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Michael Houstoun, recorded live at the 1996 International Festival of the Arts, gives a programme of attractive and accessible works by New Zealand composers.
Beginning with the contemplative and often beautiful soundscapes of Psathas and Blake and culminating in the riot of Balinese-inspired colour that is Gareth Farr’s uninhibited toccata Sepuluh Jari, the disc traverses a musical terain that ought to provide a compelling journey to even the listener to whom some or all these names are new. Those familiar with the work of these composers will find this recording a valuable addition to their collection.
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Recorded in Ilott Concert Chamber, Wellington
Technical Production ConcertFM, Radio New Zealand, Wellington
Producer ConcertFM, Radio New Zealand, Wellington
Recording Engineer Tim Dodd, Radio New Zealand
Digital Editing and Mastering Radio New Zealand
Executive Producers Russell Armitage & Ross Hendy
Design Cato Partners, Wellington, New Zealand
Programme notes for Douglas Lilburn by Gillian Bibby, other programme notes by the composers.
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John Psathas - Waiting for the Aeroplane
Written in 1988 and revised in 1990, this piece captures a time when I was travelling to Greece to visit my family (who had recently returned to live there). The emotion of farewells, the distance between the two countries, the power of aircraft and the frenetic activity of airports all managed to find their way into this piece. The work is dedicated to my very good friend Dan Poynton
Christopher Blake - Ancient Journeys
Two Score and Two – The Cathedral at Otanenui – Ritornello
Ancient Journeys is a set of three piano pieces commissioned by Michael Houstoun. They have a common theme in their exploration of the notion of deja-vu or ‘second sight’ – the sense of having been somewhere before or experienced something at an earlier time without being able to recall specifically where or when. Perhaps it was in an earlier incarnation, in a dream or a forgotten experience of the past.
The distinct but distant recollections which have stimulated this music are personal and specific to the composer but this experience is universal and common to us all. In certain situations from time to time sharply focused and inexplicable sensations can flicker into our consciousness and set us wondering on their origins.
Two Score and Two reflects on the way in which the sensations of past lives seem to increase as one grows older. It is almost as if the unfolding of the years reveals more of pasts already experienced.
The Cathedral at Otanenui is a reflection on a place that seemed strangely familiar when seen for the first time - a vaulted canyon in bush on Waiheke Island in the Hauraki Gulf. Beneath a high canopy of native trees, a stream rushes through spherical boulders studded with nikau palms.
Ritornello reflects on the cyclical nature of these experiences. Often our sensations of past familiarity seem to return again and again in particular circumstances. Sometimes we seem to return repeatedly to the same situation.
Kenneth Young - Elusive Dream
I wrote this fleetingly short work in 1991, the title only occurring to me after its completion. This seemed wholly apt as we all have wistful and intangible glimpses of our subconscious which seem to move swiftly and then vanish as we become aware of them. That’s all I’ll say as I don’t want you to miss the piece.
Douglas Lilburn - Sonata (1956)
Allegro non troppo – Allegro vivace – Moderato
Douglas Lilburn has always retained a special place in his imagination for the piano. At school at the age of 16, in place of the expected holiday essay, he handed in to his teacher a piece of music - his Piano Sonata in C, Op 1.
There followed over the next 35 years two more sonatas (1949 and 1956), the Chaconne, two sonatinas, and many ‘occasional’ pieces such as several sets of preludes, the Bagatelles, Sea Changes, Nine Short Pieces and so on.
Shortly before this sonata was written Lilburn had been appointed lecturer in composition at Victoria University. He himself writes - ‘This sonata may reflect … some stress of moving from the South Island to what proved to be a congenial new context of Wellington and its coasts. There are three movements, as befitting any sonata, and their unfamiliar patterns may reflect changing circumstances. I wanted (not charm but) a harsh rhetoric and sombre inscape, both gained from my experience and its analogy with the coasts, something that the painter Colin McCahon vouched for. I hope my listeners may accept a rather grim first movement, along with the wayward wave-spun rhythms of the second, my coastal substitute for Viennese waltz time, and then relax into some resolutions offered by the final movement’
Jack Body - Sarajevo
Remembering … Imperfectly – Totentanz – Lachrymae
Sarajevo was written at the invitation of Michael Houstoun. The three movements also pay tribute to my three colleagues John Young, John Psathas and Ross Harris.
The work is a reflection on the Bosnian war, for which Sarajevo stands as a tragic symbol. A once beautiful and peaceful city violently torn apart, its citizens terrorised, maimed and killed, and for why? Religion? Nationalism? Ancient enemies?
Gareth Farr - Sepuluh Jari
From a recently-unearthed letter, apparently in the hand of of J.S. Bach:
“…and here it is, my recently completed toccata, Sepuluh Jari – it means ‘ten fingers’ in the native language here on the island of Bali.
“I’m forever grateful to you for persuading me to take leave from my position as church organist and spend a year in the Hindu lands of India and Bali. I have found the rhythms and scales of the music here so inspirational that I could not stop them from creeping into this piece.
“You must forgive me, though, if it gets a little crazy at times; a strange potion offered me from a coconut shell may be to blame – it made me feel quite queer…”
The rest of the letter is illegible.
Subsequent to the premiere performance of this work (recorded here), the ending was extended and revised; this later version can be heard on MMT 2020 Gareth Farr Chamber Music
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