NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
    • The Great NZ Road Trip
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • Deloitte Fast 50
    • Generate wealth weekly
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Lifestyle

Six look on the light side

William Dart
20 Jun, 2006 07:29 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Divertissement want to hear chuckles.

Divertissement want to hear chuckles.

There is a certain honesty in calling a piece Divertissement. You know not to expect cerebral counterpoint or dense thematic intrigue - just good old-fashioned diversion and distraction.

"Sometimes you want serious stuff you can dig into, sometimes you just want to be entertained," says Preman Tilson, bassoonist with the
touring New Zealand ensemble which shares the name of the piece.

So Divertissement will open their Saturday concert with a Divertissement by the French composer Jean Francaix. This is the work that gave the six NZSO players the inspiration for their collective moniker.

"Francaix is probably the funniest composer I can think of," says Tilson, "witty, charming, light - quintessentially French. When the piece finishes there's a big chuckle from the audience, although I must admit I've developed a little gesture at the end which seems to get laughs going."

The French composer doesn't have a monopoly on the chuckles.

"The strings are doing a Hindemith work which is very, very funny," says Tilson. "There aren't that many laughs in classical music, and we've got quite a few of them."

The word "fun" sneaks into Tilson's conversation every minute or so, although he is quick to point out that Divertissement's line-up of smaller pieces by Dvorak, Ravel, Rachmaninov and Weber would have been acceptable concert fare a few decades back.

"If you went to a recital by Kreisler or Heifetz, they would do their Beethoven sonata, but there might also be six or seven lighter pieces."

Tilson admits to a smidgen of envy when he looks at the extensive solo repertoire of his fellow musicians. "If Mozart had written a Bassoon Quintet like his Clarinet Quintet we'd be playing it."

But he has been taking matters into his own hands and arranging works for his instrument. On Saturday there will be Vocalises by Ravel and Rachmaninov, and a Spohr Adagio which started life as a slow movement for violin and harp and is now, thanks to Tilson, a piece for bassoon and string quintet.

Of the original works Divertissment is tackling, he singles out a D minor Quartet by Danzi - "by very far the best of the three quartets he wrote for bassoon and strings. The opening is quite original and it's like the musical language of Mozart has been taken into the Romantic period".

As it happens, Divertissement is bringing us the only local commission we will hear from Chamber Music New Zealand this year, Anthony Ritchie's Rites of Passage.

Ritchie was Tilson's first choice as a composer.

"His writing has really strong content and yet at the same time it's on the accessible side. I wanted something that would fit in with music that is beautiful, entertaining, enjoyable.

"The piece turned out to be very different from what I was expecting, much grittier and more intense than some of his other music, although it has fantastic rhythmic vitality."

Ritchie may claim Stravinsky's Rite of Spring as its starting point, but Tilson hears more of a relationship with Shostakovich and Bartok. "There's one passage that is very Shostakovich. It's definitely atonal but manages to be very accessible."

And lest we worry that Divertissement might stray from its avowed aim of fun and frolics, Tilson assures us otherwise.

"A bit of a chuckle goes through the audience after the Ritchie, always a good sign. It ends with a fantastic accelerando and has all these Transylvanian rhythms. Good stuff."

* What: Divertissement

* Where and when: Auckland Town Hall, Sat, 8pm

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save
    Share this article

Latest from Lifestyle

Premium
Opinion

Opinion: Why men + women + apps = bad romance

11 Sep 06:00 AM
Premium
Lifestyle

So many Kiwi women feel 'broken' when it comes to sex. Here's what we can do about it

11 Sep 04:45 AM
Premium
Lifestyle

When the mask slips: The seven signs of midlife autism

11 Sep 01:00 AM

Sponsored

How to make it easier to buy and own property in 2025

07 Sep 12:00 PM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Lifestyle

Premium
Premium
Opinion: Why men + women + apps = bad romance
Opinion

Opinion: Why men + women + apps = bad romance

NYT OPINION: Men are necessary and so are women. But they need to get it together.

11 Sep 06:00 AM
Premium
Premium
So many Kiwi women feel 'broken' when it comes to sex. Here's what we can do about it
Lifestyle

So many Kiwi women feel 'broken' when it comes to sex. Here's what we can do about it

11 Sep 04:45 AM
Premium
Premium
When the mask slips: The seven signs of midlife autism
Lifestyle

When the mask slips: The seven signs of midlife autism

11 Sep 01:00 AM


How to make it easier to buy and own property in 2025
Sponsored

How to make it easier to buy and own property in 2025

07 Sep 12:00 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP