The Brodsky Quartet are famed for their magpie-like repertoire choices: a bit from here, a bit from there. The group’s New Zealand tour, which they’ll soon undertake with didgeridoo genius and Kalkadunga man William Barton as part of a Chamber Music New Zealand tour, offers a perfect example of their multi-hued programming. Purcell nestles up to Celtic folk; Janáček shares space with New Zealander Salina Fisher, whose Tōrino – echoes on pūtōrino improvisations by Rob Thorne is on the bill.
“It just seems natural that we’re coming to your country so we should play your music,” says Brodsky violist Paul Cassidy.
The British quartet have never been afraid to stick their beak into the non-classical world, either. They’ve performed with Tom Waits, Paul McCartney and numerous other pop artists. Björk took them on tour.
“We opened for her in these huge stadiums with many thousands of people,” Cassidy remembers. “We played our music: Shostakovich and Copland. We had people jumping up and down to Stravinsky, and that’s how it should be.”
New Zealand audiences can jump up and down if they wish – Stravinsky is on the programme here, too – but pogoing Kiwis will stick out in our more modest venues. The Piano in Christchurch, for example, holds only 325 people, and that’s fine by Cassidy. “Playing in smaller spaces is much more thrilling. You can really speak to the audience and do subtle things. If you’re in the Albert Hall and having to hit the back wall, you can lose the subtlety.”
The Brodskys have also performed to rock-sized audiences in their own right. They’ve recorded more than 80 albums, but the greatest number of people will remember The Juliet Letters (1993), co-composed with Elvis Costello. It took them into the pop charts and made them the most famous string quartet on Earth.
By then, the Brodskys were already 20 years into their career. Having passed the half-century in 2022, the group recently stepped away from the recording studio, calling time on their contract with long-time label Chandos.
“We’re not saying we’ll never record again but we’ve relieved ourselves of the stress and worry of being tied to two or three discs a year. It feels good.”
There are, however, no plans to stop touring. “Whatever the spark was to begin with, it’s still burning. At this age, we don’t need to do that, we could just go play golf, go fishing. None of us have young kids, we could just bow out gracefully, and maybe we should. But we seem to want to still do it. If you’re happy turning up to work, why stop?”
Brodsky & Barton play at the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts, the Auckland Arts Festival, as well as dates in Gisborne, Hastings, Dunedin, Christchurch, and Hamilton, March 14-22.
