OKTA: The Spring Concert

Okta, the University of Waikato’s contemporary music group is one of the many jewels in the crown of the University’s Music Department.

Now in it's fifth year of operation, Okta continues to bring to audiences important premieres and powerful performances of twentieth century classics.

On Wednesday September 26, accomplished flautist Ingrid Culliford will perform Varèse's Density 21.5 and also joins Lara Hall and Katherine Austin for the professional premiere of Janus, Michael William's 2004 trio for flute, violin and piano.

While Williams admits that Janus is comparatively conventional, sharing some stylistic features with pieces like his NZSO commission Piercing the Vault, there is no denying the energising ferocity of its toccata-like second movement, with flying demi-semiquavers and a final assault of bravura octaves.

Ears may be surprised by Janus’s more reflective first movement, opening with the flautist pouring rice slowly and deliberately from one metal container to another, creating a sound not unlike the rainsticks that Gillian Whitehead called upon for her The Improbable Ordered Dance.

“I wanted a background sound that was generated by an activity that was not necessarily a performance one,” Williams explains. “The piece was commissioned by a trio called ‘Nous Somme Trois’ which was keen on a ‘multicultural’ element, the players being from New Zealand, China and Korea. I thought that the idea of pouring rice from one container to another might capture a mood of sharing that which sustains us.”

Williams’s second Okta piece, The Blue Shawl, is a world premiere, commemorating one of the seminal events of the rising Maori consciousness. This took place back in 1978, when local Maori, led by activist Eva Rickard, made a physical claim for the grounds of the Raglan Golf Course.

Drama Studies lecturer John Davies, who was the directorial hand behind Williams’ 2003 opera The Prodigal Child alerted the composer to the project.

“John had been in discussions with Angeline Greensill who is Eva Rikard’s daughter and who asked him to contribute to a commemoration project for the February 2008 Raglan Festival to mark the 30th anniversary of the Raglan arrests,” Williams outlines. “Around the same time, I asked John for some text that I might be able to use for an Okta project I was planning. We thought why not combine these ideas and perform a section of the Raglan piece as something of an experiment and a preview?”

Some ears may be pleasantly startled by the sound of The Blue Shawl, combining as it does the sonorities of Western instruments, Maori Taonga Puoro and Taiko drum.

“In a way, the biggest challenge has been imagining the combinations of the three ethnic elements,” Williams explains. “ I have tried to find commonalities within styles and colours but also sharp points of difference which I hope will stand out. In a piece such as this, one has to have real trust in one’s performers as improvisation plays such an integral part.”

It is Williams’ sense of mix and balance that distinguishes The Blue Shawl, especially when he boldly sets Maori and English texts simultaneously.

“From a musical perspective, I very much enjoy the contrasting rhythmic inflections of either language which tend to influence melodic shape and pitch organisation,” he points out.

“ From a cultural/ philosophical perspective, the combination of the two languages might indicate an understanding and respect of cultural differences.”

There is no shortage of drama in this piece (Williams is very pleased with one moment where the first soprano
“glissandos up 1.5 octaves to shriek a high C#” but one senses that it is a project and a work that has sprung to life very much through the efforts of the many musicians involved with it.

“There is a great deal more improvisation here than in anything else I have composed and this is the first time that I have collaborated with Richard Nunns which is wonderful for me,” Williams says. “This piece is perhaps a little more austere than what I usually write but there is a ‘release valve’ at one point where the sopranos sing in harmonious thirds.

“Of course working with traditional Japanese instruments is a novel experience as well, and I have found that the Noh Kan flute and Taiko drum somehow add an unusual ritualistic elegance which is not to be found anywhere else.”

Above all, Williams cannot speak too highly of the performers who are “fantastically talented and fantastically generous” as well as the very special involvement of John Davies.

“Its always a pleasure to work with John,” Williams concludes. “We have collaborated on a number of projects now including the Hamilton Prodigal Child production which John directed, and Swamp Treasures for last year’s Fuel Festival. His text for The Blue Shawl is really beautiful, written with a wonderful sensitivity.”

Wednesday offers the chance to have a sneak preview of a work that could well be the centrepiece of the 2008 Raglan Festival, early in the new year. A concert that is not to be missed.

Wednesday 26th September
Gallagher Concert Chamber
WEL Academy of Performing Arts
Time: 7:00 PM
Suggested donation of $5 on entry