Ahi

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theatre, Māori kapa haka, contemporary dance and song, with Farr’s stirring music, and toured a number of centres in New Zealand. In 2006 Farr was awarded the Order of New Zealand Merit for his services to music and entertainment. That same year, the Royal New Zealand Ballet toured the country with their brand new work The Wedding, featuring a score by Farr. At ninety minutes, it was among the company’s most ambitious projects, and combined Farr’s talents with those of prominent New Zealand novelist and librettist Witi Ihimaera. In March of 2014 Farr’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra received its world premiere from soloist Tony Lee and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Pietari Inkenen. Its UK premiere followed one year later, with Lee backed by the BBC Philharmonic, with conductor Tecwyn Evans. The concerto received critical acclaim with the Dominion Post’s John Button writing “…the ear was tickled bar after bar. I have no doubt that this marvellously inventive piano concerto is bound to develop an international life all its own.” More recently, Farr’s score for the opera The Bone Feeder received critical praise for its unique and imaginative articulation of intersecting cultures in New Zealand. Premiering at the 2017 Auckland Arts Festival, Farr brought together instruments from Chinese, Western and Māori culture to create an exotic and balanced synthesis of sounds, with David Larsen of Metro Magazine commenting, “Farr’s textures and moods are wonderful: timbres mingle and shift in ways that are at once fascinating and symbolically appropriate.” In May of 2017, Farr’s Cello Concerto—subtitled Chemin des Dames—was premiered by French cellist Sébastien Hurtaud and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in Wellington, New Zealand, followed by a performance in France, with Hurtaud joined by l’Orchestre national de Lorraine. The concerto is a tribute to the soldiers who fell on the First World War battlefields of France and Belgium, with critic William Dart stating, “In a work of impeccable atmosphere, welcoming for both players and audience, the weeping beauties of its central section stayed with me long into the evening.” In July of 2019, the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra gave the world premiere of Farr’s Roar of a Thousand Tigers, a 35-minute, five-movement work commissioned by the Hillary Centenary Steering Committee and Clive Gilson to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Sir Edmund Hillary, the legendary New Zealand mountaineer who, along with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, made history in 1953 by successfully reaching the summit of Mount Everest. Latest information about the composer may be found at www.garethfarr.com. PE039 – iv
Ahi (1998/2001) I. Semplice ma espressivo II. Scherzo III. Interlude IV. Finale Commissioned by the James Wallace Charitable Trust for the Ogen Trio, Ahi is an early work by Gareth Farr that explores the softer side, contrasting the high energy percussive nature that is found in many of Farr’s early works. The first movement Semplice ma espressivo starts in the style of a French lullaby, with a songlike melody and delicate musical details it conveys the warmth of a gentle flame, whilst later occasionally reminding the listener of fire’s untamed nature. The second movement Scherzo acts as a direct contrast to the first movement, with an intense and unrelenting air it describes the duality of fire; once a mellow heat, now a destructive force. Through aggressive pizzicatos, harsh glissandi, and weighty piano syncopation, this movement commands undertones of a never-ceasing industrial foundry. Ahi’s third movement then brings us back to equilibrium with a quiet interlude, returning with variations of the songlike melody of the first movement sitting above a harmonic bed produced by the piano. This peaceful state is quietly unsettled as the interlude ends with a questioning dissonance. After this brief palette cleanser, we get hit with a triumphant conclusion to the work, the fourth movement Finale comes truly into the world of Farr, drawing on inspirations of Balinese pop and channelling gamelan-esque content across the trio. Its excitable nature comes with all the unpredictability and chutzpah of fire, flickering and soaring in the wind. Piano ostinatos provide consistently high energy, while the rest of the trio tangle their way in and out reforming the first movements melody in increasingly vibrant tones. PE039 – v
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Ahi

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