McLeod, Jenny – NZTrio

Q: COMPOSER NOTES

Clouds premieres in September 2021 Seascapes A Wellingtonian by birth, Jenny studied music at Victoria University in 1961 with Frederick Page, David Farquhar and Douglas Lilburn. She later studied with Messiaen in Paris, whose generous mentorship made a lasting impression on her, resulting in a life-long friendship. After Paris, she went on to study with Boulez in Basel, and with Stockhausen and Berio in Cologne. It was here she ‘discovered’ Richard Taylor’s translation of the Maori creation poetry (in the first Penguin Book of New Zealand Verse) that prompted, after her return to New Zealand, an historically significant new work titled Earth and Sky (1968), and a lectureship that led to her appointment as the first female Professor of Music at Victoria University, and at age 29, the youngest professor in the British Commonwealth. Seascapes was composed in 2015 by special request from Jack Body to celebrate Lilburn’s centenary year. Two pieces from an earlier work (Tone Clock Pieces 8-11 for piano – written in 1995 for Lilburn’s 80th birthday) were selected and specially arranged for NZTrio. It is a tribute to her early tutor, inspired by the “endlessly varied movements of surf, wind on water, sea, rock pools, and the place Douglas himself often walked in earlier days – Pukerua Bay, where I lived.” (Jenny McLeod)

Clouds (2021) – c. 7

Seascapes, Arr. from Tone Clock Pieces (2015) – c. 10′

COMPOSER NOTES

Clouds premieres in September 2021

Seascapes

A Wellingtonian by birth, Jenny studied music at Victoria University in 1961 with Frederick Page, David Farquhar and Douglas Lilburn. She later studied with Messiaen in Paris, whose generous mentorship made a lasting impression on her, resulting in a life-long friendship. After Paris, she went on to study with Boulez in Basel, and with Stockhausen and Berio in Cologne. It was here she ‘discovered’ Richard Taylor’s translation of the Maori creation poetry (in the first Penguin Book of New Zealand Verse) that prompted, after her return to New Zealand, an historically significant new work titled Earth and Sky (1968), and a lectureship that led to her appointment as the first female Professor of Music at Victoria University, and at age 29, the youngest professor in the British Commonwealth.

Seascapes was composed in 2015 by special request from Jack Body to celebrate Lilburn’s centenary year. Two pieces from an earlier work (Tone Clock Pieces 8-11 for piano – written in 1995 for Lilburn’s 80th birthday) were selected and specially arranged for NZTrio. It is a tribute to her early tutor, inspired by the “endlessly varied movements of surf, wind on water, sea, rock pools, and the place Douglas himself often walked in earlier days – Pukerua Bay, where I lived.” (Jenny McLeod)