Four Poems of Spring attempts to bring together extremes of feeling and emotion, ranging from the wild joy of Spring Dance to the deep despair of Sorrow. There is a coolness about the Gigue that is undermined by sudden and dissonant outbursts. Likewise, in the Waltz the comfortable familiarity of that dance style is disturbed by strange interjections. The composer has been very precise with regard to the sentiments he wishes the performer to convey throughout these pieces in supplying detailed marks of expression ('bitterly', 'resigned' etc.).
The eight short pieces comprising Poems of Spring were composed while I was a third-year student at the University of Canterbury, and first performed there by myself in 1982. They were inspired by two major events in my life at that time: first, the ructions caused by the 1981 Springbok rugby tour which I found himself caught up in; and second, a love affair which ended in grief. At the time of composing the pieces, I found the turmoil of these events contrasted against a most beautiful Christchurch spring.
