Tag: music

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NZTrio’s Space Jump

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Somi Kim, Amalia Hall and Matthias Balzat

NZ Trio, Space Jump

Auckland Concert Chamber

August 16

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The title of the NZTrio’s latest concert came from the first work on the programme – Fazil Say’s “Space Jump for piano trio”. The Turkish composer, Say wrote the work having witnessed the Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner jump from a balloon 39 kilometres above the New Mexico desert. His descent time was 9 minutes and 3 seconds making him the first human to break the sound barrier in freefall without vehicle power.

The work which is like the soundtrack to a film of the event described the action of the ascent, the jump, the descent and the  parachute landing.

Ater a short introduction of several sharp sounds the music took on a free, floating tone suggesting the emptiness and soundlessness of the ascent with the occasional music hint at an inherent danger.

Halfway through the piece the cello and violin suggest an almost spectral sound before the climatic sounds of the descent, dramatic and relentless, Amalia Hall energetically plucking at the strings of her violin and the trilling of the piano captured the idea of the billowing parachute and the stillness of its descent

The trio gave an intense sonic performance which required aggressive attacks, precise harmonising, and rhythmic strength with the piano, violin, and cello cleverly creating the sense of being in Earth’s upper atmosphere.

Reena Esmail’s Piano Trio stems from her Indian immigrant background with the threads of Western and Eastern music blending her interest in Hindustani music as well as that of Mendelssohn and Shostakovich.

Each of the four movements has displayed an element of the classical Indian raga which generally provided a melodic framework for improvisation.

The first movement has a particularly light quality with shimmering sounds from each of the instruments and they each seemed to be chasing an elusive sound. There were shifting dynamics between the three instruments where the subtle textures slowly morphed into raga melodies, integrating with the classical. The music was full of tremolos, slides and taut harmonies which created a sense of timelessness.

There were sparkling and watery sounds with a flowing movement along with some exuberant playing by the violin and cello while Somi Kim produced multiple runs on the piano.

The third movement hints at Mendelssohn and Shostakovich whose has been important to her and in the final movement there is a rising, intricate string melody, shimmering over over the piano work, which the led to a passage where the instruments seem to be at odds with each other before moving into a dreamlike conclusion.

The New Zealand composer Keith Moss write his “Field notes in Autum” about his living in Wellington in Autumn.

This was a truly atmospheric piece conveying many elements of Wellingtons weather and its changing light. There is a flurry of rain in the opening moments of the piece before suggestions of fleeting clouds, rain sweeping across hills along with the creeping chill of a Wellington day.

This is a sombre Wellington, dark and brooding but with flashes of sunlight dancing on the houses and hills.

The final, and major work on the programme was Schumann’s “Piano Trio No 2” which is essentially a love letter to Clara Schumann.

It was passionate and intense from the opening moments with the violin and cello in an ardent and rapid conversation. Light notes from the violin were answered with denser sounds from the cello.

The work is not just a conversation, it also conveyed the passion and drama of the couple’s relationship. With the light quivering of the violin and the richer reflections of the cello.

The second movement was less passionate and more contemplative surrounded by bursts of excitement. It is as though Schumann is seeing the relationship with more depth and understanding.

Throughout the piece violin and cello were well integrated, answering each other’s tentative questions with musing and meditations.

Somi Kim’s piano provided an ideal setting for the two strings as well as adding depth to the instruments. Violin and cello also responded to the piano giving some cheery and frothy accompaniment. Before leading to the climactic finish with some rapid intersections and mingling of voices.

As with all their concerts the trio demonstrated why they are such an innovative group programming a mix of classic and contemporary works along with New Zaland and international compositions which challenge, entertain and surprise.

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The Royal New Zealand Ballet’s stylish Winter Season

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoplea

Birthday Offering – Mayu Tanigaito and Laurynas Vejalis Image: Stephen A’Court

Royal New Zealand Ballet

Winter Season

Aotea Centre

July 23 – 25.

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples.

The Royal New Zealand Ballet’s Winter Season featured a triple bill featuring and two contemporary ballets, and the premiere of Sir Frederick Ashton’s more classical, Birthday Offering.

Ashton was the principal architect of the “English style” of classical ballet and choreographed Birthday Offering in 1956 for The Royal Ballet’s 25th anniversary, Birthday Offering. The ballet was originally a tribute to fourteen of its premiere dancers which included New Zealand ballet legend Dame Rowena Jackson along with Dame Margot Fonteyn.

Danced to Alexander Glazunov’s waltzing music the work demands perfection and precision and that is what the dancers delivered.

The seven female dancers each danced sequences which displayed their various talents and took inspiration from the Glazunov score. One of the dancers performed like a clockwork Coppelia, another gave a display of gentle, relaxed limbs while another presented a more romantic approach.

