Category: Reviews, News and Commentary

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Reviews, News and Commentary

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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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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Peter James Smith’s Zealandia

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Peter James Smith, Zealandia

Orexart

Until 27 September

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Peter James Smith in speaking about the impetus behind his landscape paintings has noted his debt to T S Eliot’s “Four Quartets” and in particular “Burnt Norton” with its notion of transcending time to achieve a sense of timelessness.

Time before and time after
In a dim light: neither daylight
Investing form with lucid stillness
Turning shadow into transient beauty

This can be seen in his latest exhibition “Zealandia” where the artist examines Zealandia, the earth’s largely submerged continent beneath the waters of the Southwest Pacific Ocean with only a few islands like New Zealand and New Caledonia breaking the surface to reveal parts of the super continent of Gondwana. 

These islands, historical remnants of an ancient time and still revealing themselves, link past and present through a process of discovery both scientific and historical.

With many of his paintings the landscape forms are often shrouded in this dim light and their shadowy forms seem to take on a substantial form, transporting them from the eighteenth century and the voyages of Capt Cook as well as later voyagers.

With “Zealandia” ($8500) there is sense that the artist is describing the underlying landscape of rocks, islands and headlands beneath the water’s surface, as though these forms are thrusting their way upwards.

Smith like many other artists with a Romantic approach to landscape see his subjects as a powerful, emotional forces, depicting the raw, uncontrollable aspects of nature such as storms, mountains, and wild, untamed places. The landscapes used to express subjective feelings and the sublime, highlighting nature’s grandeur.

Unlike many Romantic artist Smith does not include human figures to emphasis the grandeur of nature but rather includes ideas about man’s measurement of the forces of nature.

In his paintings he employs diagrammatic symbols and marks which indicate of natural forces and aspects of scientific enquiry such as concepts of the angle of sunlight, speed of tide or ocean currents.

The marks he often applies to his paintings can be cartographic indicating the outlines of landscape or the passages into harbours, they can also be the recording of rainfall or the forces of nature.

Then there are the written descriptions of the landscape giving the location, the dates of original or important events as well as a references to Plato’s concept of perception which is noted in “Rain Shadow (Lake Tekapo”) ($8,500).

With his “The Passage of History” ($15,500) the artist includes a short summary of Captain John Grono’s adventures in Doubtful sounds in 1813 where he rescued several marooned sealers. He also includes a map of the area as well as a distance indicator in sea miles.

A similar work “Wind Across Dusky Bay” ($15,500) features a map of the Dusky Bay area with a text about Capt.  Cook’s arrival in 1773 which includes the route taken by his ship “Resolution”. He has also included wispy shapes of the water being driven across the surface of the bay.

The view in this work is frames as though being seen through an observation window, emphasizing the notion of historical distance and that this was the area where Cook established an observatory so enable him to accurately fix his position in New Zealand.

The work “Leaps of the Spirit” ($10,500) which depicts the Lady Bowen Falls combines Romantic landscapes with gestural marks exploring themes of artistic intervention, history, time, and perception. 

The works full title “Leaps of the Spirit Across the Void” has something of a Miltonian flavour and reflects the artists notion of the interconnectedness of science and spirituality, where mathematical certainty meets artistic vision to create a holistic understanding of the world. 

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Louise Bourgeois exhibition coming to the Auckland Art Gallery

John Daly-Peoples

Louise Bourgeois, The Couple, 2003, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, on loan from a private collection. Photo: Christopher Burke, © The Easton Foundation /Licensed by Copyright Agency, AU

Louise Bourgeois: In Private View 

Auckland Art Gallery

September 27 – March 15 2026

John Daly-Peoples

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki will present the first solo exhibition in Aotearoa New Zealand of Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010), one of the most intriguing and influential artists of the last century.

Opening 27 September, Louise Bourgeois: In Private View brings together a selection of works from an international private collection, exhibited publicly for the first time. The exhibition spans over six decades of Bourgeois’s career, from early paintings made in 1945 to a fabric work from the final year of her life

Auckland Art Gallery Senior Curator, Global Contemporary Art, Natasha Conland, says, “Bourgeois remains a defining figure in late twentieth-century art with the ripples of her influence still being felt today. She is known for her highly personal and idiosyncratic sculptural practice which has lent her a special place in the history of art.” “The works in the exhibition are from a private collection lived with over many years, reflecting a deep and personal appreciation of her practice.”

