Category: Reviews, News and Commentary

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Reviews, News and Commentary

Dick Frizzell’s weighty exhibition of New Zealand landscapes

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Dick Frizzell, The Weight of the World

Dick Frizzell

The Weight of the World

Gow Langsford, Onehunga

Until October 25

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Dick Frizzell’s latest show  “Weight of the World,”  at Gow Langsford could well be a reference to Ringo Starr’s 1998 comeback single of the same name which uses the phrase to describe the struggle of letting go of the past and embracing the future. 

The exhibition is ambivalent in terms of the artist’s own life and work, linking the past with his history of breaking new ground. At times his work has seemed to be conservative, borrowing art of the past and outdated advertising images. But this reworking or appropriating images of the past can also be a way of charting new directions for his art.

The exhibition also alludes to his recently published autobiography “Hastings” with its references to growing up in small town New Zealand and the rural landscapes of Central North Island in which the young Frizzell’s encounters with the world of Hastings provide an almost heroic account of his life.

As the artist says “My landscapes occupy a special place in my affections because they define, more than any other of my endeavours, the most solid manifestation of my philosophy. Both the subjects and their manner of representation are chosen to emphasise my eternally optimistic faith in the physical universe that I believe we are ultimately destined to define. I hope… through my piles of hills, stumps, trees and land… to literally convey ‘the gravity of the situation’.”

While his paintings can be seen as simple descriptive works there is a complexity to their construction as well as their context and history. creating dense works about observation, contemplation and significance.

Dick Frizzell, Dirt Road

Several of the landscape images from the exhibition could have been illustrations to his autobiography such as “Dirt Road” ($27,500) and “Backtrack” ($45,000), images that are quintessential New Zealand scenes which link past and present with images which are both descriptive and metaphoric.

There is one work with the same title of the exhibition, “The Weight of the World” ($163,000). It depicts a large tree stump, a reference both to his own tree stump works of the 1980’s as well as those by artists such as Mervyn Taylor and Eric Lee-Johnson. These dead trees were both a symbol of modernism and change as well as an emblematic of the past and loss of identity. 

Much of the artist’s work is imbued with this sense of nostalgia and Frizzell has regularly depicted aspects of New Zealand – a series of local businesses, the huts at Scott base and the controversial series of hei tiki works which all helped define the nature of New Zealand culture.

There are a few signs of habitation or figures in his works mainly small insignificant buildings, “Whitebaiter’s Huts” ($27,500) and “Leaning Toilet” ($27,500) but there is also a painting of a Ratana Chapel “The Beginning and the End”  $27,500) displaying the words  ārepa (alpha) ōmeka (omega), and the large panoramic  “Autumn Morning Alexandra” $185,000).

Dick Frizzell, The Beginning and the End

The only paintings of a settlement in the exhibition are “Autumn Morning Alexandra, 2023 “($185,000) and “Alexandra Morning 2019” ($65,000) where the emphasis is on the natural aspects of the view, the distant hills, the colours of the sky and Autumn leaves as well as the surrounding vegetation. The largest work in the exhibition is “Milling Whakaangiangi” ($225,000), a celebration and recognition of the ever-changing face of the land.

As well as taking inspiration from the New Zealand artists of the early twentieth century there are acknowledgment of other artists – such as his Monet-like “Winter, Earnscleugh Road” ($55,000) and a nod to Winslow Homer’s lighthouse with his “Castlepoint”.

Dick Frizzell, Winter, Earnscleugh Road

As with much of the artist’s work there is a wry humour in many of the paintings both in terms of the subject and the titles. A small painting of a pie is titled  27/3/2025” where English and mathematics merge, similar to his Greek / English word play in “The Beginning and the End”.

The exhibition reveals an artist addressing conflicted personal and national histories around land, seeing the land as both a record of our history and a metaphor for our changing identity, seeing the future looming out of the past.

Dick Frizzell, Milling Whakaangiangi

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Exhibition of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel coming to Wellington for Christmas

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Michelangelo Creation of Adam

MICHELANGELO – A Different View 

Tākina, 50 Cable Street

December 22 – February 8

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The Sistine Chapel at the Vatican is home to one of the greatest artistic accomplishments in history. It was there in the early 16th century that Michelangelo created the brilliant religious frescoes on the ceiling telling the stories from Genesis. He also painted The Last Judgement on the altar wall, depicting the Second Coming and the Final Judgement.

While millions of viewers have visited the chapel in Rome each year it is not always the most pleasurable experience with the room  crowded with hundreds of people and a constant babble of voices. Having to crane one’s neck to see the ceiling surrounded by milling people is not the ideal way to see the work.