The seven dancers handled all the intricacies of the dance with a calm serenity, all using their body, arms and legs expressively.

Their displays presented what amounted to a primer of modern classical dance which they performed with technical virtuosity and panache.

When the female dancers partnered with their male partners both dancers became more animated and expressive but there was not the engaging emotionalism one might have seen later– not the sort of dancing seen between Fonteyn and Nureyev

There were some stylish vignettes, there was elegance and beauty, but it was too formal with a lack of heart.

This was simple ballet staged cleanly and stylishly in colourful mid-length gowns (Kenneth Rowell) that bounced along to the spritely footwork.

Ultra Folly – Jemima Scott and Kirby Selchow Image: Stephen A’Court

Sarah Foster-Sproull’s Ultra Folly opened with the dancers appearing to communicate with each other using their own form of semaphore in a homage to the choreographer Crystal Pite. Then, dancing to La Folie, music from the seventeenth century but played by Jordi Savilo and Hyperion XXI, they displayed a range of engaging dance routines with sharp moves and gesturers, mirroring the music and exploring the notion of communication.

Their dancing took inspiration from a range of sources varying from the courtly dance of the seventieth century to Highland dance while at other times their dancing evolved from the chance encounter on the street to the meeting of two lovers.

Then there were the more elaborate group interactions, the dancers appearing create hieroglyphics or an elaborate signing system and they became bound up in their intricate dance movements.

The almost tactile music was reflected in the dance at times as it morphed from the mechanical to the sensual.

Stand to Reason Image: Stephen A’Court

South African Andrea Schermoly’s Stand to Reason which was the more political of the three works took inspiration from the pamphlet “Ten Reasons Why A Woman Should Vote” written by Kate Shephard in 1888 in which women had to clearly convince, explain and justify their right to political participation.

The text of the pamphlet was projected onto a screen behind the all-female dance ensemble who were dressed in black tunics which referenced the women of Sparta, or the Amazons as well as a nod to the various black clad New Zealand sports teams.

The notion of the strong woman was also highlighted in the way that the dancers confronted the audience often fixed their gaze on us.

The dancers performed the roles of support and impetus normally taken by male dancers and while much of their movements had an aggressive quality with great physicality this was tempered by more subtle gestures.

In the final sequence of the work danced to the music of Beethoven the intensity of the dancing increased as the volume of the music increased with raw energy, breast beating and frenetic dancing. The dancers seemed to be struggling against unseen forces as they broke the bonds restraining them just as the sound system seemed close to imploding.

While the music by Johann Paul von Westhoff, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Marin Marais, drove the work, the choice of male composers seemed at odds with the feminist nature of the work.

In two of the works the lighting played a significant part with the surreal lighting of Daniel Wilson in Ultra Folly and the minimalist approach by Andrew Lees in Stand to Reason.

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The dynamic energy of violinist Benjamin Beilman playing Mendelelsshon

Reviewed John Daly-Peoples

Image Sav Schulman

Mendelssohn’s Violin

Auckland Philharmonia

Conductor Giordano Bellincampi
Violinist, Benjamin Beilman

Auckland Town Hall

July 16

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The major work on the programme was Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, a w ork that he had spent nearly ten years writing. While he adhered to the classical style of Beethoven, he also introduced much of the romantic ethos which leads on to the music of Brahms. In several ways he broke with tradition such as having the violin make an instant introduction to the work. Then there is no break between the first and second movements, with a bassoon note held between the two sections and the work also calls on the soloist to function as an accompanist to the orchestra for extended periods.

Benjamin Beilman opened the turbulent first movement with a relentless vigour responding urgently to the orchestra and conductor. At times his playing was raw, almost visceral revealing the passionate aspect of the work while at other times he exposed the delicate and sensual elements of the music with his playing being little more than a whisper.

He seemed very much in control tackling the work with lively self-confidence, even the passages which Mendelssohn must have written to technically challenge the performer were effortlessly disposed of.

The dynamic energy he put into the playing showed that he not only had an understanding of the technical aspects of the works but also an appreciation of the works emotional impact.

In the second movement with its restful mood there were passages where he was dominated by the orchestra as though sinking under the weight of the music, but this changed when his playing erupted, cutting through the sounds of the orchestra with an insistent voice

In the third movement in which many of the motifs of the first movement were restated he displayed a playful jousting engagement with the orchestra in a very physical manner.

Throughout he managed to conjure up some graceful, unforced tones with crisp articulation heightening the romantic sweep of the music, discovering the emotional depths of the music.

In the more lyrical passages, he seemed to dance with the joy of the work while in the final celebratory section his playing became feverish as he skirmished with the orchestra.