Widely celebrated for her psychologically charged and bold sculptural practice, Bourgeois explored themes of memory, family, the body and the subconscious, often drawing from personal experiences.

She is best known for her series of large spider sculptures, which have been installed in many major international cities.

Highlights include paintings and her first series of sculptures, the Personages, from the 1940s and early ‘50s; Lair sculptures from the early 1960s; and significant later works, such as textile-based sculptures and sculptural enclosures.

Louise Bourgeois. Spider VI

Spider VI (2002) is a wall-mounted example of her internationally acclaimed series of spider sculptures, which she began in the mid-1990s. Also featured is her extraordinary hanging sculpture, The Couple, and late outdoor piece, Eyes.

 A series of curator tours and talks, open lates, as well as family-friendly activities has been programmed with the exhibition. The Gallery Shop has also launched a new range of Bourgeois inspired products which includes socks, brooches, books and more.

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Reviews, News and Commentary

Mahler’s dynamic Symphony No 6

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Gemma New

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Mahler 6

Auckland Town Hall

September 6

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

With their latest concert “Mahler 6” the NZSO and conductor Gemma New have shown that they are a major symphonic force, particularly with their performances of Mahler’s symphonies.

Mahler composed his Symphony No. 6, Tragic between 1903 and 1904 at the peak of his professional life as a conductor, at a time when Europe was experiencing a significant political and social upheaval, with tensions building up to World War I, Mahler’s personal life was marked by turmoil, including strained relationships and health issues. However, this was also a period of intense creativity for Mahler, having just completed his Symphony No. 5 a year prior. Mahler drew inspiration from philosophical and literary sources such as Friedrich Nietzsche and the Austrian poet Heinrich Leopold Wagner, whose themes of destiny and human suffering resonated with Mahler. The symphony’s title, Tragic, reflects Mahler’s engagement with the tragic nature of the times as well as huis own fraught life.

The title of The Tragic, has been given to the work in part because the work has often been considered prophetic as the composer suffered several tragic events after he had composed the work. But the tragic element of the work is only part of the complex work.

As with most of the composers works there is a personal element in their work and his output can be seen as a series of autobiographical symphonies, charting his reactions to his evolving development, physically, artistically and emotionally. The sixth symphony looks back over his life as well as looking forward and envisaging a life full of drama, excitement and tragedy.

It is these personal and psychological issues the fears, anxieties and pleasures of his life which form the basis of the work, and we are presented with the man and his attempts to understand and explore his inner psychological struggles, endeavouring to express himself through his music in a way few other composers have managed to achieve.

While it is an autobiographical work exploring the composer’s personality, there are parallel themes as he depicts narratives, landscapes and other emotional states.

The work opens with a martial march with strong beats which suggest the relentless march of time, a feature which recurs throughout the work. After that dramatic opening there is a sublime lyrical passage which expresses contentment and even  jollity. It is these contrasting elements which fill the symphony, a series of encounters and emotions which are musical metaphors for the incidents in the passage of life.

Throughout the symphony, Mahler weaves this recurring musical motif known as the “Alma theme,” named after his wife. This haunting melody, first introduced in the opening movement, serves as a motif representing Mahler’s conflicted feelings towards Alma and provides a layer of autobiographical depth to the work.

The final movement opens with some magical sounds produced by the strings and bells as though one was entering a dream world with several of the instruments seeming to be out of key, giving the work a surreal, disconnected feel.

New’s conducting is always dynamic and with this work she showed her approach to be focused with attention to detail. While she always appears to be in total control there were times when  she appeared to be demanding more of the players,  exhorting them to greater efforts.

Her conducting was generally strict with firm directions and hand gestures carefully controlling the orchestra but then there would be passages when she seemed like a choreographer / dancer, more concerned with the spontaneity, the arc and flow of the music.

The work was full of the composer’s favourite percussion instruments – cymbals, bass drums and gongs, but in his Sixth Symphony he added two timpanists, snare drum, celeste, xylophone, glockenspiel, church bells and cowbells. He added one other dramatic instrument  – a giant hammer designed to create a dull thump, a fatal blow which occurs twice in the final movement of the symphony.

In that final movement the music becomes exalted and inspiring, the harps and strings producing a transcendental sound before the fateful surges which turn the music into tragedy, ending not with a bang but a whimper.