GARETH FARR TANGAROA MARIMBA MUSIC PERFORMED BY JEREMY FITZSIMONS WITH BRIDGET DOUGLAS, KRISTIE IBRAHIM & DAN POYNTON
GARETH FARR TANGAROA MARIMBA MUSIC PERFORMED BY JEREMY FITZSIMONS WITH BRIDGET DOUGLAS, KRISTIE IBRAHIM & DAN POYNTON 1
Tangaroa
Jeremy fitzsimons / MARIMBA
2 – 4 Kembang Suling
Jeremy fitzsimons / MARIMBA bridget douglas / flute
5
Duggan theme
Jeremy fitzsimons / MARIMBA bridget douglas / flute
9:22 10:29
1:38
6
Tuatara 8:50 Jeremy fitzsimons / PERCUSSION DAN POYNTON / PIANO
7 – 9 Three Etudes Jeremy fitzsimons / Marimba q0 – qs Dialogue
Jeremy fitzsimons / MARIMBA kristie ibrahim / VIBRAPHONE
8:04 13:42
qd
Duggan theme
1:39
MMT2058 Digital Stereo Recording
Jeremy fitzsimons / MARIMBA kristie ibrahim / VIBRAPHONE
qf
Spook
Jeremy fitzsimons / MARIMBA
Total 65:18
C 2008 HRL MORRISON MUSIC TRUST
11:06
P 2008 HRL MORRISON MUSIC TRUST
Tangaroa
the flute asserts its independence, straying
Throughout Polynesia, Tangaroa is the god
An argument ensues – but all is resolved at the
of the sea. The sustaining life force of the
climax.
cultures of this region (and the mythical origin of humanity), the mighty Pacific Ocean, is the inspiration for this work. In its surging ebb and flow, the music evokes the ocean in its many
further and further from the marimba melody.
II The haunting sounds of the Japanese shakuhachi flute float out over the warm echoes of the rolling landscape.
moods – from the gentle rippling of calm,
III Complex rhythms and South Indian scales
sparkling waters to the turmoil of a chaotic
set the two instruments off in a race to see who
storm.
can outplay the other. The marimba is set in a
Composed at the request of the American marimba player Andy Harnsberger, Tangaroa is a virtuosic work in which a number of contemporary performance techniques are intentionally exploited.
three bar cycle of 5/4 + 5/8 + 5/16 but the flute plays a different cross rhythm each time, returning to the marimba’s pattern at the end of every cycle.
Duggan theme
Kembang Suling
Duggan was a television police-drama series in
Three musical snapshots of Asia
by John Bach) was given grisly murder cases to
I On the magical island of Bali, flowing gamelan melodies intertwine with the sound of the suling (Balinese bamboo flute) to form rich colourful tapestries. The marimba and flute start out as one, their sounds indistinguishable. Bit by bit
which Detective Inspector John Duggan (played solve, set against the scenic backdrop of New Zealand’s Marlborough Sounds. Gareth Farr composed music for the two pilot episodes in 1997 and 1998, and the 11 one-hour episodes made subsequently.
Tuatara
addition of tom toms and cymbals as the work
As part of the 1998 Sunday Concert series
Three Etudes
of the Wellington Chamber Music Society, Gareth Farr and pianist Dan Poynton presented a concert of music for percussion and piano, which had the unifying theme of the New Zealand forest. The concert hall was decked out
proceeds.
I from Duggan II for Jeremy Fitzsimons III for Suzanne Warner
with potted plants and giant fern fronds for the
Three Etudes was composed whilst Farr was
occasion, and the eclectic programme included
still performing regularly as a marimba soloist.
a new arrangement of Poynton’s Moa and the
II and III were written for fellow percussionists,
specially-composed companion-piece, Tuatara.