For his encore Beilman played the J.S. Bach Violin Partita No. 3 in E major,with a joyous, and uplifting approach to the dance-inspired work.

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 in D major, is an intriguing transitional work which he composed in 1802, when he was having to confront his looming deafness. Even though this may have been something which dominated his life with the symphony is optimistic and lively.

Throughout the work one got a sense of the composer experimenting with contracts and drama and there are hints of his later symphonic works which the conductor, Giordano Bellincampi revealed. While the much of the work displayed the impact of Haydn on his composing, it was the innovative and novelty of the composer which shone through.

The opening work for the programme was Schubert’s overtures “in the Italian style” composed in 1817 when “Rossini fever” was sweeping through Vienna. The work is full of effervescent energy, and charming melodies, as the composer paid homage the Iight-hearted Italian operatic style.

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From Scratch: Songs for Unsung Heroes

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

From Scratch: Songs for Unsung Heroes

A film by John Pain

Academy Cinema

July 24 7.00pm (one night only)

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

From Scratch: Songs for Unsung Heroes is a new film of From Scratch performing at St Davids church in Auckland earlier this year produced, directed and edited by John Pain.

The film also includes two shorter works from the same event of the ensemble accompanying video art from two of Aotearoa’s leading practitioners; Black Moon by Teresa Peters, and Metroplex II by Gregory Bennett.

The five members of From Scratch (Phil Dadson, Adian Croucher, Shane Curry, Darryn Harkness and Chris O’Conner) play their assorted instruments ranging from standard musical instruments such as the melodia (keyboard harmonica) used by Phil Dadson to the hand-crafted instruments like the PVC piping which have been central to the group’s activities.

The instruments produce a range of percussive sounds, which help create a sonic ambience somewhere between the primitive and the highly sophisticated.

The words of Songs for Unsung Heroes are sung in a monotone and at a pace determined by the players. The low sounds of the song are not clear but fit well within the ambience created by the musicians like a musical drone adding to the mystery and power of the work.

“Let us sing for unsung heroes, Those who lay their dreams aside. Sing a song for unsung heroes, Sing from sea to shining sea. Sing the song of liberty.”

The enjoyment and novelty of a From Scratch performance is from the seemingly uncoordinated waves and ripples of sounds which are created by the group who appear to concentrate on their individual instruments, but they are in fact intricately linked, their individual sounds and rhythms merging and diverging in surprising and innovative ways.

At times each of the players seems to be in a trance-like state focussed on their own individual instrument but through their performance are producing a soundscape which contributes to a breathing and heaving structure.

The endless variety of sounds, rhythms and movements has its visual equivalent in the two films which make use of Gregory Bennet’s animated films which explore a synthetic world, using high-end 3D animation. These endless parades of figures performing within an Escher- like environment, morphing into various patterns and creating weird environments mirrors the sounds of the music.

Songs for Unsung Heroes is focused on the performers as much as their playing. Their concentration seems to suggest that their focus is on inner linked patterns and rhythmic fields.

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“La Mer”, the impressionist sounds of the National Youth Orchestra

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Coucher de soleil à Pourville, pleine mer (1882) Claude Monet

National Youth Orchestra

NYO La Mer

Conductor, Dane Lam

Auckland Town Hall

July 4

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The NZSO National Youth Orchestra’s concert “La Mer” was a celebration of the sea with four works, spanning two centuries exploring various aspects of the sea – descriptive, psychological and historical

The orchestra was led by the Australian-Chinese conductor Dane Lam the recently appointed Music Director of the Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director of State Opera South Australia.

As Lam noted in his introduction to the concert these young musicians were the future of New Zealand music playing music of our time including music of New Zealand itself

They opened the concert with a new New Zealand work which spoke of the sea and the country’s connection with it.

Jack Bewley’s “Pray for the wanderer” is, as the composer says, “an ode to the courage it takes to … travel vast distances to our country”.

The opening drum roll which heralded thunder was followed by some glorious music from the orchestra reflecting the wonder and mystery of the sea voyage. The blare of the brass and the hectic percussion with some great surging sounds explored the movement of the sea as well as the movement of those who journeyed across the oceans.

The second work on the programme was one of the great atmospheric works – Four Sea Interludes by Benjamin Britten from his opera “Peter Grinmes” written in 1945. Grimes, afisherman in a small coastal town, is accused of mistreating his apprentice, who has died under mysterious circumstances at sea. He is a temperamental outcast, alienated from the local people with the moody music reflecting his character. Britten also depicts the nature of the weather and the sea as active elements in the story leading to the death of Grimes.

