Aue!

Aue! is essentially a miniature tone poem drawing upon my experiences in Samoa.

This music exists in two distinct forms: for wind ensemble and for orchestra. Here is the program note:

For three years we lived inland at Vaia’ata in Savai’i, Samoa. Often in the evenings you could hear sounds from the villages carried on the sea breeze – songs, dances, bells, drums – all filtered and transformed by the mists of the rain forest.

This music starts at Vaia’ata as we take the forest track down to the village. Gradually the music becomes louder and more clearly defined until we step from the forest into the bright daylight and the midst of a village ‘fiafia’, or celebration.