29 Apr 2007 : Richly Rewarding Concert

For some this might have looked, on paper, not to be a very exciting concert, but in realisation clearly pleased everyone present. Part of the reason, surely, was the extremely high quality of the playing.

This piano trio has been in existence a few years now, and its playing has become increasingly more polished and responsive, to the point where it must be considered of full international quality.

Each of the three players displays an instrumental mastery within the close-knit fabric of a chamber ensemble in a way that allows us to be comfortable in their handling of even the best known classical work.

The early Brahms Trio in B Major, Op 8 was played with a mastery that revealed its overflow of lyrical ideas without compromising the surging, rhythmic urgency of a young composer on the move. Some superbly supple string playing was underpinned by Sarah Watkins’ beautifully weighted playing of a piano part that can so easily seem bottom heavy and square. But it was the first half of contemporary works that really set this concert apart.

The opening Blessed Unrest by New Zealand resident Englishman James Gardner is an explosive mix of tense string glissandi and turbulent piano writing that, while brief, made quite an impact.

It contrasted well with Chinese composer Bright Sheng’s Four movements for Piano Trio, a work that begins as if the strings are simulating traditional music, and gradually moves away into the mainstream of 20th century Western music. It, too, made a strong impression.

Perhaps strongest of all was John Psathas’ Helix, a three-movement work written for the NZ Trio in which the composer reveals a more personal, warm and lyrical side than in his spectacular large-scale works. The first movement is spare and understated, but it leads into a rich, rhapsodic second movement and finishes with tarantismo, a gradual build up to a giddy tarantella.

All three works were played with great brilliance and finesse, combining with the Brahms to make a richly rewarding concert.

John Button - Dominion Post, Wellington