About his 'Fanfare' for orchestra, Jack wrote: ‘I was commissioned to write a short fanfare, which suggested to me an accessible, uninvolved, celebratory piece. The basic idea, based on a simple major scale with a sharpened fourth, is announced at the opening: muted trumpets articulate the tonic and dominant, whilst muted horns with a typically french-horn-fifth motive supply the augmented fourth. This muted opening bursts into the rhythmic fun and games of the 'fanfare' proper.
The harmonic movement throughout is generated by the unsettling influence of the sharpened fourth. Rhythmic variety is an important feature of the 'Fanfare'. Most bars exhibit some form of rhythmic irregularity, whilst the denouement features strings and wind playing in different meters against the ostinato of the brass. For the conclusion, I felt the only percussion instrument, apart from timpani, should be given its head. Consequently, the side drum leads the final charge.’
Biography:
Jack Speirs Photo: Supplied
Jack Speirs was born in Yorkshire in 1939. He studied music at Edinburgh University, and later the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin.
In 1965 he was appointed Lecturer in Music at the University of Otago, where he was Associate Professor until his death in 2000. His specialties in teaching were composition, instrumentation, analysis and 20th century music studies. He also directed Schola Cantorum, Dunedin and the Southern Consort of Voices, and was principal conductor of the Dunedin Sinfonia.
He was a guest conductor of New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Wellington Sinfonia, and in 1998 he received the CANZ KBB Citation for Services to New Zealand Music.
Recorded by RNZ Concert, 12 April 2017.