Now a new photographic exhibition attempts to replicate the experience with large reproduction of the Michelangelo’s ceiling and   The Last Judgement. The exhibition was shown in Auckland three years ago, attracting large numbers interested in the religious, art and historical significance of the works..

The exhibition has used state-of-the-art technology to reproduce photographs taken of the artworks following recent restorations

The printing techniques used have been able to  reproduce the colours, the details and  brushstrokes, even compensating for the curved nature of some of the paintings

The reproduction 4.6 metres by 20 metres –  about half the size of the actual ceiling but up close the images provide a new experience.

The image of the ceiling is laid out on the floor and adjacent to it is a viewing platform which provides a view which in many ways is better than the original. Even if you have seen the original this is a different experience as you can see the detail of the work and appreciate the overall design as well the juxtaposition of figures and colours.

Many of the smaller elements of the work which are hardly visible when standing in the chapel such as the small bronze-coloured medallions but these are clear now and add another level of complexity and  understanding to the work.

For many the work will be a religious experience seeing the stories from the Bible brought to life on a grand scale. For others it will be an admiration of the originality and skill displayed by the artist along with an appreciation of the working conditions he faced in creating the works.

Michelangelo, The Last Judgement

On the Sistine Chapel ceiling he painted his complex telling the story of the Creation according to Genesis, the beginning of the world. Then in the Last Judgment he presents the end of the world when the godly are separated from the ungodly. Here the scene is presided over, not by the old, bearded god of the ceiling but by a youthful dynamic figure. Michelangelo also included a self-portrait – a flayed skin  which is something of a metaphor of the artist who considered himself to have been eviscerated by the whole painterly journey.

The ceiling painting is a stunning example of trompe l’oeil with the painter creating an illusory architecture with marble putti supporting a cornice on whose regularly placed outcrops are stone seats on which, nude figures are seated along with images of major Prophets and Sibyls seated on monumental thrones .

Michelangelo, Delphic Sibyl

Michelangelo had a difficult task in reconciling the ideas of Renaissance Humanism with the theology of 16th century Christianity. This was because the Church emphasized Man as essentially sinful and flawed, while Michelangelo was focused on Man’s beauty and nobility. The  two views were irreconcilable and led to later problems such as the nudes of the Last Judgment having drapery painted over their testicles after the artists death.

For Michelangelo it was the creation  of the  human body which was paramount. In his depiction of the creation of Adam it is not so much the creation of a man but the creation of a body and this awe in the beauty of the human body is repeated in many of the figures both naked and clothed

Prior to the Renaissance images of God were rare and generally symbolic. In the early Renaissance such image depicted a patriarchal God the Father as an old man, usually with a long beard. Michelangelo’s image of God saw him with almost human qualities. In the second scene, the Creator is fully defined and heroic and we even see a rear view of him with his buttocks visible through purple drapery.

Also included in the exhibition are images of   the lower frescoes in the chapel. Often given less prominence these wall paintings by several artists including Botticelli, Perugino, Ghirlandio and Matteo da Lecce depict the Life of Moses and the Life of Christ. They were all  completed in twenty-five years before Michelangelo began work on the ceiling.

They are impressive  paintings but do not have the same power as those of the Michelangelo works Rather than just tell stories he attempted to create emotional responses through the power of gesture.

Many of these artists were showing off their draughting and painterly skills using the relatively new ideas of perspective with Perugino’s Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter being a fine example. Michelangelo does not use these techniques instead using his knowledge of anatomy to create tactile human figure in three dimensions.

When one compares the naked torsos in The Disputation over Moses’ Body by Matteo da Lecce. with those of Michelangelo’s one can see his consummate understanding of the human figure.

Important to an understanding of the paingtings is the role that the Pope Julius II played in commissioning the works. He was a warrior pope and he chose his papal name not in honour of Pope Julius I but in emulation of Julius Caesar. He was one of the great pre reformation humanists seeing links between the Ancient Greeks and this can be seen in other works he commissioned by Raphael  such as  The School of Athens (also in the Vatican) being painted at the same time as Michelangelo was working on the  Sistine ceiling

Like Julius the individuals faces portrayed are bold and dramatic and filled with energy. Compared to the figures in the lower frescoes these are strong personalities which speak of the need for militant Christians, not the softer versions of the lower frescoes.

Michelangelo’s inventiveness can be seen  in the figures he creates. He has used the faces of ordinary people. He probably used the faces of people he saw in the streets or in the church not the stereotypes normally used. These figures are men and women who walked the streets of the sixteenth century Rome.

