The five masterpieces on this new Rattle album, Rerenga, confirm Michael Norris as one of New Zealand’s most significant living composers — Elizabeth Kerr, Five Lines
Rerenga, an album of five orchestral and ensemble works on Rattle Records, brings together some of Aotearoa New Zealand’s top ensembles—the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, NZTrio and Stroma—with leading soloists Amalia Hall, Jonny Marks and Alistair Fraser in a compelling cycle of works shaped by texture, colour and journey.
The five works unfold broad orchestral canvases and intimate chamber textures, both deeply rooted and restlessly exploratory.
Rerenga reflects the composer’s long-standing engagement with place, ecology and collaboration, offering a unique listening experience at once spacious, intricate and unmistakably of these islands.
Three of the tracks on this album received the SOUNZ Contemporary Award, while a fourth won the Philip Neill Memorial Prize in Composition. As such, this album stands as a major contribution to New Zealand’s art-music repertoire and an essential statement from one of its leading compositional voices.