Around the World in Eighty Pieces – #1 New Zealand

Welcome to the first post in my new series, Around the World in Eighty Pieces! I’m excited to combine my love of travelling and clarinet repertoire by sharing a piece I “discovered” in each country.

This series is not meant to be a comprehensive overview of the clarinet music from each country; rather, this is an appetizer to ignite your curiosity to learn more about the music, repertoire, and clarinet cultures of each place.

I love learning about other clarinet music from around the world, so please contact me or leave a comment with other pieces you would like to share.

First up, New Zealand!

Last month was my first visit to the southern hemisphere. I spent some time exploring both islands in New Zealand, where I learned about New Zealand clarinet repertoire. I visited Auckland, Queenstown, Fiordland National Park, Milford Sound, Wānaka, Christchurch, and Wellington.

To learn more about New Zealand music, I visited SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music in Wellington.

According to the SOUNZ website, “We make the music of Aotearoa New Zealand, accessible to all SOUNZ champions and promotes the sounds and music of Aotearoa, New Zealand. We are the only arts and music organisation of our kind working in the digital space to create and make available on our platforms the sounds, music and stories about the music of Aotearoa, New Zealand.”

SOUNZ was a helpful resource before my trip, as I researched clarinet compositions from New Zealand. I contacted the organization to arrange a visit during my time in Wellington, and the team was incredibly helpful. When I arrived, they had set aside a large portion of their clarinet collection for me to browse. I also purchased The Oxford History of New Zealand Music to learn more about New Zealand music history.

I spent the better part of the day perusing their clarinet collection, taking notes on repertoire, and learning more about composers, clarinetists, and repertoire from New Zealand.

So, what were my favorite clarinet pieces from New Zealand?

There is an abundance of clarinet music from New Zealand, and one piece I’m currently enjoying is Douglas Lilburn’s Clarinet Sonatina. New Zealand composer Douglas Lilburn (1915-2001) wrote this in 1948, and it was premiered by American clarinetist George Hopkins who had moved to Auckland. Here is a beautiful recording of this piece by Walter Hamer (clarinet) and Margaret Nielsen (piano). Here is a link with recording info.

Fun fact: Douglas Lilburn founded Australasia’s first electronic music studio at Victoria University in Wellington.

I love lush melodies and sweeping sonatas, so this short yet memorable piece is currently on my music stand, just waiting to be performed.