Category: Music lists

Lists of items on different topics chosen by our librarians – if you’re after just the new material, visit our Recent Picks. The lists on this page may feature older items that we love or that fit a topic…

Inner Visions: Orchestra Wellington Presents ‘Pharaoh’

Corrina

On Saturday 7 October, Orchestra Wellington presents ‘Pharaoh‘, the penultimate concert of its 2023 Inner Visions season. The programme brings together five works that each realise ‘inner visions’: from Gemma Peacocke’s response to the mysterious world of manta rays in the Hauraki Gulf in her new work Manta; there is a collision of archaism and ultra-modernism in Webern’s Passacaglia (1908). Briar Prastiti’s White, Red, Black envisions a folkloric world, through the symbolic qualities of these three colours in story-telling. John Psathas’s Planet Damnation, a concerto for timpani and orchestra, draws us into a different time and landscape, taking its inspiration from the chapter in Robert Fisk’s The Great War for Civilisation that gives the author’s eyewitness account of catastrophic events in the Gulf War. To conclude the programme, Mozart’s music for the play Thamos, King of Egypt heightens the themes of treachery and death that pervade the drama by Tobias Philipp, Freiherr von Gebler (1726-1786). Joining Orchestra Wellington, conducted by Music Director Marc Taddei, will be the Arohanui Strings in Manta, percussionist Tomomi Ozaki, and the Orpheus Choir.

Today’s blog explores some of the books in the WCL collection about the two composers central to the First and Second Viennese Schools of composition, providing additional context to the music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), and Anton von Webern (1883-1945).

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Korea Week 2023: Our library K-Pop collection

Mark

Mayor Tory Whanau travelled to Asia for 11 days in September, taking in Korea, Japan and China. She brought her love for Korean culture with her during her visit to Seoul, and while there signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU), elevating Seoul and Wellington’s relationship to the sister city level. She spoke of Korean culture’s rising popularity in Wellington, which dovetails with the upcoming Korean Cultural Festival on October 6th.

Korea Week 2023 is a vibrant cultural celebration, brought to you by the Korean Embassy in Wellington. Discover the beauty of Korean heritage and modern culture in the heart of Wellington.
️Date: Fri, 6th – Sun, 8th October
Venue: Embassy Theatre & Le Cordon Bleu, Wellington
️Admission: FREE

At the Embassy from October 6th to 8th, the Korean Film Festival returns with a variety of Korean films. Experience the magic of Korean cinema with a fantastic lineup including Operation Chromite, Little Forest, A Hard Day, Hwayi: A Monster Boy, Kai, My Brilliant Life, and Fengshui. Booking is required through Eventfinda on each film.                                                                                                                          FREE EVENT with general admission (first-come, first-served seating).

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Strike the Viol! Renaissance and Baroque Music for Viola da Gamba

Corrina

Strike the viol, touch the lute,
Wake the harp, inspire the flute.
Sing your patroness’s praise,
In cheerful and harmonious lays.

Treble viol by Alan Clayton. Picture © Alan Clayton. Picture reproduced with permission from Alan Clayton.
A treble violin by Alan Clayton

The viol — a bowed, fretted string instrument also known as a viola da gamba — rose to prominence in Europe at the end of the fifteenth century, and by the seventeenth century, it was one of the most popular ensemble and solo instruments. In Renaissance England, the viol consort, a group of viols of different sizes (treble, tenor, and bass), was one of the preeminent ensembles of the day, playing extraordinarily complex music; right through to the mid-eighteenth century, the viol remained an important solo instrument, especially for French and German composers. Eclipsed by the violoncello in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, the viol was relegated to the status of a quaint relic until the ‘early music revival’ of the twentieth century reignited interest in viols and their music. Today, different members of the viol family can be found in many ensembles — and not only those specialising in early music or historical performance. The sound of viols and the virtuosity of their players inspire increasing numbers of contemporary composers (Nico Muhly, Sally Beamish, James MacMillan, and New Zealand’s own Yvette Audain, and Ross Harris to name a few) to write music for solo and ensemble viols. 

Pardessus de viole in the workshop. Picture © Alan Clayton.Image reproduced with permission from Alan Clayton.
In the workshop: a pardessus de viole by Alan Clayton

Locally, Wellington is home to Aotearoa’s only viol consort, the Palliser Viols. While the repertoire of the group is predominantly that of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, they also demonstrate the versatility of the viol by commissioning and performing new works including Ross Harris’s Gaudete and Image of Melancholy, Dame Gillian Karawe Whitehead’s Douglas Lilburn, travelling on the Limited, regards the mountains in the moonlight and Colin Decio’s Lord have Mercy. And, perhaps more unexpectedly, there is a specialist maker of viols based in Wellington as well: Alan Clayton’s beautiful instruments — which he makes on commission from musicians here and overseas — can sometimes be seen at Alastair’s Music in Cuba Street. Today’s blog explores some of the recordings of music played by viols in different combinations and emerging from different countries and eras.

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September’s New Music for Te Awe: Part 1

Mark
Albums laid out against a backdrop of sand, with a palm tree shadow


via GIPHY

Statler: Well, it was good.
Waldorf: Ah, it was very bad.
Statler: Well, it was average.
Waldorf: Ah, it was in the middle there.
Statler: Ah, it wasn’t that great.
Waldorf: I kind of liked it.”
-‘The Muppet Show’.

