Christopher's Classics: Michael Houstoun

Programme:

Jenny McLeod - Six Tone Clock Pieces (commissioned by Michael Houstoun)
J.S. Bach - Goldberg Variations

Timaru-born Michael Houstoun is one of New Zealand’s most distinguished pianists with a truly international reputation.

Jenny McLeod devised her Chromatic Maps after discovering Peter Schat’s Tone Clock system, a compositional technique in which all twelve distinct combinations of three notes are interpreted as hours on a clock-face, which provides a framework, or musical landscape, in which fresh and beautiful sonorities readily arise. This collection of Six Tone Clock Pieces was commissioned by Michael Houstoun in 2010 and will make its Christchurch premiere in our series.

J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations consist of an aria and 30 variations. Published in 1741, they were composed for the insomniac Russian ambassador Count Kaiserling and his resident harpsichordist Johann Gottlieb Goldberg to while away the sleepless nights. When performed in their entirety, the variations represent one of Bach’s most moving musical meditations. Sunday Classics last presented the Goldberg Variations in the Great Hall with David Guerin.