15 Aug 2005 : Trio will always be welcome

Taranaki's Festival of the Arts said goodbye to the Fine Music section with a well-received concert by the New Zealand Trio, Justine Cormack (violin) and Ashley Brown (cello) with Sarah Watkins at the piano.

It's always a thrilling occasion when the composer is present, so New Zealander Gillian Whitehead can be excused for being so enthusiastic about the reception fro her Piano Trio, written earlier this year.

She looked delighted, hugged the players and showed so much pleasure and it was good for us in the audience to share it with her. Her trio is inspired by water - its power, beauty and charm, its depth and intriguing various moods, the music reflecting the changes, especially in the piano scoring with sostenuto pedal held down to produce mystical aura, then the pianist leaning over to strum the strings in tinkling tintinnabulation, then in delicate glissando passages. Notable too, the melody between violin and cello, then canons and imitation seeming to represent gentle waves at first, then breaking and forming more and more movement.

The other main work, Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu's Between Tides, was likewise water-inspired. But more placid, deeper, almost sombre in a mood that explored the combined sonorities of the strings and some dashing, splashing cascades from the piano. Justine Cormack described it as a very beautiful piece, and so it was.

The three players, who form the Ensemble in Residence at The University of Auckland, are as much a delight to watch as they are to hear, rejoicing as they do in their combined skills. Music seems fun to them and is so communicated to the audience, their programme including two short crowd-pleasers. First was a Saltarello by Frank Bridge - easy to see where his more famous pupil, Benjamin Britten, got his quick and quirky humour from - then they ripped into an equally witty tango from Enrique Francini.

This entertaining trio is welcome here anytime.

Harry Brown - Taranaki Daily News