Lyell Cresswell

Programme Note

'Ara Kopikopiko' is Maori for labyrinth.

There are four connected threads to guide the listener through the intercommunicating paths of the labyrinth. The first thread (A) is a reflective theme played by flutes; the second (B) grows from a tiny cell of repeated notes heard first in horns and bassoons over low trilling strings; the third (C) revolves around fleeting, rapid scalar exchanges between various instruments and the different sections of the orchestra, and the fourth (D), like the first, grows from repeated notes - this time culminating in a headlong final dash. These threads are joined together in twenty sections. For those who would like the form spelled out it is ABCDCABCDACADACBADBD. Ara Kopikopiko is scored for full symphony orchestra without percussion or timpani.

Another way of looking at the piece would be to see the instruments and ideas being treated as tesserae in a mosaic, where small pieces of coloured stone, marble or glass are assembled unevenly to catch the light at different angles. In the overall view the pieces are fitted together in such a way that they cease to exist individually and create a variegated picture.

'Ara Kopikopiko' was made possible by the award of the first Elgar Bursary, which is administered by the Royal Philharmonic Society. I would like to thank the Elgar family, Anthony Payne and Rosemary Johnson for their support.


Lyell Cresswell

Notes

This work was made possible by the award of the first Elgar Bursary, which is administered by the Royal Philharmonic Society.
'Ara Kopikopiko' is Maori for 'labyrinth.'