Aoraki

Programme Notes
‘Aoraki – the original Maori name of Mount Cook, New Zealand’s highest
peak – was originally written for soprano, kaikaranga (Maori chanter),
percussion, puoro Maori (traditional wind instruments) and electronic
keyboard for the pre-game entertainment at the 2002 Bledisloe Cup rugby
test at Jade Stadium in Christchurch. The performers were Deborah Wai
Kapohe, Aroha Priest, the Strike Percussion Ensemble, Richard Nunns,
and myself. The piece was a setting of a specially commissioned poem,
by Wellington poet Te Taite Cooper, and was deliberately written in an
accessible and somewhat ‘popular’ style due to the consideration that the
piece needed to have as broad an appeal as possible as presumably many
audience members would not neccessarily be classical music enthusiasts!
‘The orchestral version of the piece was written at the suggestion of
Marc Taddei, and is more than a simple reorchestration – it is a complete
reworking of the material into a more substantial concert piece (although
many of the pop influences remain). The piece is also an integration of
Maori, Pakeha and Pacific music styles, something of an analogy to how I
see our society, or at least how it could be – many cultures side by side, all
independent, none compromising their integrity, but working together
harmoniously.’
– Gareth Farr