This programme of several works grouped under the title Voices of Women was recorded and released by Atoll Records (2020) and for video by SOUNZ. The texts voice a range of concepts and preoccupations as expressed by leading female thinkers and writers. The programme concludes with a celebration of the successful struggle to gain suffrage. Planning for the project began in 2018 as New Zealanders commemorated the passing of the 1893 Electoral Act which finally established women’s right to vote in New Zealand. The project brought together a team of exceptional female musicians for the composition, performance, and recording of these new musical works. The composer’s intention in setting the texts to music was to immerse the performers and listeners in the world of the words.
The programme begins with a setting of the Magnificat (Latin Vulgate version) for soprano (Jayne Tankersley), violin (Maia-Dean Martin) and marimba (Yoshiko Tsuruta). Three song cycles follow. The first is a setting of three poems by Christina Rossetti for soprano (Stephanie Acraman) and piano (Katherine Austin). This is followed by a cycle of poems by Ursula Bethell grouped under the title Sit Down With Me Awhile for mezzo soprano (Catrin Johnsson) and piano (Rachel Fuller). A third song cycle features poems by Jean Alison Bartlett for soprano (Felicity Tomkins) and piano (Maria Mo). The programme culminates in a musical setting of historic suffrage texts by Kate Sheppard, American feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Maori activist Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia; additionally there are words spoken by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in the NZ Parliament on the 125th anniversary of female suffrage in New Zealand. The texts were compiled into a narrative by the composer and set for four soprano soloists (Catrin Johnsson, Stephanie Acraman, Jayne Tankersley and Mere Boynton), marimba (Yoshiko Tsuruta), violin Maia-Dean Martin, piano (Noelle Dannenbring) and percussion (Rachel Thomas). Click here to purchase the CD from Marbecks, or check out the Atoll website with streaming links to AppleMusic and Spotify. |