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1 May 2010 : No need to be funky
One of our musical icons, the NZTrio, (Justine Cormack, violin, Ashley Brown, cello, and Sarah Watkins, piano), always presents imaginative concerts, usually including recent or newly commissioned works, as was the case here.
They present a contemporary, funky image, perhaps to add extra appeal to younger audiences, not that they need to, as the quality of their performances speaks for itself.
An elegant and polished Mozart Piano Trio in B flat K502, delicate and beautiful, opened the night in fine style.
Then Australian-based jazz pianist Judy Bailey’s commission for this tour So Many Rivers, was pleasant enough and inoffensive, but musically, rather slight. It had a relaxed jazz feel to the piano writing, with some development for the strings but was not particularly memorable.
The other recent, but interesting work by Australian Stuart Greenbaum, The Year Without a Summer is a pictorial piece in two parts, referring to the huge 1815 eruption of Mt Tambora in Indonesia. Part 1, 1815, depicts the roar and rumble of the eruption and the fast approaching ash cloud in the sky and, Part II, 1816, reflects on the effects on people and the environment in the subsequent year when there was no real summer. There were some interesting ideas, in a filmic, picaresque way. Arvo Part’s succinct, little miniature Mozart-Adagio demonstrated his exquisite musical and compositional skill.
The NZTrio played a beautifully moulded and delivered Schumann Piano Trio No 1 in D minor Op. 63 to round out the evening, with probably their best playing of the concert.
Garth Wilshere - Capital Times, Wellington
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