24 May 2004 : New beginnings celebrated

The tour’s title of “Youthful Mastery” neatly describes both the programme and performers. The New Zealand Trio, comprising Justine Cormack (violin), Ashley Brown (cello) and Sarah Watkins (piano), is a relatively new ensemble on the chamber music scene but they play with the kind of intuition that comes from playing together for significantly longer. Conversely, they play with a freshness and vitality that can be missing from groups which have been a few more laps round that track.

This tour marks that launch of the trio’s residency at Auckland University. This theme of new beginnings was mirrored in the programming with all the works representing the composer’s first efforts in the genre. In the company of luminaries such as Beethoven, Brahms and Rachmaninov, September’s Scars by 15-year-old New Zealander Jenny Thomas was a worthy addition to the repertoire. In the same way that the Beethoven and Rachmaninov engaged in an entirely genuine way, Thomas’s work displayed clarity of emotion towards the events of 9/11 with a sincerity reserved for youth. There was no hint of irony or cynicism, and the intense climax was powerfully written. The trio’s treatment of the more delicate dynamics showed superb control.

A worthy foil to Thomas’s minimalist work was that Rachmaninov preceding it. Two more contrasting works one could not hope to find, with Rachmaninov’s glorious inability to rein in his emotions, allowing the trio to really rip into this single-movement work. The Brahms B Major Trio Opus 8 drew a similarly red-blooded response from the players and the adagio was controlled masterfully. Perhaps in an attempt to lessen Brahms’s heavy-handedness in the scherzo I felt the tempo could have pressed on a little.

Beethoven’s Opus 1 Piano Trio in E Flat can be a very flat, routine work, but the trio brought out the youthful vigour in the work without sacrificing its integrity, and I particularly enjoyed that treatment of the humorous finale. In this, as in all the works, Watkins’ piano playing was the driving force.

Patrick Shepherd, Christchurch Press