Jeremy Fitzsimons and Suzanne Warner
Each was named after a creature unique to
respectively, and I was taken from Farr’s title
New Zealand’s native fauna – the moa was
theme music for the New Zealand television
a giant, flightless and now extinct bird, and
series Duggan. Each of the three movements
tuatara is a remarkable reptile, thought to be a
exploits various performance techniques on the
species which has existed since the time of the
marimba. I includes contrasting sections that
dinosaurs.
evoke both the tense and dark-hued nature
Tuatara is based on two musical ideas which are heard concurrently at the beginning. A jaunty, angular, syncopated theme in the piano part is set against the marimba’s running semiquavers. The musical argument of the work is entirely derived from these two ideas, which are exchanged between the instruments and subjected to development by variation. The percussion part is enhanced through the
of the television series, as well as the scenic grandeur of the Marlborough Sounds. From the seamless ‘organ-like’ sound of III and the integration of melody and harmony as a single force in I, to the use of virtuosic techniques (such as the double lateral stroke) during II, Farr manages to showcase the many potential rhythmic and sonic possibilities of the marimba.
Dialogue
figures subtly changing as soon as they can be
Introduction
In some respects Spook is a technical etude
Kotekan Moto Perpetuo
grasped.’
for the marimba. The main body of the work focuses almost exclusively on the use of the
Dialogue, a duo for vibraphone and marimba,
double lateral stroke, one of the virtuoso
was commissioned by the HRL Morrison Music
innovations of the last few decades. With four
Trust for Jeremy Fitzsimons to perform on a
mallets available, extremely high velocities
recording devoted to the chamber music of
can be achieved by playing two consecutive
Gareth Farr. The first performance of the work
notes with each hand instead of with the
was given by Double Lateral (Jeremy Fitzsimons
traditional left hand, right hand figuration. The
and Kristie Ibrahim) at the Ilott Theatre,
quieter contrasting moments emphasise the
Wellington, New Zealand, on 2 October 2005.
independent roll, where instead of executing a roll between the two hands, the roll is played
Spook
between the two mallets of a single hand. Sustained chords are played by one hand as an accompaniment to the other, which plays
The composer writes: ‘Although I had not
more articulate, rhythmic material. After a steady
originally conceived Spook as having any sort
build-up to a powerful climax which utilises
of extra-musical associations, when it came
the full range of the marimba keyboard, the
time to find a title for the work I thought of the
music subsides before setting off on an even
mercurial nature of much of the music. Like a
faster coda, a percussive frenzy of slowly rising
ghost, glimpsed in the corner of your eye and
patterns and accents which culminates in a
vanishing when you spin round to look at it, the
clatter of open fifths in the very lowest register
substance of the music is elusive, the tonality
of the instrument.
continually shifting and the patterns of repeated
GARETH FARR
Gareth Farr was born in Wellington, New
alter-ego, the percussion-playing drag queen
Zealand. He began his studies in composition
Lilith Lacroix.
and percussion performance at Auckland University. The experience of hearing a visiting gamelan orchestra prompted his return to Wellington to attend Victoria University, where the characteristic rhythms and textures of the Indonesian gamelan rapidly became the hallmarks of his own composition. Farr continued with postgraduate study in composition and percussion at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where his teachers included Samuel Adler and Christopher Rouse.
The inclusion of his works in four events at the 1996 New Zealand International Festival of the Arts – the ballet score for Douglas Wright’s Buried Venus, Lilith’s Dream of Ecstasy, for orchestra, Kembang Suling, and the Bach-inBali piano solo Sepuluh Jari – kick-started his career as a dedicated freelance composer. Since then, his music has been heard at, or especially commissioned for, high-profile events including the 50th anniversary of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (the 25-minute From the Depths Sound the Great Sea Gongs),
In 1993, at the age of 25, Farr was appointed
the opening of the Museum of New Zealand
composer-in-residence by Chamber Music New
Te Papa Tongarewa (Te Papa, a work hailed as
Zealand, the youngest-ever composer to hold
‘music with a powerful and moving impact that
that position. This resulted in the composition of
transcends idiom and individual taste’), and
three substantial works, Owhiro (String Quartet
the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney (Hikoi, a
No. 1), Kebyar Moncar (for gamelan) and the
concerto for percussionist Evelyn Glennie and
chamber sextet Cadenza. At the conclusion of
the NZSO). Most recently, a commission by
the residence, Farr returned to the Eastman
the 2003 Auckland Festival resulted in Stone
School to begin a doctorate in composition. As
and Ice, composed for the combined forces
well as composing Kembang Suling (for flute
of the NZSO and the Auckland Philharmonia
and marimba, his most popular work to date)
Orchestra. In 2006 Gareth was made an
and three works for orchestra during this time,
Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for
Farr also introduced audiences to his on-stage
his services to music and entertainment.
