On Hearing the Shining Cuckoo

Commissioned by the St Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra

Premiere: 19 August 2018
St Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra, conductor Michael Joel
Pitt Street Methodist Church, Auckland.

Programme Note

On Hearing the Shining Cuckoo borrows musical ideas (and its title) from the famous work by Frederick Delius. It is in six movements and includes the birdsong of the shining cuckoo|pīpīwharauroa and grey warbler|riroriro. The cuckoo migrates south to New Zealand every spring and lays its eggs in the nest of the warbler.

On Hearing the Shining Cuckoo is filled with hope and wariness; it is a response to current events, both environmental and cultural. A chasm lies between our often sentimental attachment to the natural environment and the reality of how our lives affect it. This is paralleled in the discrepancy between the talk and action in the value our society places on the arts.

On Hearing the Shining Cuckoo was commissioned by the St Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra.

Performance Notes

Where possible, the trumpets, trombones and tuba should be separated from the rest of the orchestra, either in another part of the auditorium or completely out of sight of the audience. The desired effect is that they sound distant and mysterious, and that the sound is somewhat dislocated from the main body of the orchestra. Additionally, the piccolo part could also be performed offstage.