Whangarei Music Society recitals engender many feelings. However, boredom isn't one of them.
For starters, although chamber groups are small, they do come in 57 varieties. ALTO, fresh from Chamber Music NZ's capacious stable, is a trio. But, before you say 'ho-hum' I should add that ALTO intriguingly complements Kirsten
Simpson's piano with Kristin Darragh and Julia Joyce - a mezzo-soprano and a violist. The fascination lies not in the unusual combination, but in being relatively low-pitched and mellow-toned.
We got off to a rollicking start with Brahms's Zigeunerlieder, potently projected by Kristin's animated, powerfully expressive singing and Kirsten's beautifully sprung gypsy rhythms.
Bridge's more romantically introverted Three Songs introduced Julia's viola. Blending with the piano, its lovely, oaken, sexy sound smouldered beneath the richly-intoned vocal lines, in which Kristin, even up top and loud, kept her vibrato on a commendably tight leash.
Of note - two songs, Youkali (a.k.a. The Land of Our Desires) and Nanna's Lied - Kurt Weill at his sleaziest, droolingly dispatched with most unladylike relish. Imagine Kirsten slouching over a beer-stained pub piano, Julia, cheroot dangling from her lips, scraping a "cabaret" fiddle and, curled erotically around a chair back, Kristin crooning decadently. Got that? Well, it didn't actually look like that ... but it sure sounded like it.