Michelangelo’s masterpiece combines the worlds of art, religion, science, and faith in a provocative and awe-inspiring work of art.

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Victoria Kelly and Rossini take different approaches to Stabat Mater

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Stabat Mater

NZSO
Auckland Town Hall

September 3

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The NZSO latest concert “Stabat Mater featured two works based on the image of the Virgin Mary standing at the site of Christ’s crucifixion which had led to numerous compositions and art works has which has added to the church’s iconography and rituals.

Rossini’s Stabat Mater complete in 1841 was based on the medieval Latin poem describing the Virgin Mary’s grief at the crucifixion of her son while Victoria Kelly’s Stabat Mater was a response to both Rossini’s work and the medieval text. Kelly’s work was less of a sorrowful meditation on to the event but rather a reflection on the misogynistic nature of the text.

Rossini’s Stabat Mater featured three New Zealand singers: soprano Madison Nonoa, mezzo-soprano Anna Pierard, tenor Filipe Manu along with Australian bass-baritone Jeremy Kleeman.

The singers were joined by Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir, which also performed during Kelly’s new work.

The orchestral opening of Rossini’s Stabat Mater was very operatic contrasting with the low, soft sounds of the choir, as though angelic voices were descending.

The Air that followed had a rather breezy tone and Filipe Manu finely nuance delivery was rich in emotion as he sang about the sword that pierced the Virgins heart. Jeremy Kleeman in a later Air displayed a fine tightly controlled voice with a luxurious sound.

The duet revealed the colourful voice of Madison Nonoa along with the more fulsome sounds of Anna Pierard. Together they were able to convey the torment and grief of the Virgen.

The Quartet which saw the four soloists elegantly interpreted the text, their voices complementing g each other. Their singing did highlight one of the problems with Rossini’s major failing with the work in not assigning characters at the crucifixion to the individual singer – The Virgin, Mary Magdalen, John, the two thieves.

In the Cavatina section Anna Pierard showed drama in her voice along with some terse vibrato and in her Air  Madison Nono started off with barely a whisper which was take up by the choir which turned inti a thunderous sound, her light, piercing  voice seeming to be the Virgin overwhelmed by the choir

In the final quartet the four soloists emphasised their individua voices, seemingly disconnected unfocussed somehow replicating the discord and cacophony which would have occurred during the time of the crucifixion. All this was brought to a conclusion with the chorus and their transcendental Amen.

Victoria Kelly’s response to the medieval text and Rossini use of it “provoked an overwhelming sense of rase and sorrow in me” she has written. Rather than see the texts and the event form a religious perspective she has seen the misogynistic and religious oppression which is tied to much of the church’s teachings. She has taken a revisionist approach and her text for the work is full of critical lines such as

“She wants no choirs castrated,

No congregation tithed,

no people bound and silenced.

no false priests fellated.

The work opening with a low electronic sound leading to the murmuring strings which created a sense of travel or /transition as though we were being transported back to an earlier time.

Much of the time the work sounded like a lament, the sombre singing of the choir and the music interwoven, the text reinforced by the tension and intensity of the choir.

The choir displayed a nice balance between singing and choral speaking their quality, pitch, power, tempo, effective in conveying the meaning and emotion of the work.

The phrase” She does not mourn” occurred several times through the work and was repeated at the conclusion as the words slowly and softly disappeared.

The dark brooding sounds of the final moments of the music contrasted with the angelic voices of the choir and rather than end with a b ang something triumphant like the Rossini it ended with a whimper.

Making her New Zealand debut was Italian conductor Valentina Peleggi whose lively conducting, sweeping gestures and close attention to the soloists and choir ensured an impressive performance.

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Mozart & Shostakovich impress at Auckland Philharmonia concert

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Benjamin Grovsner

Auckland Philharmonia

Mozart & Mischief

Auckland Town Hall

September 9

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The opening work on the Auckland Philharmonia’s “Mozart & Mischief” programme was Respighi’s music for the ballet “La boutique fantasque” of 1919 which he had adapted from some of Rossini’s piano music from fifty years before.

The eight-part work is set in dolls shop and revolves around the dollmaker on a pair of cancan dolls who are going to be sold and separated. The two heartbroken dolls are eventually saved and united by the other dolls in the shop.

The eight-part work developed a narrative not unlike the ballet Coppelia written by Léo Delibes and features similar music with various clever dances designed to present   different styles of dance and show off the dancers’ skills. So, there is a cancan, a waltz, a Cossack dance and a galop.

