KEY POINTS:
During her years leading the New Zealand String Quartet and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, violinist Wilma Smith secured a special place in the collective heart of concert-going audiences.
Now, in her fourth year as concertmaster of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, she finds life across the channel extremely
fulfilling.
The MSO musicians have just returned from a European tour which was "wonderful", she told me, "and the sort of thing that you can do a little bit more easily from Australia".
Recently she has played with the Australian didgeridoo player William Barton, and is looking forward to a return visit from Nigel Kennedy, conducting and playing Beethoven and Mozart.
While some are irked by Kennedy's stage carry-on, the MSO musicians "had a fantastic time when he last played with us", said Smith. "We were buzzing for weeks. He is such a generous, warm person; the stage antics are simply part of the package."
Smith is here touring for Chamber Music New Zealand with fellow Australians Brett Dean, David Berlin and Ian Munro.
On Monday they will play a programme of piano quartets by Copland, Mozart and Brahms.
"One of the advantages of doing chamber music is that it gives me the chance to explore this repertoire," pointed out Smith.
"I haven't really played piano quartets before.
"There's also a more personal interaction between the musicians. The audience feel drawn into it and perhaps a bit more included. That is the attraction of chamber music for a lot of people.
"I almost have that relationship with some of the audience that sit up close when I'm in the orchestra, but it's a little different in a 3000-seat hall."
Aaron Copland's 1950 Piano Quartet is one of the few works in which the composer of Appalachian Spring and Rodeo went down the 12-tone road.
Smith remembers playing it 31 years ago in Auckland, with Philip Clark, Virginia Hopkins and Ingrid Wahlberg, as part of a concert for the composer's 76th birthday.
"We sent him a birthday card and he replied saying that he couldn't believe people that far away were celebrating his birthday."
Smith was quick to stress that this is a very approachable work.
"I don't hear it as being 12-tone," explained Smith.
"Copland uses the notes and follows them around the various voices but in a way that's not that different from the way Beethoven might use a motif.
"It's not the kind of scary 12-tone music best appreciated on paper," she added. "In fact, it's a lot of fun and quite light-hearted."
We both agree that, even here, Copland is ardent in his desire to connect with his listeners, which is something he shares with the two Australian composers who play alongside Smith, Ian Munro and Brett Dean.
"Brett has written some music that is difficult to listen to but certainly the recent pieces have been very communicative."
It was Munro who chose the Mozart G minor Quartet that opens Monday's concert.
"Ian is absolutely passionate about Mozart," explained Smith. "He's his desert island composer.
"I like the way Ian plays Mozart," she added, "vital and uptempo, with those little nuances that give it his own personal flavour.
"I don't like Mozart to be too precious or dreamy. It should be forceful and engaging."
If you want a preview of the Mozart and Copland works, tune in tonight to Radio New Zealand Concert's live broadcast of the group's Wellington appearance.
Monday's concert experience will be all the richer for it.