The opening section “Dawn”consisting of a high-pitched, desolate sound which is threaded though the swells of the sea as well as the early morning calm provided a sinister quality to the work. This was followed by “Sunday Morning” where the orchestra produced glittering sounds which described the sunshine and the sounds of sea birds.  We also heard the cacophony of church bells, referencing happier times of the village which also contrasts with the darker sounds of the work.  

The impressionist “Moonlight” movementhad some pulsating sounds which were both sounds of the sea and the heavy breathing of Grimes suggested an unease beneath the swell of the sea and the surface of the village

The final movement “Storm” featured aggressive percussion and brass describing the mummering and heaving of the sea which became more thunderous, eventually exploding in raging storm sequence which hints at the fury of both the weather and the fury of the villagers.

After the interval they played Michael-Thomas Foumai’s Kealaikahiki Suite which recounts the 1976 maiden voyage of Hōkūleʻa, a replica of an ancient Polynesian voyaging canoe to Tahiti as well as honouring the master navigator Mau Piailug. 

The work was cinematic in scale in which the sea and activities merge, occasionally recalling the music of Douglas Lilburn’s “Landfall in Unknown Seas”.

The rousing music suggested the thrill of the sea and voyaging and the sense of adventure and the activities of the seafarers. There were other sequences which conveyed the majesty and breadth of the sea with some superb musicianship.

The final robust sequence sounded like a theme from an Indianna Jones movie leading to another energetic depiction of the sea

Much of Debussy’s music can be considered impressionist because it reflects the same goals of Impressionist artists such as Claude Monet and Paul Cezanne. Rather than using the structural elements of traditional classical music, he focused on evoking mood and atmosphere.

He avoided calling “La Mer” a symphony but rather giving it the subtitle of Three Symphonic Sketches. These three sketches are impressions of the sea in its various mood and colours in much the same way that the Impressionist painters conveyed their reactions to nature and its landscapes or seascapes

One of Debussy’s favourite artists apart from the Impressionist was the English artist J.M.W. Turner whom he admired for the way in which he dealt with light and hazy landscape depictions as well as the drama of light and shade.

With the first movement, “De l’aube à midi sur la mer” the orchestra conveyedthe sense of the seas awakening with voluptuous waves of sound. The various sections of the orchestra took on the variety of colours and textures of the sea, swelling and receding. The music captured the physicality of the sea, much as the way the artists used dashes and strokes of paint, Debussy used short, jazzy-like sequences of sound.

This was followed by “Jeux de vagues” with lively playing producing a wide range of loosely connected sounds, like a myriad of splashes depicting the changeable motion and moods of the sea

With the final “Dialogue du vent et de la mer” the orchestra created a   dialogue between the wind and the turbulent sea with dramatic contrasts between the surging orchestral sounds. Here the orchestra had a sequence of meditation followed by a final surge of muscular sounds.

The orchestra showed in this concert that it has the musical talent and a depth of understanding of the music which will see a great future for some individual musicians as well as New Zealand orchestras.

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Mt Eden Chamber Music Festival 2026

John Daly-Peoples

2025 Beethoven quartet – Simeon Broom, Jessica Oddie, Gillian Ansell, Ken Ichinose

Mt Eden Chamber Music Festival

Eden Arts

Mt Eden Village Centre Church

July 2 – 5

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Now in its tenth year the Mt Eden Chamber Music Festival organised by the local community arts group, Eden Arts has presented high quality performances by some of the country’ s leading musical groups and major talent including NZ Trio and NZ Barok.

These concerts have been programmed by Simeon Broom, the Festival’s Artistic Director who is a violinist with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Cathy Manning of Eden Arts.

 CONCERT 1 – THURSDAY 2 JULY 7pm

Dedicated to Mary O’Brien

Boccherini – Cello Quintet in D minor Op.25 & Schubert – Cello Quintet D.956

Featuring violinists Simeon Broom and Jessica Oddie

The Boccherini Cello Quintet in D minor, Op. 25, No. 1 is a supreme example of the galante classical style. It opens with an expressive slow opening with a stately, almost operatic feel and some virtuosic play.

There is also a graceful minuet that embodies the courtly elegance of the era, paired with a contrasting trio section. And finishes with a spirited, dance-like conclusion.

The Schubert – Cello Quintet is regarded as one of the absolute pinnacles of chamber music. Completed in 1828 just two months before the composer’s death. It is the composers only full-fledged string quintet and has been called “sublime” and “extraordinary” been said to possess “bottomless pathos”, and is generally regarded as Schubert’s finest chamber work as well as one of the greatest compositions in all chamber music. 

