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.
Tōrua
For violin and piano
Tōrua was commissioned by Hilary Hahn for her 2010 encores project. She approached 27 composers asking for a piece under 5 minutes for acoustic violin and piano. She premiered my work with Valentina Lisitsa (piano) at the Constella Festival in Cincinnati, USA on 13 October 2011.
About the work
Tōrua, translated from the Māori language has several meanings — it signifies a change in wind or current, it is the name given to a weaving pattern, and in its third meaning of ‘twofold’ or ‘double thickness’ suggests the idea of duet.
Tōrua was written in the wake of the destructive Christchurch earthquake in February, 2011.
Hilary Hahn interviewed each of the composers about the work they wrote for her.
Hilary Hahn and Gillian Whitehead — interview
Scores
The score and part are published by Boosey and Hawkes along with the other 26 encores commissioned by Hilary Hahn.
In 27 pieces: the Hilary Hahn encores — publication
Buy or borrow the score of Tōrua from SOUNZ.
Recordings
Hilary Hahn recorded all the works in this project for Deutsche Gramophon.
In 27 pieces: the Hilary Hahn encores — CD
The work has also been released on 2 other CDs played by other violinists.
A video of Tōrua recorded in 2022 at the World Music Days is also available.
The river flows on …
For piano trio and Cambodian trio
the river flows on… was commissioned for the O Cambodia project with funding from Creative New Zealand. The first performance was given on 17 March 2011 by NZTrio and Tray So Ensemble at the 2011 Auckland Arts Festival in the Auckland Town Hall Concert Chamber.
About the work
There is a Cambodian proverb — ‘the rowing boat passes, the river bank remains’ — which to me suggests that isolated events in history, or in a person’s life, eventually pass, while history, or life itself, flows on.
Within the O Cambodia project, I wanted to present a narrative which moves on from the Khmer Rouge times into the future, moving from the hard times that affected every Cambodian who is now over 35, into a profoundly altered world. As much curated as composed, the river flows on … includes several songs and dances in their traditional form.
The first section of the river flows on… is ‘Prophecy’, which presents an ancient saying whose source is not remembered today. The second section, ‘Sokha’s Story’, tells the story of Sokha Mey, who currently lives and works in Wellington. She was a young girl living with her family in a small village near Siem Reap when Lon Nol’s forces were defeated and the Khmer Rogue came to power. The final section, ‘the river flows on…’ places Sokha’s story into the future, where she was able to make a new life for herself in New Zealand.
I am forever grateful to the Niborom Young, Sokun Chiv and particularly Sokha Mey for their invaluable help.
About the project
The O Cambodia project, devised and driven by Jack Body, involved 2 Cambodian and 2 New Zealand composers — Chinary Ung, Him Sophy, Jack Body and me — collaborating to create 4 works to be performed by NZTrio and the Tray So Ensemble — Him Savy, spoken and sung voice, and drums; Him Sophy, tro and spoken voice; and Keo Dorivan, wind instruments.
Instrumentation
The river flows on … is scored for violin, cello, piano, chhing bowl, narrator, soprano, khloy, drums, paipork and sneng.
Score and recordings
Contact me if you are interested in seeing the score.
Buy the CD from all good CD stores.
Listen to an RNZ recording from 2011.
Clouds over Mata-au
For string quartet
Clouds over Mata-au was written for the Stamic Quartet who gave the first performance at the Jine Pohledy (Other Outlooks) Festival in Prague in 2012.
About the work
I was fortunate to hold a residency at the Henderson House, built by the Austrian architect, Ernst Plischke, in Alexandra, a market town in Central Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand.
Central Otago is technically desert — rocky and redolent with the scent of wild thyme in summer, with spectacular snow-covered mountain ranges in winter. A great river, the Clutha or Mata-au, to give it its Māori name, flows through the area, and the house was built high above the river, which for me was the dominating feature in the landscape.
Clouds over Mata-au is a short piece in one movement, based on traditional quartet forms, alternating solo and concerted textures. It is dedicated to Margaret Clark and Vera Egermayer.
Score and recording
Buy or borrow the score from SOUNZ
A CD including this work can be bought from all good record stores.
Tūmanako — journey through an unknown landscape
Five pieces for piano
Tūmanako was written as part of SOUNZtender, a silent auction which raised money for SOUNZ. Diedre Irons gave the first performance at The New Zealand International Piano Festival on 8 April 2011.
About the work
Helen Kominik won the auction for my piece which she dedicated to her grandchildren, Kate and Tom Fraser. Tūmanako, which means ‘hope’ in Māori and was the name of the house in which Helen grew up. I wrote the piece shortly after I’d been travelling by car through Yunnan, China and made a link between the journey through a landscape where you know nothing beyond the immediate surroundings, and moving through the landscape of the score.
Score and recordings
Buy or borrow the score from SOUNZ
A CD including Tūmanako is available from all good record stores, or borrow it from SOUNZ. It’s also available as an MP3.
Tūmanako has been recorded twice as part of SOUNZ’s Resound project.
RNZ Concert’s recording from 2018 is available online.
Song without words for Kai
For piano
About the work
This short piece was written to celebrate the birth of Kai, the son of Ryoko Tabuchi and Cameron Mewburn.
Score
Buy or borrow the score from SOUNZ.
Mata-au
for clarinet
Robert Carew commissioned Mata-au for Anna McGregor to play, to celebrate his partner Scilla Askew’s contribution to New Zealand music and mark her departure from the role of Executive Director of SOUNZ. Anna McGregor gave the first public performance on 16 March 2010 at St Andrew’s on The Terrace as part of the New Zealand Music for Woodwind concert series.
About the work
Mata-au is the original name of Central Otago’s Clutha river, which I saw from the Plischke house in Alexandra when I was artist-in-residence for the Henderson Arts Trust in 2009-2010.
Mata-au refers to the river’s characteristic whirlpools, caused by layered currents moving at different speeds, which resemble facial moko, or the wake of a giant waka, and the piece has its origins in Māori chant.
Instrumentation
Anna McGregor has prepared a score detailing fingerings for the extended techniques.
Score and recordings
Buy or borrow the score from SOUNZ.
RNZ Concert recorded the premiere performance.
Peter Scholes performed it in 2017 during a ‘composer portrait’ concert where I was asked to introduce the works.
Gillian Whitehead introduces her works — video
Review
‘Whitehead’s 2010 Mata-au is a masterpiece. If American poet Wallace Stevens found 13 ways of looking at a blackbird, then this clarinet solo does the same, and more, for water. The marvellous Peter Scholes captured it to the last drop, from luminescent shallows to the gnarliest of rapids.’
— William Dart, New Zealand Herald, 4 July 2017