Atalanta (solo vibes, audio track)

Programme Notes

I’ve always been strongly influenced by the performers I write for. In the case of Atalanta I was affected by the knowledge that percussionist Fabian (Ziegler) and pianist Akvilė (Šileikaitė) were a couple and soon to be married. There is a sense of youthful love and warmth in the piece, and of two young spirits chasing each other at high speed.

The literal meaning of the word Atalanta (from Greek mythology) is ‘equal in weight’ – not a bad concept for the foundation of a marriage. Atalanta is also the name of a Greek heroine, a swift-footed virgin who eschewed men and devoted herself to the huntress Artemis.

She agreed to marry only if a suitor could outrun her in a footrace, which she knew was impossible. If the suitor was unsuccessful, he would be killed. Many suitors died in the attempt until Hippomenes prayed to the goddess Aphrodite for assistance and received three irresistible golden apples. During the race Atalanta, was diverted off the path as Hoppmenes tossed an apple for her to retrieve; each time Atalanta caught up with Hippomenes, he would toss another apple, ultimately winning the race and Atalanta herself.

The backing track features a recording of Taonga Puoro performed by the recent Richard Nunns (if you listen closely, you can hear his voice sung through the body of a Putorino).

I have a confession to make about Atalanta. I normally have a composing schedule that runs anywhere from 2-6 years into the future. After leaving my teaching job at university I had a busier than normal schedule as I was nervous about switching to full-time freelance work. So work was particularly intense from 2019-2022. On new year's day 2020 my wife Carla and I were sitting in bed, at our beach place in Waitarere, having a morning coffee, and I was breathing nice and slow, reading a book, chatting with Carla, enjoying the short break I take around Christmas and New Year's.

I received a WhatsApp message from Fabian asking about the new piece, and when he could expect it. In Fabian's mind, it was due a few weeks earlier. In my mind, there was a black hole where the project was supposed to be. It had completely vanished from my schedule. For the first - and only - time, I had completely lost track of a project and a deadline. I said one word out loud (very loud) - it had four letters. Carla quietly got up and started packing her bags to return to Wellington. In under an hour I was working on the piece. I sat at the piano and out of nowhere the opening keyboard riff emerged from my fingers.

Incredibly, I wrote the piece in 8 days. They were - by far - the maddest, most feral, caffeine-fuelled composing days of my life. I went into a kind of altered state, working continuously day and night, taking naps when needed. The software I use - Logic Pro - has a function of creating 'project alternatives', where, if you sense the music is going to take a fork in new direction you can clone what you're working on so you can retreat to that last fork in the road, if things don't work out, and pick it up again from there. Usually my projects have 1-3 project alternatives. Atalanta had so many alternatives I ended up using Star Wars titles, then Star Trek titles, then gibberish, because I'd run out of names.

After 8 days I had Atalanta, and incredibly it has become my most successful piece of the last 20 years, second only to One Study One Summary. Something really great came from that super-intense experience, but I never want to go through it again.