to interact with them.
I can’t remember why, but in the end it was performed as a cantata, focusing on the vocal parts of the score, which has texts in Italian by Jacapone da Todi, Polish by CK Norvid, a chant based on the 50 names of Marduk, the god-king of the city of Babylon, and English by William Blake.
Score
The score of this work is not available.
Riddles 2
5 songs for voice and piano
Text by Bill Manhire
The first performance of Riddles 2 was given by Jane Manning (soprano) and Margaret Nielsen (piano) on 31 March 1978 at Victoria University of Wellington.
About the work
The New Zealand poet, Bill Manhire, wrote a series of poems based on the Anglo-Saxon riddle form, specifically for setting to music, and I’ve used 5 of these in this cycle. Although there are suggested answers to the riddles, the poet prefers that the answers come from the imagination of the listener.
Score and recording
A score, donated by Price Milburn Music, is in the Alexander Turnbull Library.
RNZ Concert recorded the premiere performance.
Three songs of Janet Frame
For soprano flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, trumpet, guitar and double bass
Poems by Janet Frame
Three songs of Janet Frame was originally written for performance at a Society for the Promotion of New Music (SPNM) meeting in Durham, but the first performance wasn’t given until October 1972 by a SPNM Ensemble conducted by Henry Ward with Jane Manning (soprano) at the Purcell Room, South Bank, London.
About the work
This work sets 3 poems by Janet Frame from her 1967 collection: Question, The sun speaks at Perihelion and Chant. They are set in a single movement separated by short interludes.
Instrumentation
The scoring includes alto flute and bass clarinet.
Scores and recordings
Buy or borrow the score, and hire the parts from SOUNZ.
Three songs of Janet Frame — SOUNZ
There is an archival recording at SOUNZ from a 1978 performance.
Te āhua, te atārangi
For string quartet
Te āhua, te atārangi was the winning work in the 1971 string quartet competition sponsored by APRA, the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation and the New Zealand Music Federation (now Chamber Music New Zealand). It remains unperformed, as does the work Lyell Cresswell entered which was the runner-up.
About the work
Te āhua te ātārangi is an extremely difficult piece.
The title translates as the form (appearance), the shadow, and refers to the form I was experimenting with, in which a series of 4 movements are followed by short interludes that negate the gestures of the preceding movement. So something low and slow might be contrasted with something high and rapid and short.
I think this way of writing might have come from a dream I had as a child, when I looked down the road and saw 2 figures walking towards me from the distance. Suddenly the scene went from colour to sepia and the figures rushed towards me, with a sensation of terror, then back to normal colour and normal pace, then again sepia and rapid movement, and terror. Strange, as I didn’t see a lot of cinema.
Score
Contact me if you would like to see the score.
Pākuru
For mezzo-soprano, flute, clarinet, viola, cello, piano and percussion
A setting of Hone Tūwhare’s poem, ‘Thine own hands have fashioned’
The first performance of Pākuru was given by Pierrot Players conducted by Peter Maxwell Davies in 1968 in Berlin’s Akademie der Künste in a programme presenting young British composers.
About the work
Hone Tūwhare’s text comes from his first poetry collection No ordinary sun (1967).
Pākuru was first aired at the prestigious Dartington Summer School of Music, but the first public performance was in Berlin with a very poor audience as there was a strike in Berlin that day. It was the first piece I wrote when I arrived in London.
The title Pākuru means a chant accompanied by tapped sticks, or a taonga pūoro consisting of wooden sticks tapped together: there is a substantial role for percussion in the piece.
Score
Contact me if you would like to see the score.
Fantasia on three notes
Fantasia on three notes was my first commission, requested by New Zealand pianist Tessa Birnie. She gave its first performance for Radio Turkey in 1967.
About the work
When I was writing Fantasia on three notes, I had begun studying with Peter Maxwell Davies in Adelaide, and revelled in discovering ways to extend and control my expanding technique, resulting in a technically difficult piece.
Emma Carlé writes:
‘The title refers not so much to free fantasy but to the imagination required to create music from minimal material — in this case, the opening 3-note motive. The work is in 3 sections, corresponding to these notes, and the fabric of the entire piece is generated from them. There are patterns that emerge within sections, as well as those spanning the whole work, trills and tempo changes included.
Because of the inherent symmetry of the generated material, with layers building up both forwards and backwards, the composer’s original intention was to make a palindromic structure, but it became instead, a through-composed work with coda.’
Scores and recordings
The score was published by Waiteata Music Press in 2001.
Fantasia on three notes — publication
Waiteata also released a recording in their CD series.