The music replicated the sprightly steps and graceful movement of the dolls with some spirited music from the greatly expanded orchestra which included a harp, celesta and castanets to create inventive sounds.

The eight sections of the work meant there were changing moods and magical moments such as the pizzicato section for the strings, the vigorous cancan and the sounds of the busy workshop.

The second work n the programme was Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 21 which features the well-known “Elvira Madigan” theme in the second movement.

Pianist Benjamin Grovsner played with a restrained focus which suited the piece with its charming lyricism. His shimmering arpeggios and his careful detailing of individual notes showed him to be in total control as well as understanding the structure of the work.

Conductor Shiyeon Sung ensured that the graceful opening of the work, with the flute introducing the piano before Grovsner embarked on his many arpeggios and other technical feats. His faultless command of the keyboard with light, tentative playing had a delicacy to it but which he was able to slowly transform to more elaborate and tantalizing passages. Throughout that first movement he moved from the introspective to the more dramatic and expansive

Throughout the work Sung conducted with the same precise approach which Grosvenor displayed, carefully and deliberately picking away at the keys.

In the second movement (Elvira Madigan) he manged to expertly deliver the lyrical qualities of the work with playing which captured an emotional quality before embarking on invigorating finale.

The other major work on the programme was Shostakovich’s Symphony No 9 which when it premiered in 1945 was expected to be like his earlier wartime symphonies, reflected the scale and horror of the Great Patriotic War.

Instead, this short work was full of humour and cynicism rather then heroism and valour. The irony of the work reflected the composer’s regard with Stalin’s regime. Within the jollity of much of the work there is a kernel of melancholy, his only way of showing his despair and distrust of the ruling elite.

The irony of the work can be heard in passages like opening movement with its classical style and an impish piccolo which seems to hide something malignant and then the wistful opening of the second movement where the clarinets and flutes sound as they are on the edge of despair.

Throughout work the music is full of tentative elements suggesting freedom along with passages which seem to be hemmed in, as though the melodies are trying to escape the music continually undercutting the false jollity.

The third movement featured a playground scene but it reveals, not happy children’s activity but detritus and barren landscape conveyed by mournful strings and soulful brass with more dark sounds from the bassoons before turning into a sequence of edgy, mocking music.

The work concluded with a Carnival of Lost Souls, a weird dance or march of hopelessness and death.

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Case Studies: Where did our plants go

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Felicity Jones and Mark Smith

Case Studies: A story of plant travel 

Massey University Press

RRP $85.00

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Case Studies Exhibition

Silo Park

October 9 – 19

The movement of plants and foods between countries and around the globe has been going on for centuries, linked to human migration, creating new trading routes, altering the appreciation of plants and changing diets.

The rose which is so central to English culture originated in Asia while the now staple food of the potato and the tomato came from South Ameruca. Even the kūmara was brought to New Zealand by Polynesian voyagers around 700-800 years ago. 

Since the voyages of Captain Cook and other European explorers in the eighteenth and nineteenth century there has been a huge increase in the movement of plants species between Europe and New Zealand and a new book “Case Studies” explores this activity.

The book explores how the British Empire came to dominate the globe linked to the intriguing story of how the Wardian Case designed by Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward. The case was an early type of terrarium, a sealed protective container for protecting foreign plants imported to Europe from overseas.

Mark Smith / Felicity Jones, Foraged, Nevis Rd, Central Otago

However the book is much more than an historic account of the Wardian case, plant movement and transfer. It is also a catalogue of an exhibition featuring numerous ‘Installations’ by Jones of plants in small glass cases placed in various environments. It is also a journal of the journey of artist / writer Felicity Jones and photographer Mark Smith as they research the book and exhibition.

As the two say about the project “What started as quite a personal exploration has definitely grown into something much larger. Each new idea and road trip revealed another layer, presenting deeper questions about the entanglement of people and plants. We started to realise the work was limitless as it moved backwards and forwards in time, and as we explored notions of beauty and dislocation, systems of knowledge and science, hierarchies of value in the botanical world and the motivations, aspirations, attitudes and beliefs that lay behind plant travel. Early on, we sat down and made a kind of wish list — plants and locations that had always interested us or that linked back to Dr Ward in some way”.

Mark Smith / Felicity Jones Lupins, Lindis Pass, Otago

Over the seven years of the project, Jones and Smith created and photographed evocative case installations in Aotearoa New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Their journey took them from the forest and beach of Auckland West Coast, Central Otago and the Lindis River to Oxford punts, London’s Natural History Museum and the Chelsea Physic Garden.