Gareth Farr’s music is particularly influenced
stirring music touring a number of centres in
by his extensive study of percussion, both
New Zealand.
Western and non-Western. Rhythmic elements of his compositions can be linked to the complex and exciting rhythms of Rarotongan log drum esembles, Balinese gamelan and other percussion music of the Pacific Rim.
In 2006-8, Farr has developed a fruitful collaboration with director and librettist Paul Jenden, producing three comedy musicals. Troy is a witty retelling of the classical myth, Monarchy a romp through the history of the
In addition to his music for the concert chamber,
British Monarchy and Rome an evening at home
Farr has written music for dance, theatre and
with the Caesars.
television. In 2003 Farr won the Chapmann Tripp theatre award for his soundtrack to Vula – a NZ/Pacific Island theatre piece – that went on to perform extensively overseas including Australia, the Netherlands and London.
In 2007 Farr was appointed as ComposerIn-Residence for the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra culminating in 2008 with the premiere of Ex Statis a symphonic song cycle for four soloists. In 2008 Farr also
In 2006, the Royal New Zealand Ballet toured
celebrated the world premiere of his new
the country with their brand new work The
work Terra Incognita, for bass baritone solo,
Wedding, featuring a score by Gareth Farr. At
choir and orchestra, performed by Paul
90 mins, it was among the ballet company’s
Whelan and the Orpheus Choir with the New
most ambitious projects, and brought Farr
Zealand Symphony Orchestra, conducted by
together with prominent New Zealand novellist
Paul MacAlindin.
and librettist Witi Ihimaera. Farr’s music was integral to Maui – One Man Against the Gods, a stage show four years in
For more information, visit: www.garethfarr.com
the making. First premiered in 2003, in incom-
The music of Gareth Farr is published
plete form, it featured aerial theatre, Maori kapa
exclusively by Promethean Editions:
haka, contemporary dance and song, with Farr’s
www.promethean-editions.com
JEREMY FITZSIMONS
Jeremy Fitzsimons graduated from Victoria
PSATHAS/FRAGMENTS (MMT2047) a CD of
University of Wellington with a Bachelor of
percussion music by John Psathas. He currently
Music degree with First Class Honours in
freelances as a percussionist playing regularly
1995. While at Victoria University he formed
with the NZSO, Vector Wellington Orchestra
and led the Big Band, was appointed Principal
and the contemporary music ensemble Stroma.
Percussionist of the Wellington Sinfonia, played with many other ensembles including the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and attended the Pacific Music Festival in Japan. A Fulbright Scholarship took him to the United States where he received his masters (1997) and performance certificate (1998) from Northwestern University in Chicago. While in Chicago, Jeremy was principal percussionist of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, a member of the award-winning Northwestern University Percussion Ensemble and also attended the Music Academy of the West in California and the LHS marimba seminar in New Jersey. Fitzsimons was a founding member and director of percussion group Strike from 1993–2003, and has toured for Chamber Music New Zealand as a duo with Bridget Douglas (flute), with concert tango group Tango Virtuosi, percussion duo Double Lateral, and with Pedro Carneiro. He has recorded for Trust Records on
Bridget Douglas is Principal Flute of the New
percussion ensemble performance. In New
Zealand Symphony Orchestra. After completing
Zealand, she performed with ensemble
a BMus at Victoria University, she was awarded
Strike, and duo Double Lateral with Jeremy
a Fulbright Scholarship, P.E.O. International
Fitzsimons. She is a founding member of
Peace Award and other scholarships to study at
Montreal percussion ensemble Sixtrum, as
the State University of New York at Stony Brook
well as percussion duo Akrostick with Fabrice
with Samuel Baron. Whilst in the USA, Bridget
Marandola.
won several competitions including the Artists International Award, resulting in a debut recital at Carnegie Hall in 1997.
