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.
Te Whiringa o Manoko
For solo soprano
Text by the composer
About the work
This piece was written for the dedication of Chris Booth’s sculpture of the same name at Kerikeri, and was sung by Ramonda Taleni Te Maiharoa at the opening. My text draws on local material.
Score
This work is unavailable for performance.
Jesus falls for the third time
For bass clarinet
Jesus falls for the third time was premiered by clarinettist Anna McGregor on 13 March 2008 at the Gus Fisher Gallery in central Auckland.
About the work
To commemorate Easter in 2008, St Helier’s Presbyterian Church commissioned 15 New Zealand composers and artists to create works in response to one of the stations of the cross.
My piece, not programmatic, refers to the ninth station, where Jesus stumbles and falls under the weight of the cross he is forced to carry to his crucifixion.
Score
Buy or borrow the score from SOUNZ.
Wet Jacket Arm
For bassoon and spoken voice
Text by Greg O’Brien
The first performance was given by Greg O’Brien (voice), Emma Sayers (piano) and Ben Hoadley (bassoon) at St Paul’s Cathedral during the Otago Arts Festival on 8 October 2008.
About the work
Wet Jacket Arm is one of the 3 settings from Three windows on the weather for voice, bassoon and piano. It was inspired by a visit to Dusky and Doubtful Sounds. The text addresses threats to the biodiversity of Fiordland.
Recording
Listen to and watch a recording from 2018.
Sunrise Pieces
3 pieces for beginning pianists
These short pieces were written specifically for Sunrise, an album of works for young pianists. They were first performed by Mary Barber on 30 March 2008.
About the music
The 3 pieces are called:
- What’s the taniwha’s story
- Sad song on a rainy day, and
- Pukeko.
They can be played separately or as a group.
Score and recording
All 3 pieces were published in 2008 by the Sunrise Music Trust in Sunrise — music from New Zealand for young pianists. Mary Barber recorded the pieces for a CD that accompanies the book.
F/Wh/Fugue
For mezzo-soprano, male voices, piano and bassoon
Text by Claire Beynon
F/Wh/Fugue was first performed on 8 October 2008 by Ana Good (mezzo), Joyce Whitehead (piano) and Ben Hoadley (bassoon) with a male voice ensemble from Dunedin’s St Paul’s Cathedral Choir led by David Burchall.
About the work
F/Wh/Fugue evolved during a 6-day journey by 10 artists to Dusky and Doubtful Sounds in Fiordland, and particularly to the Camelot River, which drains into Gaer Arm in Doubtful Sound. Both the journey and the performance were part of a fundraising drive by the Caselberg Trust, to complete the purchase of the Broad Bay house, that belonged to John and Anna Caselberg, for use as an artists’ residency.
Instrumentation
Resonant ceramic vessels, modelled on the steep sides of the fiords and made by Katherine Glenday and decorated by Claire Beynon, can be incorporated into the performance. At the first performance they were played by Claire Beynon and Greg O’Brien.
Score
Buy or borrow the score from SOUNZ.
Three windows on the weather
For spoken voice, piano and bassoon
3 poems by Greg O’Brien
The first performance was given by Greg O’Brien (voice), Emma Sayers (piano) and Ben Hoadley (bassoon) at St Paul’s Cathedral on 8 October 2008 during the Otago Arts Festival.
About the work
Three windows on the weather was written after a 6-day visit to Dusky and Doubtful Sounds in Fiordland in October 2007. 10 artists — poets, visual artists, a composer and a film-maker — travelled on the Breaksea Girl to create work as a fundraiser for the Caselberg Trust, who are restoring the Broad Bay, Dunedin house of Anna and John Caselberg for use as an artist’s residence.
The work sets 3 poems: Henry in Fiordland, Wet Jacket Arm and Shift in the Wind.
The first section concerns Richard Henry, who was possibly New Zealand’s first conservationist. He rescued kakapo and other endangered birds, creating a sanctuary on Resolution Island, until, several years later, he saw a stoat swimming nearby, and realised the sanctuary was compromised. ‘Wet Jacket Arm’, makes reference to the threatened biodiversity of the Fiordland region, and the last poem ‘Shift in the Wind’ refers to a gale we experienced one night on the Breaksea Girl.
Wet Jacket Arm can be performed on its own.
Scores and recordings
Buy or borrow the score from SOUNZ.
Three windows in the weather — SOUNZ
A recording by Ben Hoadley, Emma Sayers and Greg O’Brien has been released twice.
Moon, Tides and Shoreline — book and CD
Listen to this work online.