The book traces that story through photographs and essays with reflections on the implications of plant transfer/movement. Across six essays by Gregory O’Brien, Dame Anne Salmond, Luke Keogh, Mark Carine, Markman Ellis and Huhana Smith, the book considers not only the scientific and colonial ambitions that drove botanical exchange, but also its consequences: ecological disruption, the spread of invasive species, and the marginalisation of Indigenous knowledge systems.

The book tells of the way in which many of the plants species which were sent to the UK are now being returned. The ngutukākā or kakabeak is now one of New Zealand’s most endangered plants but seeds taken to Kew by Banks and Solander are being now being used to reestablish the plant.

Then there are the more surreal settings of Tower Bridge in London, The Natural History Museum and Kew Gardens.

Mark Smith / Felicity Jones The Kings Entrance, Chelsea Physics Garden

There are also photographs which are intriguing for their wider history as well. Many of the plants collected by Banks and Solander were wrapped in printers discarded paper with some having been wrapped in copies of the Spectator including an article entitled “Notes upon the 12 books of Paradise” by Joseph Addison. This was an early eighteenth version of Milton’s “Paradise Lost” with illustrations by William Blake.

It is a handsomely designed book thanks to designer Murray Dexter which includes two page spreads with smaller photographs, mixing the descriptive and documentary with the quirky, thoughtful and reflective.  It is an unusual and slightly surreal book in many ways. While the text and many of the photographs provide both an historical and personal narrative these same photographs of the glass cases in the environment convey a strange dreamlike vision, somehow disconnected from the physical worlds.

The launch of the book will coincide with an exhibition of many of the photographs.

Exhibition title: Here, There, Now

Venue: Silo 6, Silo Park Wynyard Quarter

Exhibition dates: October 9-19, 11am-6pm daily, free, open to the public.

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A mesmerizing performance by Chloe Chua with the Auckland Philharmonia

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Chloe Chua Image: Joel Low

Tchaikovsky’s Violin

Auckland Philharmonia

Auckland Town Hall

September 26

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The major work in the latest Auckland Philharmonia’s concert was Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with soloist Chloe Chua who came with well-established credentials having won the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists when she was 11.

It was immediately clear that she was an exceptional player with a self-contained, flawless approach to playing. But as well as a technical virtuosity she displayed an emotional sensitivity.

With her playing she maintained a distance from the orchestra, with an internal focus and much of the time she seemed to be in a reverie.

The concerto according to many who have played the work since it was composed is notoriously difficult to play, as it requires exceptional technical mastery of various techniques like double stopping and arpeggios as well as playing at a fast pace for extended periods.

Chua manged the piece effortlessly, notably with the cadenza where she was masterful in her control and delivery. Her playing was impressive with a technical brilliance as well as providing and intelligent and sympathetic interpretation of the music.

After the dramatic display in the first movement her delivery of the second movement revealed the sweet lyricism before she performed a range of tones, textures and tempos, continually testing the limits of the violin.

Throughout the work she was a whirlwind of musical dynamism and it was miracle that she didn’t collapse at the end of the work.

While she may have given a spirited performance of the Violin concerto receiving rounds of applause it was her mercurial version of Amazing Grace which showed another aspect of her approach. Her playing of the work and her variations were mesmerizing and by turns anguished, sprightly and whimsical.

Sung as ever conducted with dramatic flourishes as well as intensive elegant hand gestures and at other times seemed to exude an electrical force directed at the orchestra.

Franz von Suppe who was a rival of Strauss in producing Viennese light music provided the opening piece on the programme with his “Morning Noon and Night in Vienna Overture” which features waltz and polka rhythms, reflecting Viennese musical traditions. The work was originally the incidental music to a comic play “Morning Noon and Night in Vienna” which captures the vibrant atmosphere of Vienna through its three distinct sections.

The opening section featured an impressive cello solo, following on from a brass chorale. The solo, played by a meticulous Ashley Brown was like a mini cello concerto imbedded in the work and consisted of a lengthy Viennese style melody accompanied by the harp.

The work had several dynamic dance sequences which had the orchestra racing at a hectic pace, barely contained by conductor, Shiyeon Sung.

With Haydn’s  Symphony No 93, the first of his London Symphonies Sung showed brilliant control of the orchestra allowing each of the instruments to shine and ensuring  the drama and contrasts of the work were clear and that the intricate and unusual dynamics of the work were allowed to evolve, slowly revealing the beauty of the work.

The final work on the programme was Stravinsky’s “Divertissement from The Fairy Kiss” a ballet he composed in 1928 based on the Hans Christian Anderson tale and dedicated to the memory of Tchaikovsky.

