NZTrio
Dunedin Public Art Gallery
Friday, November 28
REVIEWED BY MARIAN POOLE
Hypnotic sounds reverberated around the foyer of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery for the large audience listening to the excellent music performed by the NZTrio: violinist Amalia Hall, cellist Mathias Balzat and pianist Somi Kim.
It is sadly not the best venue for listening to music which invites and demands concentration.
As such. it provides an excellent example of how much Dunedin deserves a dedicated arts venue.
However, despite the acoustic restrictions, NZTrio’s programme, "Triomphe 3: Hypnotique", and technically brilliant performance were magnificent.
Elena Kats-Chernin’s sonorous Calliope Dreaming (2009) transforms Haydn’s tragic motifs through rhythmic punctuation into an energetic dance reprieved by briefly elegant interludes.
Watching the interplay between instruments was exhilarating; the closing sequences were particularly uplifting.
Faure’s Piano Trio Op 120 tumbles naively into existence with beautiful melodies for the piano echoed by violin and cello.
Its tensions escalate and acquiesce exquisitely.
NZTrio’s interpretation of the second movement Andantino made it the work’s highlight.
Pascal Le Boeuf’s Obliquely Wrecked (2020) was introduced as a fusion of contemporary, with bass and drum, where both forms are equal.
Obliquely energetic rhythmic structure punctuated by elbow slams on keys and explorations of the percussive qualities of the piano’s body and wire, scraped and muted cello strings and insistent motifs combine with surprisingly transformative melodic snatches.
All work with humour to vigorously wreck formal structures.
Lyell Cresswell’s virtuosic Moto Perpetuo (2006) is also thoroughly enjoyable.
Its chaotic whirl of quixotic time signatures, frenetic slides and juddered strokes are countered by abrupt silences. Its constant unpredictability is captivating.
It provided a splendid lead into the turmoil and fragility of Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night (1899).
NZTrio’s performance beautifully exposed Schoenberg’s use of Mahlerian late romanticism mixed with his signature expressionism. Brilliant.
