Programme 7: 3 December 2013

Resound Broadcasts 2013 - Programme Seven

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David Farquhar: Woven Strands

David Farquhar was born in Cambridge, New Zealand, and went on to study composition with Douglas Lilburn at Victoria University. After completing an MA in Britain, he returned to the teaching staff at Victoria University, where he stayed for over 20 years. He was the Founder-President of the Composers’ Association of New Zealand in 1974, and in 2004 was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to music.

David Farquhar’s Woven Strands was written in 1999, after a commission from Waikato University. The three instruments share melodic material, weaving together in a number of different heterophonies. It is performed on this recording by NZTrio, recorded in Auckland last year as part of the Resound re-record project.
 

Jack Speirs: Cantico del Sole

Jack Speirs spent his formative years in the UK. He studied at Edinburgh University from 1959-1963: composition with Kenneth Leighton and history and theory with Hans Gal. In 1965 he was appointed as Lecturer in Music at the University of Otago, where he remained until his death in 2000. Speirs was also the musical director of Schola Cantorum in Dunedin, principal conductor of Dunedin Sinfonia, and musical director of the Southern Consort of Voices for about 20 years.

His work Cantico del Sole was written in 1989, and is scored for soprano soloist, mixed choir and chamber orchestra.  It was commissioned by the Schola Cantorum of Dunedin to celebrate their 125th Jubilee, and is set to the first part of St. Francesco d’Assisi’s 'Canticle of Brother Sun'. In this recording from 1990, soprano soloist Gina Sanders is supported by the Auckland Dorian Choir and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Franz-Paul Decker.