Each of the four sections used elements of Tchaikovsky’s piano works and songs including a reference to one of his preludes in the first movement and in the final minutes of the last movement he quotes Tchaikovsky’s song, “None But The Lonely Heart”.

The music featured magical and unusual sounds and was filled with drama and lively movement which conveyed a sense of narrative and the creation of character. Though not as novel as his other ballet music Sung was able to reveal the works lyricism and romanticism shaping the music with elegant hand gestures

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A celebration of Shostakovich

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Peter Clark, Arna Morton, Gillian Ansell and Callum Hall Photo: Kāhui St David’s

Shostakovich: Unpacked

New Zealand String Quartet with Ghost Trio

Kāhui St David’s

September 24

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

For their latest concert “Shostakovich Unpacked” the New Zealand String quartet joined with the Ghost Trio to perform three works by the composer acknowledging the fiftieth anniversary of the composer’s death.

They performed in the recently renovated Kāhui St David’s church which has become a valuable addition to the music performing spaces in Auckland.

The concert featured his “Five Pieces for Two Violins and Piano” which consisted of early works which had been arranged by Lev Atovmian, a student of the composers.

The Five Pieces are relatively easy to play works which were originally written as film background music which are Romantic dance like works including a gavotte, waltz and polka.

Throughout the work violinists Monique Lapins and Peter Clark responded to the lively music engaging in their own dance moves, notably in the last piece, a gypsy style polka.

The concert opened with the composers “String Quartet No. 4” which was composed in 1949 and premiered in 1953 after the death of Stalin. Before that Soviet composers could only write proletarian music for the Russian masses. With Stalin’s death Shostakovich’s music was more accepted and his reputation restored and he could express himself more freely

The work was written for his friend Pyotr Williams the artist and scene painter and in a sense a requiem.

Violinist Peter Clark playing was animated, his sinuous playing matched by his sinuous, vigorous movements.

The sounds of his violin were at times mournful with some ecstatic moments like the voice of a Jewish cantor.

Where his voice might be seen as that of a souring angel the two other violinists Arna Morton and Gillian Ansell provided more human responses with sounds representing human grief.

In the third movement there was lively a conversation between the violists and Callum Hall’s cello with some abrupt sounds and ricochet bowing creating a tense atmosphere which morphed into more whimsical but soulful sequence.

There was some effervescent playing as the strings seems to compete with each other, the cello providing a solid base in a headlong race. There were passages filled with pizzicato playing representing Jewish folk melodies along with some strangled voice and jazz sounds.

At times the group sounded like a choir full of disparate voices with the plucking of strings and the clashing of bows against strings. Between these harsh attacks which had an intense physicality there were sections of reverie with the work ended with an almost whispered sequence of light pizzicato.

Ken Ichinose, Gabriele Glapska and Monique Lapins Photo: Kāhui St David’s

The final, work on the programme played by the Ghost Trio was the composers “Piano Trio No 2” which was written in the middle of the Great Patriotic War and is the composer’s response to the drama and destruction of the time. It opened with the high-pitched sounds of the cello played by Ken Ichinose, a sole voice in a deserted landscape followed by the mournful piano. The insistent cello and repeated phrases of the piano suggested the harsh sounds of battles followed by victory followed by defeat and retreat.

The subversive use of the ‘forbidden’ Jewish folk themes which Shostakovich often used as a subversive element can be heard, especially in the third and fourth movements.

Throughout the work there are massive sequences in which piano violin and cello seem to compete with each other but in the end merge. There were parts where the piano performed a death march and the three instruments provided a tapestry of dispiriting sounds as the instruments wove an intricate pattern of some elaborate game, the violinist and cello in a futile dance of death. One of the final themes, possibly a Jewish dance turns into a militaristic theme before ending in a whisper.

The concert also featured the New Zealand composer Robert Burch’s “An essay to the Memory of Dmitri Shostakovich for cello and piano composed in 1975 featuring the cello of Callum Hall and pianist Gabriela Glapska. The work was evocative of Shostakovich’s work with the meticulous cello of Hall interspersed with violent interruptions from the piano.

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NZ Rustic: The NZ Dream

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

New Zealand Rustic

By Kate Coughlan with Tessa Crisp & Yolanta Woldendorp

Bateman Books

RRP $59.99

Publication Date October 1

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

One of the dreams of many New Zealanders is of a return to nature, living in a house in sympathy with the environment, possibly living off the land, even living off grid.

For many that dream has become a reality and a new book “New Zealand Rustic” highlights that reality with a focus on six houses.

