Transtasman work to be played in Dunedin

The Goldner Quartet (from left) Julian Smiles, Dimity Hall, Irina Morozova and Dene Olding and...
The Goldner Quartet (from left) Julian Smiles, Dimity Hall, Irina Morozova and Dene Olding and Piers Lane will perform at the Glenroy Auditorium, Dunedin, on September 24. Photo supplied.
A new commission by Wellington composer Gareth Farr features in a concert by the Goldner Quartet in Dunedin on Tuesday.

The Sydney-based quartet and Chamber Music New Zealand, which is organising the quartet's New Zealand concert tour, jointly commissioned the work, Te Tai-O-Rehua (The Tasman Sea). Dene Olding, violinist in the quartet, explained it was part of their initiative to establish musical relationships with Sydney's sister cities, of which Wellington is one.

''We are trying to establish something between these cities, using either artists or composers from that area or country and perform the works both in Sydney and the home country. We were searching for something to do in New Zealand and since we had this tour planned in any case, we thought we could combine both ideas. Farr's name came up and we were eager to have a commission from him,'' he said.

''I'd worked with Gareth Farr before in his capacity as the artistic adviser for the Michael Hill Violin Competition. He composed one of the set pieces a few years ago which was very successful. I know his music from there and a few other places - he's a varied composer when you look at his output. There are lots of works for unusual combinations like singers and trombones and he's written in a wide variety of styles too. We are eagerly awaiting the first performance.''

Farr wanted to write something happy and joyous to celebrate the sister-city relationship but he said it started to become dark and mysterious in an edgy way and he didn't know why until he realised he was writing about the Tasman Sea, Olding said.

''I guess the turbulence and mysterious and edgy and sometimes dangerous nature of the ocean is the way it came out. It's about a 10-minute piece and very clear in what it's trying to say, atmospheric at the beginning then has a faster section that's a little more turbulent.''

The Goldner Quartet is also performing Mendelssohn's Quartet in A Minor and Cesar Franck's sumptuous Piano Quintet in F Minor with pianist Piers Lane.

Lane and Olding have been friends since they were children in Brisbane and the quartet has worked with the London-based pianist increasingly in recent years. They recorded their seventh CD together, Gabriel Pierné's piano quintet and Louis Vierne's string quartet in D minor, earlier this year.

''He's a prodigious pianist - he must be one of the busiest pianists in the world. His musical output is staggering and the amount of music he plays in any single year is extraordinary. He has that gift of being able to learn and memorise quickly and technically he's so fluent he can sit down at the piano and it all happens immediately,'' Olding said.

Unlike quartets which were often like intellectual conversations between the four instruments, piano quintets tended to be more symphonic.

''The piano's very big and sonorous and capable of a big dynamic. The quartet of strings is often one unit. Stylistically they play in one way that musically matches the piano because the piano can be a big block of sound, so in the more dramatic sections you need all of the strings to compete with the piano, not just one, so it's an orchestration issue,'' he said.

''When you are working with a pianist like Piers whom we've worked with many times, it comes naturally. We don't have to change gear very much between quartet and quintet.''

Unusually, the Goldner Quartet consists of two married couples, which has advantages as well as disadvantages, according to Olding.

They came together as members of the Australia Ensemble, which is resident at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, and formed the quartet in 1995.

Because being in a string quartet is an intense relationship, they were worried at first that any frictions would carry back into their personal lives - string quartets are notorious for breaking up - but it never became an issue, he said.

''It makes us rehearse in a different kind of way. It's [a] much more co-operative, collaborative method of rehearsal. You can be involved in big disagreements in rehearsals sometimes, but you can't afford to do that if you are married to the person. We find a more synergistic way of playing.

''We know each other as well as you can know anybody else and that comes across in music-making too. You know the ins and outs and if someone is having a bad day you know the reasons behind it. You have an extra bond.''

However, when they travelled they had to take their children with them. Each couple has one child who are now in their late teens, so they expect the problems associated with travelling as two families should ease now. However, they still had the logistical issues of closing up their houses, cancelling the mail and so on each time they toured, he said.


See it, hear it
The Goldner Quartet and Piers Lane perform on Tuesday, September 24 at 7.30pm in the Glenroy Auditorium, Dunedin, as part of a Chamber Music New Zealand tour.


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