More enlightening patronage here from
the Morrison Music Trust in its promotion
of a double set of contemporary New
Zealand works for flute and piano.
Ka wawara te hau, Ross Harris’s
opener, means “The Wind Whispered”
in English – a constant refrain in
this and other albums of contemporary
music is how often composers employ
Maori titles and embrace Maori myth
and history in their works. Chimes
and microtones whisper through this
one, with the flute protagonist fleetly
accelerating or gently slowing down.
John Elmsly cuts a more obviously
forthcoming stance – warm piano triads
and an especially limpid section half
way through generate real tension;
tempo increase is highlit by the rhythmic
play of the piano.
Michael Norris’s influence is Messiaen
and the overblown birdcalls are redolent
of Irish myth.
Badb (though
capitalised in the title) was an Irish
war goddess and the hag and carrion
crow cries are visceral in their immediacy.
I enjoyed John Ritchie’s programmatic
or at least narrative
The Snow
Goose with its adept writing;
rather French. We hear the aerial
delicacy of the bird’s flight and
then the sounds of gunfire as the
goose crosses the channel to Dunkirk
in wartime. The inspiration was Paul
Gallico’s novel and the piece was
originally written for orchestral
forces.
Gillian Whitehead’s piece gives the
disc its title and her
Taurangi
is unsettled in places and employs
some searching avant-garde techniques
- the pianist also has to play
inside
the piano in that modish way. There
are compensatory moments of limpidity
and colour but the demands are generally
unremitting. Altogether lighter on
its feet is Christopher Blake’s
Little
Dancings with its tarantella tints,
canon, a threatened fugato, evocative
slow movement and spirited Thai dance.
Wonderfully deft characterisation
marks out Maria Grenfell’s
Four
Pooh Stories. I’ve drawn attention
to this composer in another Morrison
Trust review (see
review)
and the energy and humour of her writing
is a constant delight – let’s have
a single disc devoted to her, if there
isn’t one already. Rich birdcall marks
out
Tui by Anthony Ritchie
and Dorothy Buchanan is similarly
taken in
Flute Song for the Birds.
With tempo fluctuation and some
verdant writing, this last has ecstasy
in the forest and makes imaginative
play with the flute/piano forces.
Harakeke by Philip Brownlee
evokes sway in the wind and forestry
cries whilst John Ritchie, in his
second contribution, conjures the
languorous long line and contrasting
drive in the humorously titled
Sweet
and Sour. Chris Cree Brown introduces
taped sounds in his work, along with
what sound like ethnic flute blowing
techniques. Paul Booth’s 1997 Aids
Lament remains undesolate and
unflinching and the selection ends
with Douglas Mews Senior’s sly tango
rhythms.
The soundscape is excellent and captures
the intrepid Bridget Douglas and Rachel
Thomson with sensitive immediacy.
The biographical notes are complemented
and enhanced by the composer’s own
comments.
Jonathan Woolf
AVAILABILITY
Bridget Douglas (flute) 