There are a few introductory sections on lighting, texture, colour, natura light and air and styling which help define the formal aspects of good design which are seen in the houses. The major part of the book is devoted to six significant houses from the North and South Islands. There is Manukaru in Queenstown, Ginkgo Point in Omaha, Rumble Bay in Marlborough, Waiau Homestead at Gisborne’s Wainui Beach, Raggedy Ridge House between Alexandra and Omakau, Te Au Homestead near Mahia and Manukard Gard at Glenorchy.

Raggedy Ridge House Image. Tessa Crisp

Each of the houses has a history. The Waiau Homestead at Gisborne’s Wainui Beach began life as a double bay villa on a farm on the East Coast before being moved to its current location, and the severe Raggedy Ridge House which is built among the rocky outcrops of schist seems to made of the local stone forced out of the ground, both an alien intrusion and an almost  organic design connected to the landscape.

Where The Raggedy Ridge House is built of concrete many others are constructed from natural materials. Ginkgo Point has no concrete and the interior use of unpainted timber and recycled material gives the interior spaces a simplicity and warmth which is enhanced by the clever use of light.

The earth house concept is centuries old but more recent ecological concerns have seen many built in the last fifty years. Such homes as Jimma Dillon’s self-built Rumble Bay house. offer excellent insulation, providing stable temperatures that keep them cool in summer and warm in winter. As the author notes of the house “This is a world without the 4×2 rule of conventional building”. It is a house where floors, walls and ceilings blend into a continuous flowing surface like a Hundertwasser creation. the whole building sheltering under 150 tonnes of earth.

Te Au Homestead Image. Brent Darby

Tessa Crisp’s photography captures the drama and isolation of the houses and the landscape they are set in. There are views of rock formations, the sea and mountain ranges, all of them emphasising the both the rugged beauty and the serenity which the New Zealand landscape can offer. She also manages to capture the sense of the intimacy of the interiors where objects give the houses their own individuality. In some cases there are art works which add interest such as Gingko Point House with works by Michael Smither and Tony Lane.

Yolanta Woldendorp has designed stylish book where photographs and text combine to provide an appreciation of the houses – their construction, details of surfaces, decoration and orientation to the surrounding environment.

The book allows the reader / viewer to vicariously enjoy what the owners have enjoyed in their designing, building and decorating of these homes.

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Reviews, News and Commentary

NZ Opera’s adventurous “The Monster in the Maze”

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The Monster in the Maze cast Image Emma Brittenden

The Monster in the Maze by Jonathan Dove (music) and Alasdair Middleton (libretto)

NZ Opera

Aotea Centre

September 19

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The community opera The Monster in the Maze has just finished its three-centre (Christchurch, Wellington and Aucklanldrun to full houses and going on the opening night in Auckland) it seems to have attracted a new audience. If that was one of the intentions of putting on a more experimental / community work, it may well have achieved its purpose.

Certainly, having a just a few well defined characters, a clear narrative, straightforward sets, melodic music and a huge group of singers meant it was very accessible even if it had a mythical setting.

When the legendary King Minos of Crete defeats the Athenians, he metes out his punishment in the cruellest way possible: by destroying their hope for the future. Every year, the king compels the conquered Athenians to send him their youth, to be fed to the terrible beast at the centre of his island’s maze – the Minotaur.

Hearing the cries of the Athenians, Theseus (tenor Ipu Laga’aia) who is actually a demigod as well as human decides to go with the group of children to Crete intending to kill the creature. His mother (mezzo-soprano Sarah Castle) pleads with him not go, expressing the anguish of all mothers whose sons go off to battle. The children are led through the maze by Daedalus (bass-baritone Joel Amosa) where Theseus finds and battles the Minotaur. Having killed the creature, he returns the children to Athens having destroyed the Cretan ships.

Like most mythical tales the legend of the Minotaur, half man, half bull has several layers of meaning and interpretation, functioning as a cautionary tale against hubris. The story in an allegory and a symbolic representation of the human psyche’s inner turmoil and the journey of self-discovery. It can also be seen as a contemporary allegory of the desire to overthrow oppressors.

King Minos, (Maaka Pohatu) Image Emma Brittenden

Much of the staging seems to have taken inspiration from Marvel Comic heroes particularly King Minos and Theseus. As King Minos, Maaka Pohatu conducts himself like a fascist leader filled with anger and ruthlessness. In contrast Ipu Laga’aia as Theseus displays all the qualities of the moral protagonist.

