Upcoming Events
Otago University Lunchtime Recital
NZTrio celebrates NZ Music Month
| Date: | 09 May 2012 |
| Time: | 1:00 pm |
| Location: | Dunedin |
| Venue: | Marama Hall, Otago University |
Programme
A Programme of New Zealand Works to celebrate NZ Music Month
Lyell Cresswell (NZTrio commission): Moto perpetuo
David Farquhar: Woven Strands
Gareth Farr: Mondo Rondo 2nd Movement - Mumbo Jumbo
Rachel Clement: Shifting States
Anthony Ritchie: Piano Trio
programme notes
Lyell Cresswell (NZ, b. 1944): Moto Perpetuo (2006) – c. 6’
Lyell Cresswell was born in Wellington, New Zealand, on 13 October 1944. He studied in Wellington, Toronto, Aberdeen and Utrecht. After some teaching at Glasgow University he joined Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff as Music Organiser (1978-80). He returned to Scotland as Forman Fellow in Composition at Edinburgh University until 1982 and spent the next three years as Cramb Fellow in Composition at Glasgow University. In 1978 he won the Ian Whyte Award for the Orchestral work Salm, and in 1979 received the APRA Silver Scroll for his contribution to New Zealand music. His works have been recommended by the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers in 1979, 1981 and 1988. Since 1985 he has been a full time composer based in Edinburgh; in 2006/7 he was also the NZSM/CNZ Composer-in-Residence at the New Zealand School of Music, Wellington.
The composer writes: “Moto Perpetuo - perpetual motion - motion that, once started, will go on for ever unless stopped by other forces or worn out. The music ebbs and flows around a lively speed [and] fluctuates only slightly...”
Moto Perpetuo was commissioned by NZTrio, with funding by Creative New Zealand.
David Farquhar (NZ; 1928-2007): Piano Trio: Woven Strands (1999) – c. 14’
David Farquhar was born in Cambridge, New Zealand in 1928 but spent most of his early years in Fiji. He was educated in New Zealand and began his university studies in Christchurch before completing his degree at Victoria University in Wellington where he studied with Douglas Lilburn. He taught briefly at St Peters School, Cambridge, before going to Britain where he completed an MA at Cambridge University, and also studied composition with Benjamin Frankel at the Guildhall School of Music in London. On his return to New Zealand he joined the staff of the Department of Music at Victoria University, and was made Professor of Music in 1976, retiring in 1993. He was the Founder-President of the Composers’ Association of New Zealand in 1974 and was awarded their Citation for Services to New Zealand Music in 1984. From 1982 – 1995 he was a member of the Board of the New Zealand Composers’ Foundation and is a Trustee of the Centre for New Zealand Music. In 2004 he was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to music. He has written numerous orchestral, choral, stage and instrumental works, songs and music for children, and has been recognised since the 1950s as being at the forefront of New Zealand composition. David Farquhar died in Wellington, New Zealand in 2007.
In this trio the three instruments share their material, weaving together variations of the same melody. There are moments of opposition, but generally the work is a dance of togetherness. The two movements are linked. A slow introduction leads to a fast second movement, though this finally relaxes into a slow apotheosis.
Gareth Farr (NZ: b. 1968): Mondo Rondo (1997; rev. 2012) – c. 4’
Gareth Farr is one of New Zealand's best known composers. He studied composition and percussion in New Zealand and New York, where he graduated Master of Music. Since 1990 his works have been commissioned and performed by the NZSO, the Auckland Philharmonia, the NZ String Quartet, and a variety of other professional musicians in NZ and overseas. He has been commissioned to write music for many high-profile events including the 50th anniversary of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the opening of Te Papa, and the Olympic Games in Sydney 2000, and Beijing 2008. In 2006 Gareth was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit and was the recipient of an Arts Foundation Laureate award in 2010. He has composed music for over 30 theatre productions in New Zealand, and has been awarded three Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards for Outstanding Composer of Original Music. Recently, Gareth was commissioned to write music for the 2011 Rugby World Cup opening ceremony and games.
“Mondo Rondo was originally written for string quartet and appears on this programme in its new incarnation, re-arranged for NZTrio. Its three movements are quirky and characterful, and take their inspiration from sources as disparate as Bartók and Balinese marching music. The second movement, Mumbo Jumbo, begins as a study in pizzicato, and I employ the technique of hocketting, whereby the tune is built up from a few notes contributed by each instrument in turn - an effect which sounds something like the mbira (African thumb piano) but is in fact more inspired by beleganjur, Balinese funeral marching music - a loud crashy rhythmic mix of cymbals and gongs, intended to frighten the demons away."
