Edwin Carr: Orchestral Music

About

Carr's Mardi Gras Overture is a short, riotous work in which the (then) 23-year old composer defined very strongly his affinities with Walton, Stravinsky and Roussel. The winner of the Auckland Festival Competition of 1950, the work was first performed in London for Queen Elizabeth II before her First Commonwealth Tour. Aubade for clarinet and orchestra was originally written for piano and clarinet, and orchestrated for the principal clarinet of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. It is light in character, laid out in contrasting sections. The Twelve Signs, scored for woodwind, brass, harp and percussion, is a collection of twelve short, characteristic pieces, lightheartedly associated with the symbolism of each sign of the Zodiac. Five Wolfskehl Songs for baritone and orchestra, and the Scherzo for Orchestra Nightmusic complete this New Zealand Composer Edition.