Mother (Sarah Castle and Theseus (Ipu Laga’aia) Image Emma Brittenden

Dove’s music was animated and mainly percussive, the brass and woodwind representing the darker elements of the tale including the brooding Minotaur while blasts of triumphant brass represented Theseus’s victory and the return of the children.

The staging was simple and effective notably the fight sequence between Theseus and The Minotaur where projected words in a comic book style – Punch, Fight, Stab, Thwack- reinforced the dramatic encounter with Thesus fighting an unseen opponent.

While the text of libretto is simple, carrying the tale along smoothly, it is the singing of over 150 Adult, Youth and Children’s choir members, their swirling sounds along with their serpentine movements around the stage that make the most impact. While the children deserve much praise it is the Creative Team which trained and led the singers who were the real force behind the production and deserve loads of credit.

The only disappointment for some of the audience would have been the cursory introduction to the QR code which would have given them access to the libretto though their phones. The take-up of this facility was patchy as the code was only available for a few minutes at the beginning of the performance and instruction were not included in the programme.

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Feathers of Aotearoa: The colours and designs of New Zealand birds

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Feathers of Aotearoa: An Illustrated Journal

Niels Meyer-Westfeld

Potton & Burton

RRP $59.99

Published  October 1

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

We all know that godwits undertake an annual marathon migration to Siberia, but the bar-tailed godwit or kuaka owes much of its successful flight to its feathers. While its high metabolic rate and other factors add to its remarkable ability to make the journey, it is actually its feathers and their design which are significant. The feather’s unique design keep it warm and provide protection from rain as well as having flight surfaces designed for long distance flight.

Niels Meyer-Westfeld, Bar-tailed godwits, pied stilts and red knots

The importance of feathers in the evolutionary development of birds is the focus of a new book “Feathers of Aotearoa” by artist / illustrator Niels Meyer-Westfeld who has focussed on the plumage of New Zealand birds. It follows on from his previous book “Land of Birds” (Craig Potton Publishing) published in 2014. Inspired by the tradition of naturalist journals, he has created a very personal and sensitive tribute to Aotearoa’s remarkable birdlife. 

Born in Germany he initially studied graphic design at the University of Hannover, before completing a Masters in communication design at Central St Martin’s in London.

However, it was his early exposure to the natural world which motivated his interest in birds. “My father is a passionate lepidopterist and botanist and growing up in Germany, I was lucky enough to accompany him on trips around Europe while he pursued his interest,” says Niels. “His love of nature inspired me artistically and I’ve always drawn the flora and the fauna that surrounds me.”

Having moved to New Zealand he has spent nearly twenty years in a variety of creative endeavours with a particular interest in the bird life of New Zealand.

Like other New Zealand artists such as Ray Ching and Russell Jackson he has the ability to meticulously render his subjects, seemingly able to give his subjects anthropomorphic characteristics.

The book illustrates thirty birds which the artist lists under six categories – Flightless, Ground Dwelling, Skilled Flyers, Swift, Wanderers, Divers and Swimmers. Under the heading of flightless we find Kakapo, Kiwi, Moa, Weka and Takahe. Each of the birds is given several pages of illustration with full page renderings of the bird in its habitat or perched on native foliage. So, there is a tui atop a flax and a kereru in a kowhai bush. There are also drawings of the feathers, not one or two as most birds have more than a dozen separate feathers.

Niels Meyer-Westfeld, Kereru

We are provided with information about each of the bird’s plumage as well as general information. We learn that the colours found in the feathers are formed in one of two ways, either from pigmentation or from light refraction caused by the structure of the feather.

We also learn about the evolution of the feather the science of which has been evolving since the 1990’s when fossil evidence revealed that several lineages of dinosaur had primitive  forms of feather which have evolved into the contemporary form such as the tiny, insulating feathers of a penguin.

The artist illustrates and explains in the accompanying text aspects of the unique nature of many of the feathers found in New Zealand native birds. He explains how the feathers of the tui which initially appear to be black but on closer inspection have a shimmering quality with the microscopic scales on the feather creating a range of changing colour rather than relying on pigmentation.

Accompanying the images of birds are illustrations of the bird’s feathers, at least dozen for each bird which show the different colours, shapes and designs, demonstrating the myriad types of feather.

Niels Meyer-Westfeld, Barn Owl feathers

The book is very much like an artist’s notebook or diary, some of the drawing fully coloured with others in simple black pencil of ink with accompany description. Most of the illustrations are of birds the artist has observed in the wild but other are of dead birds where he has captured their limp form.

It is a beautifully designed book, with a particularly impressive cover, the whole production being as striking as many of the birds the artist has illustrated.

Niels Meyer-Westfeld, Kea

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