I’m Mark, the Music & Film Specialist at Wellington City Libraries. I buy music for the CD & Vinyl collections, and also run the Libraries’ Wellington Music Facebook page). My Music Specialist colleague Sam, and Fiction Specialist (and avid music fan) Neil, join me every month to cast an eye over the new material we have been buying for the music collection at our CBD Te Awe library. We pick out some interesting titles across a range of music genres, and try to limit our reviews to a few lines only. Can we encapsulate an entire album in just a couple of lines? [Ed. This is probably unlikely at this point]. Do we actually know anything about new music? Or, are we just too old to understand what most of this is banging on about? [Ed. This is more than likely]. Read on to find out…

Subhana / Ben Ali, Ahmed
Neil says: The Habibi Funk label has justifiably gained an international reputation for bringing to light shamefully neglected surprising and unexpected albums from the Arab World. We at WCL music love the label and have reviewed many of their previous outings. And their latest release continues this trend with Libyan reggae artist Ali Ben’s self-produced ‘Subhana’ album. Libyan reggae has been a big genre in that country since the 1970’s, and the explosion of reggae worldwide caused by Bob Marley’s releases. It’s an intoxicating, unique and uplifting mix sounds that incorporate reggae, traditional Libyan Folk, synths, zokra and even Libyan mizwad bagpipes. Definitely well worth a good listen and highly recommended.

¡Ay / Dalt, Lucrecia
Sam says: Lucretia Dalt is an experimental musician from Colombia who is currently based in Berlin. Through the use of traditional percussion, trumpets, clarinets, string and wind instruments, ‘¡Ay!’ features an immediately organic sound. This is nicely balanced by a stark and inventive production style, with Dalt’s sleek and airy vocals adding a sense of human warmth to the eclectic smorgasbord of sounds. Lyrics are delivered in her native Spanish and deal with a variety of esoteric philosophical subjects across the album’s ten tracks. The combination of classic jazzy instrumental elements with modern technical approaches creates a quirky aesthetic that is fully her own. ‘¡Ay!’ is truly unlike anything else you will hear this year.

Neil says: ‘¡Ay!’ is an ambitious and experimental yet highly approachable album from Lucrecia Dalt. It is an amazingly accomplished work, that is in part a Colombian science fiction musical narrative about an extra-terrestrial visiting earth, and it is also simultaneously a statement on cultural identity. It embraces and redefines, in a very relatable and unique fashion, genres such as bolero, classical and jazz. All from a Latin-American perspective, widening these genres to suit the narrative thread of the work. All these elements are seamlessly woven in. It is unique and brilliantly daring, yet strangely familiar. For example, tiny elements sound like reimagined fifties science fiction film soundtrack music.

Continue reading “September’s New Music for Te Awe: Part 1” →

August’s new music for Te Awe: Part 3

Mark

Here is part two of our new music picks for August. You can catch up with Part 1 here, and Part 2 here. Do we actually know anything about new music? Or, are we just too old to understand what most of this is banging on about? Read on to find out…

A fistful of peaches / Black Honey
Mark says: ‘A Fistful of Peaches’ is the third album by UK band Black Honey. They released a self-titled debut in 2018, and have been steady figures in the UK indie scene since then, with 2nd album, 2021’s Written & Directed cracking the UK top 10. Their latest album has been hailed as their most consistent yet. While arguably there’s nothing really new here musically, lead singer Izzy Bee Phillips manages to inveigh their propulsive, anthemic, 90s styled indie pop-rock, with a surprising degree of emotional shades, from upbeat, to melancholic and malicious. And the catchy tracks often hide pointed lyrics the dig into the mental health struggles and unhappiness that plague her generation.

Sam says: Having formed in 2014, Black Honey is a four-piece indie rock band originating from Brighton, UK, and ‘A Fistful of Peaches’ is their third album. Featuring infectiously fuzzy guitar lines, thumping drums and evocative, yet somewhat reserved vocals, the music pulls together ‘90s-flavoured post-grunge swagger with a more contemporary sense of grandeur. The guitar-driven nature of the music provides a rough edge to the music, which is nicely balanced and smoothed out by the subtle synth and keyboard parts. There is a sense of friction between the infectious and upbeat musical parts and the emotionally troubled lyrical content, which in turn provides an atmosphere that feels both playful and introspective. Those looking for infectious power-pop hooks will find plenty to love here.

Continue reading “August’s new music for Te Awe: Part 3” →

The Musical Legacy of Gillian Bibby MNZM

Corrina

The pianist, composer, teacher, and scholar Gillian Bibby who passed away in Wellington on 7 August 2023, was integral to Wellington’s musical world for several decades. While countless numbers of young musicians in Wellington and beyond benefitted from Gillian’s work — whether through piano or music theory lessons, chamber music coaching, the Institute of Registered Music Teachers, the New Zealand Suzuki Institute, or by learning pieces from her edited collections of piano music — her legacy as a composer and performer is less well-known than it should be.

Bibby’s career took her from a childhood in Lower Hutt and Greymouth to university in Dunedin, and then postgraduate study in Germany, where her teachers included Karlheinz Stockhausen. She was the recipient of prestigious awards, including the Kranichsteiner Music Prize (1972), and she was a Mozart Fellow at Otago University (1976-77). After returning to Wellington, Bibby established a flourishing teaching studio in Roseneath and became heavily involved in Suzuki Talent Education, receiving in 1992 a Churchill Fellowship to pursue further study in Suzuki teaching training in North America.

It is impossible to do justice to Gillian Bibby’s career here, but something of the scale of her achievements can be seen in Bibby’s 70th birthday concert in 2015. Many eminent members of the music profession, including friends, family, and former pupils, came together to perform her music in Wellington’s Adam Concert Room. SOUNZ recorded these performances, which you can view here, alongside a fascinating interview with Bibby, and short introductions to the pieces. This collection of performances and discussions provides a rich portrait of Bibby’s work as a composer: eclectic, drawing on avant-garde techniques, diverse in instrumentation, and encompassing a wide variety of influences. A more extensive catalogue of her compositions can again be accessed via SOUNZ, while additional recordings and scores are available at the Alexander Turnbull Library.

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