‘Beautifully crafted’ evening of chamber music

. . .Three New Zealand composers, Alex Taylor, Claire Cowan and Karlo Margetic curated a programme of solos, duets and trios that they felt gave the audience greater insight into their own works, all in the capable hands of NZTrio. . .This was a beautifully crafted evening, performed by an ensemble of virtuosos already well known for their imaginative and innovative approach to performance. While the players all had a chance to shine individually, the programme highlighted their undoubted sense of ensemble, their discipline and this awareness of each other, allowing each individual work to stand on its own.

Stephen Fisher – Manawatu Standard, 8 May 2015

FULL REVIEW:

Chamber Music New Zealand has indeed come up with some imaginative programming for their celebratory year, no concert being more imaginative than last night’s concert, which featured works by three New Zealand composers, Alex Taylor, Claire Cowan and Karlo Margetic.

These composers curated a programme of solos, duets and trios that they felt gave the audience greater insight into their own works, all in the capable hands of the NZTrio.

While it may sound problematical, in its realisation this was a beautifully crafted evening, performed by an ensemble of virtuosos already well known for their imaginative and innovative approach to performance.

While the players all had a chance to shine individually, the programme highlighted their undoubted sense of ensemble, their discipline and this awareness of each other, allowing each individual work to stand on its own.

Taylor’s ‘burlesques mécaniques’ presented a dazzling array of colours leading to the beautiful sounds of ‘chain’, while Cowan’s ethereal work ‘ultra violet’ proved to be a glorious exploration of colour; Margetic’s Lightbox provided an arresting conclusion to the evening.

A stunning range of, mainly, contemporary works from the international stage accompanied these pieces by composers such as Nancarrow, Ravel Webern and Ligeti, an outstanding variety of short musical vignettes exploring a huge variety of timbres and techniques that continually presented much of interest for the audience to admire.

 

Stephen Fisher – Manawatu Standard, 8 May 2015

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