One of New Zealand’s most visible, prolific, and successful young composers, Gareth Farr writes music replete with canny, effective orchestrations, audience-baiting rhythms, long, plaintive tunes atop gentle, pulsating ostinatos, and awash in unabashed debt to every film composer who ever lived. Play the final selection, Time and Tide, first and you’ll swear that this orchestral suite culled from Farr’s TV scores for the series of the same name was cloned from John Williams outtakes, with Strauss’ Alpine Symphony lurking in the background and a final theme that’s cheesier than New Haven pizza. By contrast, Naga Baba begins with motoric fanfares and flourishes that turn progressively ominous and harmonically complex (those weird downward string glissandos, for instance).
With its vocal wailings and chest-beating percussive onslaughts, Nga Tai Hurihuri wouldn’t be out of place on Tan Dun’s work-sample reel, and neither would Warriors from Pluto’s gnawing string clusters, invading our humble planet in steady rhythms. The little clarinet/chamber orchestra suite Te Parenga recalls Villa-Lobos’ textural thickets, while its delicious scherzo movement (my favorite of its four) features the clarinet and harp tag-teamed in a phantasmagoric tarantella backed by a steady bass line. In sum, none of this music is terribly deep or original, but I guarantee you a fun and entertaining listen, terrific performances, and knock-out sonic splendor.
