Chamber Music NZ Kaleidoscopes 2017 gives new life to French classics

Kathryn Stott

Acclaimed British pianist Kathryn Stott has returned to New Zealand, with an established international reputation for the quality of her playing as both a soloist and collaborative performer in chamber music.

Her speciality is the music of French composers, so it was French music which featured in this programme.

The compositions by Maurice Ravel are immediately recognisable for their clarity of structure, poise and balance, and a quality of overall sound which defines them as French.

Nowhere is this more clearly defined than in his iconic Sonatine played at the start of the concert.

Here the style was perfectly captured in the delicate shaping in the Modére first movement, the classical elegance of the Movement de menuet and the ravishing technical accomplishment in the playing of the Animé final movement.

A major work was included in each part of the programme. The monumental Prelude, Choral et Fugue by Belgian-born, naturalised Frenchman César Franck is a real tour de force for a performer.

The improvisational style of the opening Prelude, indicating Franck's fame as an organist, was clearly defined and controlled, with the following Choral effectively contrasted.

In the intricacy of the Fugue, with its enormous climaxes and decorated melodies, the soloist completely explored the full sonority of the Century Theatre Steinway.

The final work, one championed by Stott over many years, was the Piano Sonata by 20th century composer Henri Dutilleux.

Composed in 1947, it is not overtly modern in character, a work which has immediate appeal, showing the influence of previous French and other composers.

This was an impressive and commanding performance, especially the final Choral and Variations, with its plethora of notes and technical demands at the limit of a soloist's virtuosity, requiring considerable stamina in performance.

Two nocturnes by Fauré - No 6 in D flat, Op 63 and No 4 in E flat, Op 36 - were included in the programme.

These were highlighted by delicate melodic shaping with a flowing accompaniment in decoration which always attracted the listener's ear, a finely executed range of dynamic colour and tempi which always maintained the true character of each Nocturne.

One item by Debussy was played - a glittering performance of the famous L'Isle joyeuse. Its tumbling cascades of notes demonstrating the composer's fantasy sound-world with its unique harmonies and variety of scale passages, made this item a pinnacle of the evening's concert.

Surprisingly, there were spoken introductions to the items which really added little to the concert, given the excellent written programme available.

Chamber Music New Zealand's Kaleidoscopes 2017 Season
Pianist: Kathryn Stott
MTG Century Theatre, Napier
Thursday, May 18