William Dart review: Loss relived in seven minutes

New Zealand Chamber Soloists, from left, Katherine Austin, James Tennant and Lara Hall, have released numerous CDs in their push to champion New Zealand music. PUBLICITY HANDOUT

The New Zealand Chamber Soloists have a distinguished track record. The musical partnership of pianist Katherine Austin and cellist James Tennant goes back decades, including their formation of the Ogen Trio with violinist Dimitri Atanassov.

Since 2006, with violinist Lara Hall, the NZCS have released numerous fine CDs and played a part in commissioning and performing homegrown New Zealand music.

Sunday’s concert premiered the latest instalment in its 7 x 7 project, for which seven women composers contributed a new seven-minute work.

It was launched two years ago with Helen Bowater’s powerful Fekete Folyo, fusing what seemed like an emotional encyclopedia of Hungarian music to speak up for the suppressed souls of that country’s minorities.

Eve de Castro-Robinson’s The night is Shattered on Sunday was more personal in its focus. A heartfelt tribute to her late husband, artist Ken Robinson, it tempered sorrow with much tougher emotions, climaxing in the extraordinary sight and sound of Austin attacking the keyboard with her forearms.

It was Austin who introduced the piece, instilling a sense of ritual by chiming a small temple bell before the ensemble unleashed its searing sonic snapshots. While the mood was often raw and primal, there was spiritual space for a solemn funeral march and for Tennant’s moving recitation of a Pablo Neruda poem that inspired the piece’s title.

On either side of these extraordinary seven minutes, one felt the golden glow of nostalgia, as Atanassov joined in for two piano quartets by Mozart and Schumann.

The celebratory first movement of Mozart’s Second Piano Quartet was nicely caught, lightened by Austin’s rippling ornamentations, while the strings effectively explored their own rich harmonies in the Larghetto.

Schumann’s surging ebullience fitted well with the enthusiasm and rapport of the musicians. Atanassov gave a strong lead as well as sweet lines, although Schumann’s inner heart was best revealed by Tennant in a poignant slow movement.

What: New Zealand Chamber Soloists

Where: Town Hall Concert Chamber

When: Sunday