Firestarters 2

FIRESTARTERS 2
7 New Recital Pieces for Piano
Torrent (2001)
Penelope Axtens (1975)
Penelope Axtens began studies in composition and piano
performance at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and
completed a Masters degree at Victoria University of Wellington
under the tutelage of Ross Harris and John Psathas. Her work
For Violin, Violoncello and Piano, composed while she was still a
student, has been widely performed in New Zealand and overseas
and was selected as the representative New Zealand chamber
work for the 2004 IAMIC Annual List. Axtens won the New
Zealand Symphony Orchestra-Concert FM ‘Music 2000’ Prize with
her orchestral work Part the Second, which was subsequently
performed and broadcast throughout New Zealand. The prize
also included a commission from the NZSO for a 20-minute
orchestral work, and this resulted in From the Sixth Hour which
was premiered by the NZSO in 2002. In the same year Axtens
was the recipient of the Composers’ Association of New Zealand
(CANZ) Trust Fund Award, made annually to ‘a composer of
outstanding potential or achievement’. Currently, she lives in
London.
In order to better understand Torrent, the performer should read
and visualise the lines written by the composer.
The music, a depiction of different energy levels within nature
that has at its heart the juxtaposition of stillness and cascading
motion, must maintain a sense of linearity throughout. This
applies particularly within the chord sequences: aim to employ
slow, fluid arm movements and finger pedalling where possible.
There are a number of notational conventions employed that are
specific to this piece. The music is unmetered, and dotted barlines
are provided in places merely as a visual aid to assist vertical
coordination rather than to imply points of stress. Accidentals
apply only to those notes they immediately precede. In general,
groups of beamed quavers should be played with a sense of
‘localised acceleration’ within the prevailing tempo. Tenuto marks
imply a slight prolongation of a note.
On page 6, in the third and fourth systems, pedalling should be
used to maintain clarity of the upper line. Note also the use of
half-pedalling, beginning in the fifth system of this page.
The composer writes:
Trembles green in the morning rains
It is the ridge we climb
Over lifetimes of stillness
Down to Torrent Bay
(for Ros)
Ritual from Poems of Spring (1981)
Anthony Ritchie (1960)
Anthony Ritchie was born and educated in Christchurch, New
Zealand, the son of composer John Ritchie. He received his first
commission in 1982, his final year at Canterbury University. This
resulted in his Concertino for Piano and Strings. He travelled
to Hungary in 1983 to study the music of Bartók for a doctoral
thesis, and also studied composition there under Attila Bozay
at the Liszt Academy. Ritchie has been based in Dunedin,
New Zealand since 1988, where he has worked as a freelance
composer, writing for chamber groups, dance, choir, opera, film
and orchestra. Many of his works have been performed overseas,
and a growing number have been recorded and published.
Ritchie currently lectures in composition at Otago University. He
has composed extensively for the piano, and among his recent
works is a major cycle of 24 Preludes (2002).
This short piece is full of character and vitality. The composer
indicates that it is to be played fast and roughly. However, the
performer should still take note of every dynamic nuance and
remain true to all the articulation markings. This is the key to a
successful performance!
Small noteheads in the right hand indicate chords that may be
omitted if necessary to facilitate performance.
The composer writes:
Ritual is one of the eight short pieces comprising Poems of
Spring (four of the other pieces are published in Firestarters
1), which were composed while I was a third-year student
at the University of Canterbury, and first performed there
by myself in 1982. They were inspired by two major events
in my life at that time: first, the ructions caused by the 1981
Springbok rugby tour which I found myself caught up in; and
second, a love affair which ended in grief. Ritual owes a debt
to Stravinsky’s Le sacre du printemps, attempting to evoke the
earthy, sexual energy of spring through its vigorous rhythms.
Waiting for the Lights to Change (2001)
James Ledger (1966)
James Ledger is an Australian composer whose orchestral works
have been performed by all of that country’s major orchestras.
He has composed soundtracks for several short films and
documentaries for the ABC, SBS and independent filmmakers.
His orchestral music has been used for seasons with the West
Australian Ballet.
In 2003 and 2004, Ledger was the composer attached to the
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, and in late 2004 he took up a
residency with the Christchurch Symphony in New Zealand. In
addition to new work for the Christchurch Symphony in 2005,
James has commissions for the Sydney and West Australian
Symphony Orchestras.
PE068 – 42