Fiery passions spark composer's inspiration

By WILLIAM DART

During the day you'll find Christopher Blake, public servant, behind a desk as chief executive of the National Library. At night, he'll be writing the music that has made him one of our country's leading composers.

This urbane Wellingtonian is responsible for some of the most substantial New Zealand compositions of the 90s, including an opera, Bitter Calm, and a symphony, The Islands, but he's also well known for his smaller canvases, such as The Furnace of Pihanga, which the Auckland Philharmonia is premiering this Thursday.

Based on a Maori legend involving the amatory rivalry between the ancient mountains of the volcanic plateau, Pihanga was inspired by a family drive up the middle of the island.

Blake remembers "how the sun was going down and it was like a great fire sinking behind the mountain. There was almost no trace of human existence, the light destroyed the pylons and even the road. It was elemental and I was reminded of the legend of Maui holding the sun and fighting with it. And one of the family said, 'Dad, you'd better write a piece about this."'

Blake admits that short pieces such as this are encouraged by "a market which makes it easier for an orchestra to programme a piece of that length", although it is a genre that lends itself to his strong sense of musical narrative and skill at orchestral evocation.

As a composer, Blake has mellowed. He admits he is "a great Brahmsian, although perhaps this is not very fashionable", and it is a CD of Jessye Norman singing Brahms Lieder that is playing in his car.

Among contemporaries, he admires the American John Adams "for experimenting in more accessible idioms".

For some years Blake has been deeply concerned about communicating with audiences.

"You need to strike a balance," he asserts, "so that the music has relevance to a reasonably large group of people."

When his pieces are picked up for further performances, as frequently happens, it pleases him "because I feel that I must be saying something to these people".

Blake, who was a charismatic general manager of the Auckland Philharmonia in the 80s, is quick to sing its praises.

"Even from a distance, it's obvious the ideals that created the orchestra are still propelling it, along with the strong community support behind it. And there's still that willingness to experiment with repertoire and a strong, underlying commitment to New Zealand music.

"They're always happy to engage in dialogue and discussion and the composer is treated on an equal footing with the other artists involved, be they conductors or soloists, not like the poor relation which is how composers are often viewed."

Although he admits to being pretty bound up with his own work, Blake is pleased New Zealand composers are finally being "freed from European tyrannies".

He is impressed by the openness and internationalism of the younger generation: "such a contrast with my own, who felt we were responsible for creating a New Zealand music. When I came back from Europe in the 70s I was worried about writing a fifth or an octave - composers like John Psathas and Gareth Farr don't.

"And it's amazing to find a local classical composer selling hundreds of CDs, perhaps thousands if there's international distribution."

The Furnace of Pihanga will soon be appearing on a new Atoll CD of Blake's orchestral work, alongside his Symphony and two shorter pieces, Echelles de Glace and All Fall Down. But in the meantime there is the chance to hear those sparring mountains live, in the rousing company of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, in what promises to be a sonic showcase.

* The Auckland Philharmonia plays Christopher Blake's The Furnace of Pihanga with a programme of Russian music, conducted by Vladimir Verbitsky, Auckland Town Hall, Thursday, 8pm.