 CONCERT 2 – FRIDAY 3 JULY 7pm

Alyssa Morris – The Big Questions (2024)

Charles Loeffler – Deux Rhapsodies (1901)

Janet Jennings – Five Emotional States (2025)

TRIO OBSCURA

Trio Obscura – Robert Ashworth, Sarah Watkins and Bede Hanley (trio so-named because very little has been written for oboe, viola and piano).

Bede Hanley, Robert Ashworth and Sarah Walkins

TRIO OBSCURA’s name was inspired by the somewhat unusual combination of instruments that comprise the ensemble: as it turns out, very little has been written for oboe, viola, and piano. Five Emotional States was written especially for TRIO OBSCURA’s 2026 In Partnership Series tour for Chamber Music New Zealand.

Alyssa Morris’s “The Big Questions” is a poignant reflection on the uncertainties of our time. Morris’s virtuosic writing and characteristic wit are ever-present, yet at its heart lies a search for peace and understanding.

Written a century earlier, Charles Loeffler’s “Deux Rhapsodies” are richly coloured and dramatic tone poems that capture the atmosphere and imagination of French Impressionism.

Janet Jennings’ “Five Emotional States” is intended to be fun to play and entertaining for audiences, with its quixotic changes of mood, and journeys between atonality and downright tunefulness.

 CONCERT 3 – SATURDAY 4 JULY 5pm

Remembering Katherine Austin

Bach – E major Partita for solo violin

Schumann – Fantasiestücke Opus 73 for cello and piano

Prokofiev – Piano Sonata No.3 in A minor, Opus 28

Rachmaninov – Vocalise Opus 34 No.14

Dvorak – Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, Opus 81 (1st mvmt)

A Garland for Katherine (2025)

(KATHERINE AUSTIN)

Andrew Leithwick – a little bit a bit

Helen Bowater – Ludwig, Katherine and me

Janet Jennings – Expressivo

Michael Williams – Effervescence

Peter Scholes – A Shining Star

Gillian Whitehead – S

Known for its joyful character Johann Sebastian Bach’s Partita No. 3 in E major for Solo Violin, composed in 1720, is the final work in his famous Sei Solo collection.

Robert Schumann’s Fantasiestücke originally composed in 1849 for clarinet and piano, is a staple of the cello repertoire. This three-movement cycle—highly lyrical, contrasting, and continuous in spirit—is widely celebrated for its warm, intimate dialogue between the two instruments.

Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No. 3 in A minor of 1917 was composed for solo piano, using sketches dating from 1907. It is one of the shortest but most technically demanding pieces in the piano repertoire. Written in a single, continuous movement, the work is a compressed tour de force that flawlessly balances aggressive, mechanical rhythms with profoundly lyrical and romantic interludes.

Rachmaninov’s “Vocalise” is a song written for high voice and piano accompaniment. It contains no words, being sung using only one vowel of the singer’s choosing but is performed in various instrumental arrangements more frequently than in the original vocal version.

Antonín Dvořák’s Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, Op. 81 (1887) is a pillar of the chamber music repertoire. The first movement (Allegro, ma non tanto) is celebrated for its warm, lyrical melodies and expressive shifts between melancholic folk influences and bright, romantic passion.

 CONCERT 4 – SUNDAY 5 JULY 3pm

Ravel – Sonata for Violin & Cello

Beethoven – Eyeglass Duo for Viola & Cello

Dohnányi – String Trio Op.10

Maurice Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Cello (1920–1922) is a lean, masterfully challenging chamber piece dedicated to the memory of Claude Debussy. Spanning four movements, the work strips away harmonic padding to pit the two instruments against one another in a brilliant, virtuosic, and contrapuntal display

Beethoven – Eyeglass Duo for Viola & Cello refers to two performers who wear glasses. It is unclear who else the short-sighted violist Beethoven might have been referring to other besides himself. Perhaps it is his friend Zmeskall. In any case, it must have been an accomplished musician, as the cello part is demanding throughout.

Serenade for String Trio in C major, Op. 10 (1902) by Hungarian composer Ernő Dohnányi is a masterpiece of the chamber music repertoire. Celebrated for its rich textures, virtuosic demands, and lyrical warmth, the five-movement suite beautifully balances late-Romantic spirit with dynamic, modern twists.

2025 Beethoven quartet – Simeon Broom, Jessica Oddie, Gillian Ansell, Ken Ichinose

Trio Obscura – Bede Hanley, Robert Ashworth, Sarah Watkins (trio so-named because very little has been written for oboe, viola and piano).

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The Michael Hill International Violin Competition Grand Finale

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Beatrice Colombis

The Michael Hill International Violin Competition Grand Finale

With the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra

Auckland Town Hall

April 6th

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The Michael Hill International Violin Competition saw Beatrice Colombis Italy / Australia) winning the ultimate prize which includes $40,000, a recording on the Atoll Label, a tour with Chamber Music NZ and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and a Michael Hill pendant.

