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Work


French Overture

for full orchestra

Year:  2008   ·  Duration:  12m
Instrumentation:  1 flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings

Year:  2008
Duration:  12m
Instrumentation  1 flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarine...

Composer:   Anthony Ritchie

Films, Audio & Samples

Sample Audio

Sample: 0'00"-1'00"

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Sample Score

Sample: Pages 1-8

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Borrow/Hire:

To borrow items or hire parts please email SOUNZ directly at info@sounz.org.nz.

About

French Overture was composed for The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra on request from conductor Tecwyn Evans, for inclusion in the 2009 tour of the North Island. It is scored for a Classical sized orchestra, and adopts the structure of the French Baroque overture: slow-fast-slow. Some features in the music also suggest a neo-classical character, such as stern dotted rhythms at the start and a fugato section in the quick section.

The composer wrote this overture while on study leave in Paris, and it is informed by some of his experiences in that city: the plethora of ancient buildings and sites, the noise and bustle of the place, the people living on the streets. At one point a strange waltz emerges, reminiscent of music from an organ grinder. Another feature is a long, climbing melody on violins near the start of the overture, which represents the eye’s search for light in Paris. Surrounded by tall apartments, we have to look up to see beyond them, something a New Zealander is not used to doing. There is elegance in Paris but there is also a tough and forbidding quality that makes a strong impression on someone from a small, unpopulated country. When the stern opening returns late in the piece it finally subsides into something softer and more human, a folk-like version of the climbing melody, which now descends peacefully into a quiet timpani solo at the end.


Commissioned note

Commissioned by Tecwyn Evans for performance by the NZSO


Dedication note

Dedicated to Liz and Heath


Contents note

one movement


Performance history

11 Feb 2009: NZSO Summer Series 1

13 Feb 2009: NZSO Summer Series 2

14 Feb 2009: NZSO Summer Series 3

14 May 2010: NZSO and Dame Malvina Major

21 May 2010: NZSO and Dame Malvina Major

17 Mar 2012: CSO - Homecoming

19 Apr 2012: Sopransolist - Nordic Chamber Orchestra conducted by Tecwyn Evans

Recorded at Wellington Town Hall, May 2010, by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Tecwyn Evans

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