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.
No stars, not even clouds
For string quartet
No stars, not even clouds was commissioned by Chamber Music New Zealand for the Enso Quartet. The work is dedicated to them and was premiered by them in Christchurch on 23 October 2012.
About the work
I wrote No stars, not even clouds at a time when several friends of mine were seriously ill, and at the forefront of my mind. Juanita Ketchel, who lived in Dunedin, was both diagnosed with cancer and died within the short time-frame in which the piece was written. She had a profound interest in the arts, and was frequently seen at concerts. The title No stars, not even clouds came from a story she wrote some years ago. The piece is written to her memory.
The piece draws on traditional quartet forms, opening with a phrase which I realised only retrospectively echoes the same shape and rhythm that pervades Tōrua, written for violin and piano in the immediate aftermath of the February 2011 earthquake in Christchurch. Both pieces draw on the Otago accent of the korimako or bellbirds that seem to sing vociferously every time I sit down to write.
No stars, not even clouds is written in a single movement, but has elements of a tripartite structure within it.
Score and recording
Buy or borrow the score from SOUNZ.
No stars, not even clouds — SOUNZ
A recording, released by Rattle CDs, can be bought from SOUNZ and all good record stores.
RNZ Concert recorded a performance by the Enso quartet.
Bougainvillea
For flute
The first performance of Bougainvillea was given by Bridget Douglas in the Queenstown Memorial Centre in the Festival Artists Concert during the Whakatipu Music Festival on 16 April 2022.
About the work
The writer, Lloyd Jones, organised an auction to raise funds to build and stock a library in Bougainville, and I volunteered a piece for solo instrument as one of the lots. The flautist Rebecca Steel won the bid, and Bougainvillea, a 1-movement piece, is dedicated to her.
Score and recording
Contact me to get a copy of the score.
Bougainvillea was recorded at the Whakatipu Music Festival.
Cicadas
For soprano and harp
Text by Rachel Bush
Cicadas was commissioned by harpist Helen Webby, with funding from Creative New Zealand. She, together with Pepe Becker (soprano) gave the first performances.
About the work
Cicadas was written for Helen Webby’s CD Pluck, for which she commissioned new harp works by 9 New Zealand composers.
The text is taken from the poem of the same name by Rachel Bush, with her kind permission, and was published in her collection Nice Pretty Things, published by Victoria University Press in 2011.
Score and recording
Buy or borrow the score and recording from SOUNZ.
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.