Dan Poynton was born in Wellington, New Zealand, and has been playing piano and composing music since he was ten years old.
Douglas performs regularly with leading New
He studied composition at Victoria University
Zealand musicians in solo and chamber music
under Jack Body and David Farquhar, and
concerts. Together with pianist Rachel Thomson
majored in piano performance under Judith
she has released two critically acclaimed CDs
Clark. In 1990, Dan studied post-graduate
for Trust Records. She performs with harpist
piano performance at the Victoria College of the
Carolyn Mills in the duo Flight. Bridget is
Arts in Melbourne, Australia, concentrating on
actively involved in the performance of new
classical repertoire.
music and is a co-founder of the contemporary music ensemble Stroma.
Since 1994 he has mainly been involved in the performance of New Zealand and other
Percussionist Kristie Ibrahim has a Masters
new music, through a desire to bring an often-
degree in Chamber Music from McGill
neglected repertoire to the people for whom it
University in Montreal, Canada. She has
was written. He has also been actively involved
performed with various chamber ensembles
in the performance of the music of John
and symphony orchestras around the world
Psathas. Poynton has also appeared on two
(Canada, USA, France, Mexico, New Zealand).
recordings featuring the collected piano music
Ibrahim dedicates much of her career to
of Douglas Lilburn.
Michael Smither, Headlands And Seascape , Oil On Board, 1970, 305 X 1220mm. Reproduced by permission of the artist, Image Courtesy Of Webb’s.
MICHAEL SMITHER Michael Duncan Smither was born on 29th
Smither has exhibited since 1961 in private and
October 1939 in New Plymouth, New Zealand.
public galleries. He lives and works in Otama
He studied at the Elam School of Fine Arts at
on the Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand,
Auckland University from 1959–61. Smither
where he is involved in painting, printmaking,
acknowledges John Weeks as his best-loved
sculpture, music and environmental work. In
teacher. Smither is a founding member of
2004, Smither was made a Companion of the
Group 60 in New Plymouth, with fellow artist
New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to
and mentor Don Driver. He is a founding
New Zealand art.
member of Taranaki Artists Co-Op (TACO) and patron of Real Tart community gallery in New Plymouth.
GARETH FARR TANGAROA Marimba music performed by Jeremy Fitzsimons with Bridget Douglas, Kristie Ibrahim & Dan Poynton 1 Tangaroa 2 3 4
9:22
10:29 Kembang Suling I 3:55 II 3:30 III 3:04
5 Duggan theme
1:38
6 Tuatara
8:50 8:04 1:00 2:08 4:56
7 8 9
Three Etudes I From Duggan II For Jeremy Fitzsimons III For Suzanne Warner
q0 qa qs
Dialogue 13:42 Introduction 6:00 Kotekan 3:53 Moto perpetuo 3:49
Recorded in the Adam Concert Room, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand, 18-21 December 2004, & 15 November 2005. Producer Gareth Farr Digital Editing and Mastering Wayne Laird Recording Engineers Wayne Laird & Graham Kennedy Executive Producer Ross Hendy Co-Executive Producer Charley Davenport Design Mallabar Music Booklet Notes Thomas Liggett & Jared Commerer The HRL Morrison Music Trust gratefully acknowledges the support of the following people and organizations in the making of this recording: Creative New Zealand, Michael Smither, Jessica Pearless, Webb’s Auction House, Robert Catto
The HRL Morrison Music Trust was established in March 1995 as a charitable trust to support New Zealand musicians of international calibre. All funds received by the Trust are used to 1:39 qd Duggan theme make recordings, present concerts – both in 11:06 qf Spook New Zealand and overseas – and assist artists to undertake projects to further develop their Total 65.18 talents. MMT2058 C 2008 HRL Morrison Music Trust P 2008 HRL Morrison Music Trust
HRL Morrison Music Trust P O Box 10-143 Wellington, New Zealand info@trustcds.com