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Resound Broadcasts 2014 - Programme Five

John Cousins: Six Points and a Postscript

John CousinsJohn Cousins was born in 1943 in Wellington. He graduated with an Honours degree in music from the University of Canterbury in 1965. Two years later he was appointed to the staff of the School of Music there, where he worked as teacher and creative artist until 2004. He left the University to concentrate fully on making and promulgating his work, which has evolved over the years from conventional musical composition to sculptural performance, mixed media and sonic art.

This recording is of Six Points and a Postscript. It was written and recorded in 1969, with violinist Ruth Pearl and pianist Dobbs Franks.
 

Chris Cree Brown: Sound Cylinders

Chris Cree BrownChris Cree Brown is an Associate Professor at the University of Canterbury’s School of Music. He writes everything from conventional instrumental composition, electroacoustic and computer music, to inter-media art. He has been awarded the Mozart Fellowship at the University of Otago twice, has been appointed Composer-in-Schools, and has written a number of film scores.

Sound Cylinders for flute and tape was composed in 1996. The tape part consists of flute sounds that have been altered or modified with the help of a computer. The flute part has a few extended techniques, like ‘tongue rams’ - as the name suggests, the flutist’s tongue makes a popping sound into the embouchure hole.

The opening breathing sounds establish the nature of the dialogue between the flute and tape parts. This recording is from 1998, with flute soloist Luca Manghi.

Martin Lodge: Hinterland

Martin LodgeMartin Lodge has been commissioned to write works for many of the major ensembles in New Zealand, as well as a number of leading performers around the world. In his music you can hear the sounds of nature, traditional Maori instruments and chant, rock music and computers, as well as the Western classical mainstream. You can listen to his Composer of the Week interview here.

Hinterland was commissioned by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra in 1997. The musical material integrates a quotation from Erinnerung, a piano piece by Anton Bruckner, alongside original material of Lodge’s own. His programme note says “It’s a nostalgic meditation on the physical landscapes which haunt us, and on patterns of memory that make up the background of every human consciousness”

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra feature in this 2001 recording, conducted by James Judd.

Jeroen Speak: Epeisodos

Jeroen SpeakJereon Speak was the Composer in Residence at the New Zealand School of Music last year. He is currently based in London, and studied composition with Michael Finnissy and Jonathan Harvey at the University of Sussex, completing his PhD in 2003. The recipient of numerous awards, Speak has been featured at many international festivals, including the Huddersfield Festival (UK), ISCM World Music Days, Gaudeamus, Darmstadt, and the Asian Composers League Festivals. He has been broadcast and performed worldwide.

Epeisodos was written in 1998 for solo E-flat clarinet. It is a transcription of an EEG (a test that measures brain waves) of a patient during an epileptic seizure.

This recording was made during a St Andrew’s on the Terrace concert in 2007, and the soloist is Richard Haynes.