(L-R) Sarah Watkins, Justine Cormack and Ashley Brown. Photo / Supplied
It would be some feat to circle the globe in just under two hours but, musically speaking, the NZ Trio did just that in its Sunday Vontasia concert. The starting point (and ultimate destination) was Europe, setting off from a home base of Haydn.
Contemporary reviews may have stressed the
playability of the composer's E minor Trio Hob. XV:12 but Justine Cormack, Ashley Brown and Sarah Watkins delivered it with a virtuoso sheen. One could feel their excitement in exploring Haydn's winding chromatics; uncovering a surreptitious piece of contrapuntal cleverness in a propulsive Finale.
The concert eventually returned to Europe with Dvorak's F minor Trio, a massive piece by the clock, but so amiably tuneful that minutes seem mere moments. The NZ Trio chose a forthright tone with the first movement, underlining the structural power of the writing, while the lilting rhythms of the following Allegretto grazioso gave full vent to the group's joi de vivre.
Two Chinese composers provided stopovers during the journey, although I'm not sure whether their music was so evocative that, as well as conjuring up visions of what Brown described as deepest, darkest China, it might even have had us smelling opium in the air.
There were some singular sonorities in Chen Yi's Tibetan Tunes, particularly when glassy violin harmonics wafted over guttural cello trills, one of many striking effects in a work that made more than a few nods to Bartok. The players took to its earthy energy, a feature not present in the delicate but ultimately nebulous world of Mike Yuen's Shades.
At the apex of the trip was New Zealand and the NZ Trio premiered its latest commission, Entering the Stream, from Wellington composer I Wayan Gde Yudane.
Highly colouristic writing recalled Yudane's gamelan music. But, unlike Yuen, Yudane harnesses his colours in the service of a solid musical architecture . At one point, there seemed to be something Bachian in the air with the string players - a nice touch, as a return to Europe was imminent, courtesy of Dvorak.