Rachel Clement (NZ; b. 1972): shifting states (2005) – c. 10’
1. sabbia (sand)
2. filigrana (filigree)
3. bullicante (with bubbles)
4. millefiore (thousand flowers)
5. sommerso (submerged)
Rachel Clement studied composition with John Rimmer and John Elmsly at the University of Auckland, graduating with a Bachelor of Music with honours in 1995 and a Master of Music (composition) with distinction in 1997. She has worked extensively as a composition tutor in secondary schools in both Auckland and Christchurch and in 1998 held the position of Composer in Schools for the Auckland area. Her children’s opera ‘Jam’ (funded by Creative NZ) with libretto by Margaret Mahy, was performed in 2002 by Canterbury Opera Youth and was selected to feature as part of the 2002 Wild Opera project. Rachel has composed for some of New Zealand’s most significant contemporary performers and groups, including 175 East and Stroma. She was the recipient of the 2001 Trust Fund Award from the Composers’ Association of New Zealand and has been a South Island representative on the CANZ committee since this time. She has lectured part-time in Composition at the University of Canterbury, managed the library of the Christchurch Symphony, and worked as the National Secondary Schools Arts Co-ordinator for Music (on behalf of the Music Educators of NZ, Aotearoa) under contract to the Ministry of Education. In 2005 and 2006 she held the position of Mozart Fellow at the University of Otago in Dunedin.
The composer writes: “This set of short pieces is inspired by an interest in mid-Twentieth Century glassmaking, in which the process of changing state, or changing phase, is essential to the production of the many types of art glass. Each piece is titled with the name of a different technique and expresses some of the processes of freezing, melting, vaporization, condensation and sublimation.” shifting states was commissioned by NZTrio with funding from Creative New Zealand.
Anthony Ritchie (b. 1960, New Zealand): Piano Trio (2001) – c. 15’
Maggie Boy, Nice Boy
The Deamon
Hyper-dyper
Anthony Ritchie was born and educated in Christchurch. He received his first commission in 1982, his final year at Canterbury University, resulting in the Concertino for Piano and Strings. Anthony went on to complete a PhD on the music of Bartok, and studied composition with Attila Bozay at the Liszt Academy. He has worked as a freelance composer since 1994 (after being the Composer-in-Residence with the Dunedin Sinfonia in 1993-94), and has written for a wide variety of performers including the NZSO, the Auckland Philharmonia, Michael Houstoun and Wilma Smith, and also choreographers such as Shona Dunlop and Dan Belton. As well as having composed a large variety of vocal and instrumental works he has also written music for theatre and dance. Many of his works have been performed overseas, and a growing number are being recorded and published commercially.
Piano Trio was commissioned by Chamber Music New Zealand, and was a finalist in the SOUNZ Contemporary Award for 2001. The work is in three movements, and in the words of the composer “attempts to suggest psychological states through sound images”. It is not directly programmatic but, as the titles of the movements suggest, there are distinct ideas and moods embedded in the music. The first movement uses imaginary characters from childhood – ‘Maggie Boy’ and ‘Nice Boy’ – as representations of two sides of personality: the bad and the good, or the dark and the light. ‘Maggie Boy’ has music that is barbarous, angular and dissonant, whereas ‘Nice Boy’ appears as a wispy, lyrical theme in the strings. ‘Maggie Boy’ returns in the final section of the movement, dispatching ‘Nice Boy’ to the recesses of the mind. The second movement, ‘The Deamon,’ is concerned with neither good nor bad but rather the nothingness of depression, that caged state of mind where emotions and feelings seem to spiral inwards. Melodic lines twist and turn, trying to find a way out of the psychological cage… The third movement, ‘Hyper-dyper’ is, as its title suggests, ebullient and almost frantically busy. An angular and jazzy opening theme is followed by a nervous, darting tune; a playful but tense middle section follows and, in the Coda, the ‘hyper’ quality dominates. The Trio comes to an end on a crunching discord.
Booking Information
Door sales only Adults: $5, Students: $2
For further information call Otago University School of Music office on 03 479 8885