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For string orchestra. Premiere February 1998 in Vancouver. "not a single stone" resulted from being asked by Marc Destrube, leader of Pacific Baroque Orchestra to write a companion piece for the Vivaldi Four Seasons. Writing a piece like this for a period instrument ensemble, in the midst of a program of 18th century music is something like doing architecture in the midst of an ancient city. The question is, do you make something that stands out as having no relation to its surroundings in any dimension, or do you make something that is totally modern, but somehow retains the size and shape of its neighbors? I‘ve always been very attracted to haiku- the concreteness, the conciseness, the lack of sentimentality. I realised during the process of writing this piece that the life and work of Basho, considered to be the first great haiku poet is almost contemporaneous with that of Vivaldi, and since haiku almost always contain some reference to one or other of the four seasons, the connection seemed very interesting. Each of the five movements is inspired by a particular haiku, although the connections are not literal.

‘Pacific Baroque Orchestra Directed by Marc Destrube At the conclusion of this penultimate concert in Early Music Vancouver''s summer festival, I boldly stepped forward to congratulate Vancouver- based instrumentalist and composer Peter Hannan for his Not a Single Stone, a work for baroque orchestra and actor that had come off as a delightful surprise. "0h," he said as I shook his hesitant but outstretched hand and introduced myself. "I heard you would be here tonight. But you''re not supposed to talk to me, are you?’ Hannan had a point, of course, for it is all but writ in stone that no reviewer or critic of classical music events must converse or otherwise associate with those musicians whose work he is called upon to judge. So I was guilty of a blunder. Well. phooey to that. I don''t care. So seldom do I encounter a piece of contemporary classical music interesting enough to capture my attention from start to finish that I felt moved to approach Hannan with no thought in mind of concert-hall protocol. What pleased me most about Not a Single Stone was that it turned out to be all that the composer, in his program notes, promised it would be: a kind of 20th-century take on Antonio Vivaldi''s overexposed Four Seasons, yet with enough of Vivaldi in it to suggest that Hannan has a deep respect for the music of the past. That respect was evident, too, in his inclusion in the piece of a few lines of haiku, those brief and tantalizing 17-syllable commentaries on life, nature, and the seasons-the Vivaldi connection-that the Japanese have been fiddling around with since the 17th century. Hannan''s work was given a splendid performance, with the members of Marc Destrube''s Pacific Baroque Orchestra soaring brilliantly through the composer''s clever and whirling score, and with the Tokyo-born and now Vancouver-based actor Hiromoto Ida giving mellifluous voice in Japanese to the haiku. ‘Georgia Straight

Not A Single Stone

TRINKETS OF LITTLE VALUE (original version)

performed by New World Consort Nov. 16, 1986
Suzie Leblanc - soprano
Peter Hannan - recorder, viola da gamba
Ray Nurse - lute, viola da gamba, recorder
Natalie Mackie - viola da gamba

recorded by CBC radio


TRINKETS OF LITTLE VALUE 
1. Theguehoaca 
2.  Assomaha: Honnesca 
3. Canada Undagneny 

The texts for these songs are taken from a “dictionary” of about 200 native words found at the end of Jacques Cartier’s account of his second voyage to Canada in 1535 – the language of the newly “discovered” land. The words are not arranged alphabetically, but rather by association or subject. I have preserved the associations in these songs – sometimes even the order of the word lists. 

The title refers to Cartier’s own description of the currency he used to win over the people of this new land. As he described in the “Voyages” , gifts of these trinkets provoked ecstatic singing and dancing among the “savages”. “We gave them knives, 
glass beads, combs, and other articles of little value, which pleased them greatly: they lifted their hands to heaven as they sang and danced in their canoes”. 

1. theguehoaca - sing  
    thegoaca - dance  
    cahezem - laugh    
    agguenda - cry    
    thedoathady - run    
    quedaque - walk    
    aggondec - an exclamation    

2. assomaha - moon    
    signehoham - stars    
    cahoha - wind    
    agogasy - sea    
    quenhia - sky    
    damga - earth    
    isnez - sun    
    honnesca - ice    
    canisa - snow    
    a than - cold    
    odazan - warm    
    azista - fire    
    quea - smoke     
    canocha - house  
  
3. canada undagneny - where are you from   
    napen tondamen assurtah - we don’t mean you any harm

Trinkets of Little Value - Peter Hannan (1986)

From the 2011 CD release "Rethink Forever" vocal music of Peter Hannan.

This is the title work, in 10 sections, for vocal ensemble with electronics, performed by musica intima.

peterjh

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