Farr: Tangaroa

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