Annual List of Works : SOUNZ, the Centre for New Zealand Music
Title
As Long as Time
Composer
Anthony Ritchie (b. 1960, New Zealand) (229 Helensburgh Road, Wakari, Dunedin 9010)
Instrumentation
SSAATB with optional tenor falsetto
Year of composition
1991
Duration
10’
Place of premiere performance
Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, NEW ZEALAND
Date of premiere performance
1991
Performers
Southern Consort of Voices conducted by Jack Speirs
Score
Publisher: Available on SOUNZ Licence
URL: http://www.sounz.org.nz
E-mail: info@sounz.org.nz
Price: $14.00
Recording
Record company: Atoll Ltd.
URL: http://atoll.co.nz
E-mail: info@atoll.co.nz
Performers: Viva Voce conducted by John Rosser
Price: $30.00
Motivation
The Centre for New Zealand Music recommends no particular work of its own accord. Anthony Ritchie’s work As Long as Time has been put forward to IAMIC upon the advice and recommendation of a number of specialists in choral music, all of whom are very familiar with and supportive of New Zealand repertoire.
Programme note
This work was commissioned by The Southern Consort of Voices in 1991, with funding from Creative New Zealand. It sets three New Zealand poems to music, with a fourth song being wordless: ‘Timepiece’ to a poem by Cilla McQueen; ‘Before the Fall’ to a poem by Rachel McAlpine; ‘I lie, I watch the ceiling’ (wordless); and ‘We could just disappear’ to a poem by Sam Hunt.
In 2001 Auckland choir Viva Voce recorded this work on their CD entitled Snapshots – A Cappella Choral Favourites. Conductor John Rosser writes of the work – “Anthony has a wonderful knack of writing for voice. ‘Timepiece’ portrays a woman struggling to break free of suburban neurosis and the tyranny of time. ‘Before the Fall’ alludes to lost childhood innocence, and We Could just Disappear depicts the future as an endless tunnel of the mind.”
(Provided by Anthony Ritchie for www.sounz.org.nz and used with permission.)
Composer Biography
Anthony Ritchie completed a Ph.D. on the music of Bartok in 1987, studying at the Bartok Archives in Budapest. He also studied composition with Attila Bozay at the Liszt Academy, and completed his Mus.B (Honours) at the University of Canterbury. During this time his Concertino for Piano and Strings was recorded onto LP by Kiwi Pacific.
In 1987 he was Composer-in-Schools in Christchurch, before moving to Dunedin as Mozart Fellow (1988-9) at the University of Otago. Anthony was Composer-in-Residence with the Dunedin Sinfonia in 1993-94, completing his Symphony No. 1 “Boum”. He freelanced from 1995-2002, writing commissioned works for performers as diverse as the NZSO, Class Act Opera, and Footnote Dance Company. In 2000 his Symphony No.2 was premiered by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra at the International Festival of the Arts, and was followed up by the comic opera Quartet at the 2004 Festival. Anthony has composed film music in collaboration with Natural History NZ, including Southern Journeys (2000) and Timeless Land (2003). In 2004 his opera, The God Boy, was a critically acclaimed success at the Otago Arts Festival, and in 2005 his 24 Piano Preludes were released on CD by Atoll, also to good reviews. In 2006 a CD of Ritchie’s chamber music was released by Kiwi Pacific Records, and his symphonies were released in 2007 on that label.
Anthony now holds a 0.8 position as senior lecturer in composition at University of Otago, as well as free-lance composing. His works are regularly performed in New Zealand, and increasingly overseas as well, most notably the Flute Concerto.
(Provided by Anthony Ritchie for www.sounz.org.nz and used with permission.)