For the final concert two of the competitors Tianyou Ma (China) and Jakow Pavlenko (Ukraine / Germany) played the Sibelius Violin Concerto while Beatrice Colombis played the Shostakovich Violin Concerto in A minor. Conductor Alan Buribayev  lead the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra as they accompanied the three competitors.

Tianyou Ma took a very studious approach to the music, his face revealing a range of suppressed emotions which were also revealed in his playing techniques – from savage attacks to gentle stroking of his instrument.

With his measured playing this was a personal and thoughtful account, revealing the composer’s clever approach to the composition as well as the intricacies of the works construction.

Jakow Pavlenko’s playing had instant appeal with his showmanship being seen in his startling solo displays which were filled with intensity and bravura.

At all times he was aware of the conductor and orchestra, creating a palpable knot of energy.

With the more romantic second movement his expressive face bloomed with an appreciation and awareness of the sublime feelings being expressed through the music.

In the third movement body and bow responded with a tumultuous series of interactions between violin and orchestra, his instrument seeming to lead the orchestra on their demanding forays.

The Shostakovich Violin Concerto in A minor was written in the aftermath of The Great Patriotic War and at a time of official repression of expressive music. Beatrice Colombis’s playing expressed the horrors of the war and the despair of the post-war period as well as the composer’s depression.

Resplendent in her blue gown she seemed to be impelled by the encroaching sounds of the orchestra into an almost meditative state.

Her dominant voice sometimes gave way to other orchestral instruments, such as the harp which displayed their inventiveness but ultimately she emerged from intensity of the music, playing as though from a reverie.

The playful second movement saw her performing with more exuberance and expressive dynamism, relishing the orchestra’s onslaught, displaying some sumptuous and extravagant bowing as she led the orchestra on a savage ride.

The deathly knock of the orchestra at opening of the third movement was followed by her more confident and animated playing where each of the sections was explored with focused intensity. This was not so much a meditation but an exploration of the composer’s contemplation of the music itself.

All this was achieved with a gentle exploration of the mercurial tones of the violin which seemed to take on a life of their own compelling her to produce a final, dynamic dance of death.

Full Prize List

First prize

Beatrice Colombis, 22, who received a cash prize of $40,000, an opportunity to make a recording on the Atoll Label, a personalised professional development programme, a Michael Hill gold and diamond pendant, and a tour with Chamber Music New Zealand and the Auckland Philharmonia in 2027.

Colombis also won the $1,000 prize for the best performance of the commissioned work, Chasm by Salina Fisher, the Sheila Smith prize of a three-year loan of a Domenico Montagnana violin, facilitated by Rare Violins of New York’s In Consortium platform, and the audience prize.

The second prize of $10,000 was won by Chinese violinist Tianyou Ma and the third prize of $5,000 by German–Ukrainian violinist Jakow Pavlenko. Pavlenko also won the $1,000 chamber music prize, following his performance in the semi-final round.

The fourth prize of $4,000 went to South Korean violinist Hyein Koo, the fifth prize of $3,000 to Chinese violinist Julia-Xiaohuo Wang, and the sixth prize of $2,000 to Chinese violinist Xunyue Zhang.

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Zines: a comic version of NZ subculture’s history

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Zines NZ: From punk to present

Bryce Galloway

Massey University Press

RRP $55.00

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

One of the almost unrecognised literary / artistic areas of New Zealand culture has been the zine.

Zines, a corruption of magazines or fanzines are non-commercial, self-published, small-circulation booklets, often produced by hand or photocopied in limited editions of often only a few hundred copies. They are derived from anti-establishment, punk-rock music, and other activist cultures, providing a platform for personal expression, niche topics, and marginalized voices.

Chris Knox, Jesus on a stick

Even though the zine in New Zealand has been widespread there has been no serious writing about the form. Until now. Bryce Galloway’s “Zines NZ: Punk to present” is written by a zine devotee and is packed with hundreds of images of zine covers and spreads, most of which charm with lopsided collaged energy and all of which possess a singular vision. Zines are so often ephemeral and elusive, and this book’s tribute to so many rich and distinctive voices ensures that their history is not lost.

Some of the early names like Barry Linton and Dylan Horrocks who were major forces early on are mentioned along with others who helped establish the numerous outlets which has seen a plethora of voices over the past forty years.

