September 2014

Dear customer,

Spring is here and aren’t we all happy to welcome the sun!

For us at SOUNZ a definite sign of spring is the announcement of the NZSO-SOUNZ-RNZC Recordings and the SOUNZ Contemporary Award finalists. Our events calendar for the first month of spring is filled with events celebrating NZ music and our resource library is bursting with new CDs, books and scores for you to buy and borrow.

Dare we suggest you take your portable wifi connected device out to the open air, kick back and relax to read about September’s musical news…

2015 NZSO-SOUNZ-RNZC Recordings finalists were announced last week. Composers submitted works to a selection panel in June and 80 minutes of music was selected for recording. This key SOUNZ project, in partnership with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) and Radio New Zealand Concert (RNZC), produces new recordings of orchestral music, which are then made available as full-length audio on SOUNZ Media On Demand and on RNZC website.

Visit SOUNZ online to see which scores by NZ composers were selected this year.

The finalists for the annual SOUNZ Contemporary Award 2014 will be revealed later this month. The winner will be announced at the APRA Silver Scrolls Awards on Thursday 30 October.

This month we celebrate organ music and have a few exciting resources up our sleeves. Richard Apperley is at the forefront of New Zealand’s younger generation of liturgical organists, recitalists and choral conductors. He is currently the Assistant Director of Music at the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul. Richard took SOUNZ video-maker Chris Watson for backstage tour of the organ at Wellington Cathedral of St Paul. As a result, a video of the organ tour allows you to take a peek behind this magnificent instrument. Musicwise, the tour features excerpts of works by NZ composers Tecwyn Evans (Dedica) and Douglas Lilburn (Prelude and Fugue in G Minor).

Richard will give a solo organ recital, playing the organ featured in the video tour, on Friday 26 September. He’ll be playing the following 21st century organ works by NZ composers: Chloe Moon's Trio, third movement (arranged for organ by Richard Apperley), Glen Downie's Cepheid and Tecwyn Evans' Dedica.

And don’t forget to check out the NZ organ music resources available at SOUNZ online, where Richard makes suggestions for NZ organ repertoire.

Chiaroscuro - New Zealand Works for Organ
The SMP Ensemble recently presented organ works by NZ composers, demonstrating diverse compositional approaches to the organ, performed by Asher Norris, Jonathan Berkahn, and Jeroen Speak. The performance was captured on film by Chris Watson as part of the Resound project.

Musician Ben Wilcock and The Jelly Rolls, a 1930s stride piano trio, have just launched their debut album Sneaky Weasel. The album, available at SOUNZ online, also happens to be New Zealand's first jazz album to be brought out as a limited edition USB credit card. Ben is also the keyboardist for soul singer Bella Kalolo and Coordinator of the Foundation Certificate in Jazz at NZSM.

Watch a video interview with Ben talking about Sneaky Weasel.

Last month SOUNZ released a a film of Songs and Dances of Desire - a tribute to the life and personality of Carmen Rupe by Jack Body. This fully-staged production for orchestra, dancer, guitarist, two mezzo sopranos and a counter tenor, was filmed at the Auckland Town Hall in March 2013. View the full film at SOUNZ online.

The seventh Waiata Māori Music Awards ceremony is held on Friday 12 September in Hastings. The awards aim to develop and promote the diversity of all Māori music, to showcase and celebrate its excellence, and to recognise the unique vision of Māori composers and musicians. View the 2014 finalists here.

Wellington chamber choir Nota Bene will have a double celebration concert on 14 September: to mark their 10th anniversary and the launch of their first CD, a selection of recordings highlights from concerts broadcast by Radio New Zealand Concert. The choir has also commissioned a work from NZ choral composer David Hamilton.

Zeitgeist, an American new music ensemble, recently announced their newest member, US-based New Zealand pianist Nicola Melville. A quartet of musicians, Zeitgeist has been presenting works of substance with passion for more than 35 years, with their unique instrumentation of two percussion, piano and woodwinds.

Renowned German violinist Barbara Lüneburg, guest at the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington, premieres Michael Norris’ new work, Deep Field II, for violin and eight-channel spatialized electronics.

Pianist Stephen De Pledge gives a CMNZ Encompass 2014 concert in Warkworth, presenting Anthony Ritchie’s new work touched.

The Eggner Trio returns to tour New Zealand in September with top viola player, Amihai Grosz. This tour features NZ composer Anthony Ritchie’s Oppositions for piano quartet.

The Aquarius Choir premieres a new work by Anthony Ritchie as part of their No direction home – Songs of Imprisonment concert in Gent, Belgium. Ritchie’s commission is a choral cycle dedicated to a selection of poems from Poems from Guantanamo.

Nota Bene is celebrating with a 10th Anniversary Concert in Wellington. The programme includes a new commission by NZ choral composer David Hamilton. The concert will be a double celebration for the choir as they’re also launching their first CD.

NZTrio's 2014 Loft Series continues in Auckland. In the second concert of this series the Trio premieres John Elmsly’s new commission Ritual Triptych.

Christchurch Symphony Orchestra presents Bold As Brass, celebrating the might and majestic power of the world of brass, including the world premiere of a work by NZ composer Kenneth Young, who will also conduct the CSO and the Woolston Brass Band.

Larry Pruden’s Harbour Nocturne invites inhabitants of Wellington to evoke their own images in response to this intimate and personal work, presented by the Wellington Chamber Orchestra in their September concert.

The Donizetti Trio begins their tour of NZ this month, and they have included works by NZ composers Eve de Castro-Robinson, Chaos of Delight IV, and Dame Gillian Whitehead, Venetian mornings.

Richard Apperley’s solo organ recital at Wellington Cathedral of St Paul with 21st century organ works by NZ composers.

Christchurch City Choir’s next concert Pasifika will be a vibrant musical celebration of Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific. The second half will be a performance of NZ composer David Hamilton’s Missa Pacifica.

Book:
Te Ara Puoro: A Journey into the world of Māori Music tells the story of Richard Nunn’s remarkable journey, gathering together an enormous amount of the current knowledge about taonga puoro, and will undoubtedly be the most important written resource in existence on the subject.

CDs:
Simon Tedeschi - Tender Earth
Following his acclaimed recordings of George Gershwin for ABC Classics, pianist Simon Tedeschi returns with an inspiring disc of music by contemporary Australian composers, and New Zealander Mike Nock.

Yvette Audain - Grooves Unspoken
Versatile Auckland musician Yvette Audain presents her new album of original work, an eclectic live compilation of works for soloist, duo and small ensemble.

Scores:
Notes from the Front (Songs for Corporal Aitken)
The score for the recent premiere of Ross Harris’ song cycle, in commemoration of the First World War, will be available at SOUNZ online soon.

Helen Bowater - Three Gentlemen in Red Jackets
Helen Bowater’s score for violin, solo or with keyboard, can also be purchased from SOUNZ online.

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