He describes the concert as full of variety. Expect a mix of upbeat, orchestral and ethereal music.
“There are moments when you’re tapping your toes and want to get up and dance and others when you will be swept away by tragic emotion,” he says.
“The folk music element makes the music very accessible. It’s a familiar language that will draw people into the concert. That little bit of familiarity is all you really need and then you’re in the door.
“There’s something special about seeing the sounds being created. That’s the cool thing about chamber music in particular — you can get up close and see what goes on.”
In Homeland 3: Dumky audiences will hear Swiss-American composer Ernest Bloch’s evocative Three Nocturnes, which showcases his Jewish heritage with staggering impressionistic beauty.
“The first two are quite warm and sleepy with the quality of a gentle lullaby and the third is not very lullaby-like at all and is quite agitated,” Brown says.
This is followed by the heartfelt melodies of Vitezslav Novak’s dramatic one-movement ballade, written when he was simultaneously gazing back in time to traditional Czech folk melodies, yet also looking ahead to tonal modernism.
“We like to put something different and unusual in the programme and this piece is very seldom played. It also has a familiar flavour. Novak was a student of Dvorak so there is a lineage there already and you can hear a similar ascetic — somewhere between Dvorak and Tchaikovsky.”
Brown said audiences could also expect some “ear-bending quirky things going on there” too.
“Our audiences so far have really warmed to these pieces — it takes them on a real roller coaster ride of emotions.”
Then, Frank Martin takes listeners on a rambunctious journey through popular Irish melodies that will be sure to awaken your inner dancer.
NZTrio returns to the sounds of Aotearoa with an exciting new work by celebrated NZ composer Ross Harris.
It is a meditation on a phrase his wife said to him in French: “Prendre ses reves pour des realities.” (Let your dreams be your reality.)
The piece of music has some of the qualities of a dream. Musical ideas come and go like images in a day dream — with or without continuity or logic. Moments follow each other.
According to Brown when the composer introduced the music at their recent concert in Nelson he talked about what was not in his piece.
“There’s not really a melody or a tune to hang on to. There’s no rhythmic elements you can tap your feet to like you might hear in the rest of the programme.
“It’s more like you get a snippet of an idea and you’re made to think something is developing and then it’s gone.
“Ross Harris was talking about the idea of the dream and how there’s a stream of consciousness that doesn’t necessarily make sense or build up structurally, it just happens and goes in a general direction and doesn’t come back and finish nicely.
“It has an ethereal nature — it’s very gentle, full of wispy sounds and there’s a sense that you can’t really get hold of anything which can be frustrating and that’s an interesting experience to have in a concert.”
The concert then embarks upon the joy and nostalgia of Antonin Dvorak’s famous Dumky trio, overflowing with a wealth of village songs and Czech country dances.
Brown said it was important for the trio be involved in a variety of musical activities.
He plays with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and said this fed into his work with NZTrio. Each art genre, whether it be working with dancers, playing jazz or playing music for film, informed the others — there was a lot of cross pollination that could happen.
“We encourage everyone to do things outside of the trio to keep the freshness.”