Galloway says the impetus for the book was largely personal, having been a zine creator himself

“I was interested in finding the thread from today’s plethora of zinefests back to the punk rock zines of early 80s Aotearoa. In 2015 I wrote a rather subjective history of 21st century zines in Aotearoa. I released this as issue 56 of Incredibly Hot Sex with Hideous People, also presenting it at pop culture and bibliographic conferences. I was thinking, who’s qualified, who could I commission to research and write the earlier part of Aotearoa’s zine history? Eventually I decided I should just take the job on myself.”

He acknowledges that the zine has been side-lined by the art/ publishing/ library world. “I’m sure they’ve been looked down upon, but many in the zine scene wouldn’t have it any other way. For all those who celebrate the growth in this media, there’s others who see the shift from scrappy punk zines and zinefests in community halls to zinefests in major galleries and the like as evidence that zines have lost their edge. I don’t think that’s true but there’s something to be said for the aesthetic challenge made by your scrappy punk zines versus your well-crafted Risograph-printed chapbook for example.”

While Galloway has written this history of the zine, he has also included extensive quotes from around fifty other zine creators who expand the history with all the various personal motivations behind the various concepts and designs.

The book is packed with information along with dozens of illustrations from the zines produced by authors / designers who are well-known such as Chris Knox and David Tulloch to lesser known, but prolific names like Sarah Laing and Indira Neville.

Indira Neville, An Incompetent Girl

Along with being a history of the zine in New Zealand Galloway has provided a personal political and social history of New Zealand featuring significant events and individuals who have helped create change in New Zealand over the last forty years.

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Reviews, News and Commentary

Auckland Philharmonia’s Tchaikovsky 4

Reviewed By John Daly-Peoples

Pierre Bleuse Image Sav Schulman

Tchaikovsky 4

6.30 Session

Auckland Philharmonia

Auckland Town Hall

April 9

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Opening the Auckland Philharmonia new series of 6.30 Sessions were two works from Wagners opera “Tristan and Isolde” the  Prelude and Liebestod (love-death).

In the opera this music is used to convey the culmination of the lovers, uniting them in death, the merging of love and mortality. Several of the thematic passages were used in Lars von Trier’s film “Melancholia” which had similar themes of love and destruction.

Much of the music expressed a deep yearning which contrasted with an unsettling anxiety initially expressed by the woodwinds and strings who engaged in a tortuous conversation.

This deep yearning slowly built to an ecstatic onslaught before returning to an earnestness expressing the depth of love and despair.

In the final monuments the orchestra sought a resolution as Isolde comforted the dying Tristan with some explosive music conveying a sense of pent-up energy before the final apotheosis.

The conductor Pierre Bleuse seemed to respond to the music, his body creating sinuous shapes, crouching, arms spread wide and his exuberant hand gestures and dramatic flourishes added to the intensity of the piece.

There are a number of autobiographical symphonies where composers directly use elements of their personal lives, emotions, psychological struggles, and life narratives into the music. These works often act as musical depictions, blending personal experience with thematic development, exemplified by composers like Mahler, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky.

Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 4 like much of his music is deeply autobiographical, often channelling his intense depressions, secret homosexuality, and personal anxieties into his compositions. His most personal works, particularly his later symphonies, served as an emotional outlet for his inner torment, reflecting themes of fate, longing, and despair.

His Symphony No 4 of 1878 was written during a period of severe crisis following his failed marriage. In it he deals directly with the theme of “Fate” and his inability to escape his circumstance. His opera Eugene Onegin finished a year later also has semi-autobiographical elements, with the emotional dilemmas of the characters reflecting the composer’s own experiences with love and social pressures.

However, Tchaikovsky often used his ballet scores, such as Swan Lake as an escape into a “fantasy world” of beauty, contrasting with his intense melancholy.

The work opened with a strident form the brass and woodwinds, its joyful sounds tinged with a sense of desolation which hint at the composer depicting his elation at his renewed love of life but aware of his previous despondency. And the turbulent life around him. He seemed to wallow in his previous despair but looking forward to a new resolution.

The bleakness of the movement was punctuated by signs of light and hope provided by the sounds of the flutes which displayed touches of the composer’s ballet like melodies.

The music built to a crescendo of exaltation and release with the blaring brass which was followed by sequences of truly Romantic sounds lovingly crafted by the conductor.

The second movement opened with the woodwinds producing a Romantic yearning sound with some delightful sequences which the conductor insisted on extracting from the orchestra. In the third movement the strings engaged in a relentless pizzicato which was the composers display of musical showmanship.

The relentless strings wer3e interspersed with various instruments, notably the woodwinds and brass taking on a ballet-like momentum. Then, with e addition of the percussion instruments the orchestra created some exuberant sounds reminiscent of the composers “1812 Overture”.

The conductor Pierre Bleuse seemed inspired by the music his body swaying with intricate movements mirroring the rhythms of the music, with a dramatic display of timpani and cymbals.

