Water for chocolate

By WILLIAM DART

While piano recitals are far from even a monthly occurrence in this part of the world, an evening of music for clarinet and piano is as rare as a string of major chords in a Stockhausen score.

A Hopetoun Alpha concert by Christchurch clarinettist Gretchen Dunsmore and Scottish pianist Lynda Cochrane offers just that, with one of the most intriguing programmes to come across my desk for some time.

Hindemith's 1939 Sonata is as close to mainstream as it gets, otherwise we have Harrison Birtwhistle, Luciano Berio and Peter Maxwell Davies alongside music by New Zealanders Lyell Cresswell and Helen Bowater.

"There are definitely tunes amongst it all," assures Dunsmore.

For her, it all started in Gisborne, when her parents gave her a clarinet rather than the saxophone she really wanted. With a father on the Central Regional Arts Board she got "hauled off to lots of contemporary dance and theatre events from the beginning ... being exposed to art practitioners from an early age made it all so natural".

Four years at Auckland University led to further studies at London's Royal Academy, where she had her own Fear Factor experience playing Ligeti's Ten Pieces for the Hungarian composer himself.

"We heard from the professionals that were coaching us that he would get stuck into us. We were petrified and then this lovely man came along, with this flowing white hair. There was no criticism at all, just pure charm. In fact he told us that he wrote his music to make the musicians reach for their absolute limits and run the risk of falling apart, so it gave us carte blanche to go for it."

Dunsmore has been going for it for some years. She's a core member of 175 East, and her performance of Michael Finnissey's Marrgnu a few years ago, suspending columns of glistening arpeggios in mid-air, left me grasping for superlatives.

The wildest work on Monday's programme must be Peter Maxwell Davies' Hymnos, which Dunsmore and Cochrane first played in a 175 East concert last year. This is a cataclysm of sound as could only have been created in the mid-60s, and Dunsmore cherishes its intensity. "You can't stand outside of that music, it demands complete attention the whole time."

At the other extreme of the spectrum is Harrison Birtwhistle's Verses ("the loudest the clarinet ever gets is a mezzo forte") while Berio's solo Lied is "almost a lullaby, spending a lot of time at pianissimo and less".

The two New Zealand works are Lyell Cresswell's Triptych, commissioned 10 years ago for the 19-year-old Dunsmore to premiere, a score which "takes you on a journey you want to stick at", along with Helen Bowater's Ixion's Wheel which "combines a very demanding piano part and some fantastically lyrical writing for clarinet and features the most amazing climax".

"I'm surrounded by composers who are writing this great music I want to play," explains Dunsmore, when asked exactly why she enjoys tackling New Zealand music. "It's not so much a conscious decision to play New Zealand music as such."

Although there are moments of "deep, dark envy" when she looks at the expansive repertoire of pianists and violinists, "especially when it comes to Beethoven and Baroque music", there are no regrets when it comes to having chosen the clarinet.

"There's something about the sound. I love chocolate and that's the best way I can describe the sound of the clarinet - rich, melting chocolate."

What greater temptation could there be? For a mere $15, which would purchase a rather meagre selection of quality chocs these days, you can experience the wonders of sonic chocolate at Hopetoun Alpha ... and bypass the calorie damage.

Performance

* What: Gretchen Dunsmore and Lynda Cochrane

* Where: Hopetoun Alpha

* When: Today, 8pm