"is there anybody in there" and "Fragment for String Quartet" - two pieces for mixed chamber ensemble.

Abstract

These two compositions for mixed chamber ensemble are the second and third in a trio of pieces on the theme of fleeting visions of the unconscious, written as companion pieces to my chamber work "Inquietude", 2003. "is there anybody in there?" was written for bassoonist Ben Hoadley for inclusion in his concert series “New Zealand Music for Woodwind”, featuring work from New Zealand Composers, and was premiered in the Music Theatre, School of Music, University of Auckland, April 2010. Reviewed by William Dart for the New Zealand Herald, 12 April 2010: “ Holmes made much of Messiaen-like chords underpinning willowy lines, especially effective with flute, bassoon and piano deliriously intertwining”. Is there anybody in there? was repeated later in the year at All Saints Church, Howick in a concert series entitled Thursdays @ 7, 2 September 2010, and then at the third annual New Zealand Music for Woodwind concert, St Andrews on the Terrace, Wellington 20 April 2011. "Fragment for String Quartet" was commissioned by “The Committee” for a concert at the Clocktower, University of Auckland, 21 September 2007, featuring the Jade Quartet, who subsequently took the work on their tour of the South Island in October/November 2007. The Jade String Quartet comprises Auckland Philharmonia members Miranda Adams, William Hanfling, Robert Ashworth and Claudia Price. The work has been recorded and broadcast by Concert FM, and has had subsequent performances by the Karlheinz Company, 4 October 2009, and student group DSCH Quartet 23 May 2010. The Karlheinz Company concert was reviewed in the NZ Herald by William Dart 16 December 2009: “its wisps and spiralling of sound had a wonderful airiness”