After some menacing outbursts the orchestra began a joyous conclusion in an exploration of the composer’s minds and his turbulent past.

Bleuse carefully lowered the volume of the orchestra at times so that when he demanded more intensity, they were able to create a particularly dramatic sound.

The next Auckland Philharmonia 6.30 session will be Sheku & Elgar on August 12th and will feature Sheku Kanneh-Mason , described as a “Global phenomenon”. The British cellist is one of the worlds young classical stars in the world right now. His impressive resume includes winning BBC’s Young Musician of the Year, Artist-in-Residence at the New York Philharmonic and performing at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Following his Carnegie Hall performance in April, this August he makes his New Zealand debut, performing Elgar’s Cello Concerto.

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Reviews, News and Commentary

The NZSO’s Resonance: another triumph for André de Ridder

Review by John Daly-Peoples

André de Ridder

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Resonance

Conducted by André de Ridder

Auckland Town Hall

April 10

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

In introducing Shostakovich’s Symphony No 8 conductor André de Ridder mentioned a young Ukrainian conductor who had reservations about playing any Russian music during the present conflict. De Ridder acknowledged the complex issue of politics and music but insisted that with a work such as the Shostakovich which is considered to be an antiwar composition that there was a reason for it to be included in contemporary concerts.

De Ridder said he considered the work to be a requiem for all people and the most profound and honest of works which dealt with the outcome of the Second World War.

The work which was written in 1943 in the midst of the war was not well received. It was written after the Battle of Stalingrad and while the composer wrote that it was an optimistic work the Soviet authorities banned it for being pessimistic and “anti-Soviet”.

Ther work opened with huge sounds of dark strings similar to the composers Symphony No 5 written six years before. Some whispering violins could be heard trying to rise above the sounds of the darker strings like voices crying out in a dark and barren landscape.

Even the few rays of light which were suggested seemed to be infused with a darker element, light which seemed to be continually repressed, the darker strings overwhelming the lighter.

There was sense of relentless night and fog which only got darker and more overpowering and then a snare drum heralded a ferocious dance of death followed by a parody of a marching army  leading to a fateful conclusion full of pessimism and an eerie solo woodwind sounding like a lone voice or birdcall on the battlefield.

The second movement opened with sounds of glorious martial celebration or like those of a fairground but these sounds were all brash, discordant and false. It is a section which ends with a plaintiff tin whistle which accompanying the mocking sounds of a parade which become increasing more hectic as the instruments took us on a crazed march of fools.

The final three movements were full of contrasts. There were the pulsing mechanical sounds of war interspersed with moments of light along with the screams of individuals.

Great onslaughts of sound were followed by whispering violins offering  a bleak contrast. These contrasts between fragility and power, between darkness and light between triumph and defeat were central to the work and the composer’s choice of instruments.

This ambivalence reached its conclusion in the fifth movement where the intense light of the violin’s heralds not so much a triumph but a time of reflection and prayer as the orchestra faded to silence leaving the audience to reflect on a deeply tragic event.

The opening work on the programme was Ravel’s “Pavane pour une infante défunte”, is a work somewhere between a tribute and farewell to a long departed princess.  Ravel indicated that the piece depicted a pavane as it would be danced by an Infanta such as the one found in Las Meninas the painting by Velazques. He seemed to have imagined the young princess depicted in the painting as preparing to attend a dance or engaged in one. This was not a requiem but a remembrance of a past time, a past elegance and a past princess.

The sweet melodies of the work provided a sensation of fleeting clouds or the passing of frothy dancing gowns and gave the work a sense of meandering either through the ballroom or the corridors of the palace.

The trill of the harp provided images of sunlight on a river or highlighting the dancing figures. The movements of the dance are beautifully realised, the colours and sounds of dance as well as the elegance of the event.

There was change of programme for the trombone work which meant the audience heard a special work composed by Bryce Dessner who had written the music for the film The Revenant. It was played by David Bremner the Principal trombonist of the NZSO.

The work certainly exploited the sounds of the instrument resulting in an intriguing and satisfying work. From the opening we were confronted with an onslaught of notes which worked well with the pizzicato of the orchestra when they combined to give a sense of momentum.

The brass instruments provided a subtle layering of sounds underneath the blaring trombone while the strings created a hovering mysterious sound.

Bremner exploited the sounds and tones of the trombone from its blaring sounds to its eerie breath-like eruptions.

From second movement the orchestra created a changing sonic field as though it was tuning up and the trombone provided a series of short sequences whish seemed designed to test the instruments percussive sounds…

There was also an elaborate conversation between the trombone and the other brass instruments providing some very original sounds and a clever display of the trombones range and tonal textures.