This edition of two works by Fisher was a winning score in the 1999 Newly Published Flute Music Competition of the National Flute Association, Inc. (USA). Based on a well-known Maori incantation, or karakia, Te Tangi A Te Matui (1986) may be translated as "the call of the matui" (an extinct New Zealand bird). The karakia is first sung, then blended with the sound of the flute. Wings of the Wind (1994) exploits multiphonics and pitch bending to great effect.
This edition was a winning score in the 1999 Newly Published Flute Music Competition of the National Flute Association, Inc. (USA).
Two works for flute by Helen Fisher are published in one volume. Te Tangi a te Matui (The Call of the Matui) was written to the memory of her mother, and calls for a solo performer to sing (alto voice) the opening incantation which is based on a traditional karakia. The same performer intersperses the chanting with solo flute playing. In some places singing and playing are called for simultaneously, creating an ingeniously integrated sonic landscape.
Second in the volume is Wings of the Wind, a single-movement work for solo flute. Subtle and effective use is made of multiphonics and pitch bending, as well as wide variation of tone colour, including whistle tones.
“Helen Fisher occupies a very special position in New Zealand music because of what she chooses as the sources of her musical language.... In her vision of an integration of Maori traditions into a European musical language, she has chosen a very difficult path, but she is a composer willing to take risks.... Perhaps, ultimately, what she is confronting are the most important and relevant issues in New Zealand music today.” Jack Body, Concert FM Broadcast, 11 June 1995
