New Australian music championed by a dynamic young NZTrio
Melbourne composer Stuart Greenbaum’s chamber works, like all the best art, is in the world but not of the world – qualities which are sympathetically brought out in these performances by one of New Zealand’s leading chamber ensembles, NZTrio. Head of Composition at the Melbourne Conservatorium, Greenbaum has written opera, choral, orchestral, chamber and solo […]
Fascinating, creative and accessible
The latest release by acclaimed Australian composer Stuart Greenbaum is fascinating, creative and accessible. The first and titular track refers to the curious fact that the lifespan of many living creatures lasts for about 800 million heartbeats. The second, Falling by Degrees is about gravity and how it affects various objects from meteors to apples […]
These mystical heartbeats are mesmerising
FULL REVIEW: Science and geography form a compatible union in this music by Australian composer Stuart Greenbaum performed by New Zealand musicians Justine Cormack (violin), Ashley Brown (cello) and Sarah Watkins (piano). The title track sets the scene as NZTrio make a gentle passage through rhythmical patterns representing various life pulses, including the estimated 800,000 […]
NZTrio masters of the musical mix
FULL REVIEW: Musicians’ Chinese collaboration explores versatility of strings. NZTrio wrapped up their latest Lardelli commission, Between Strings, within two fragrant specimens of romantic chamber music. Beyond the windows of Q Theatre’s Loft, the city was obligingly quiescent on this Sunday evening, the flickering blue and red light of a police car just a […]
NZTrio at the City Art Gallery with the typically multifaceted programme
FULL REVIEW: Against the background of Shane Cotton’s huge canvases depicting Maori heads and related images, the NZ Trio projected a distinctly more civilized impression. The lighting was vivid white, like the walls, and the air-conditioning, offering a hush that not inappropriately suggested a calm sea voyage, here, in one of the world’s most climatically […]
This music spoke more than ever from the heart
FULL REVIEW: NZTrio appears to have claimed the welcoming space of Q Theatre’s Loft as its Auckland home, enabling Justine Cormack, Ashley Brown and Sarah Watkins to play to a capacity audience while retaining the friendliness of a house concert. On Sunday, the first of its Loft series set off with a rarity – a […]
Magnificent music making
FULL REVIEW: NZTrio performed an excellent concert, with repertoire that traversed the divide between the old world and the new world; between Western classical music and Oriental classical and folk music. Korngold’s late romantic work, the Piano Trio Op 1 was well-balanced with the multi-faceted textures successfully portrayed where Justine Cormack exploited the light and […]
Energy and vitality elevate old and new
FULL REVIEW: NZTrio (Justine Cormack – violin, Ashley Brown – cello and Sarah Watkins – piano) have made a name for themselves exploring a wide variety of contemporary works, often commissioned for them, alongside established works on the recital platform. So it was with yesterday’s concert, where we were treated to new works by Bright […]
NZTrio’s Old World: New World
FULL REVIEW: The modern came first in NZTrio’s Old World: New World concert. The Auckland Town Hall seemed stadium-like for those of us accustomed to this group in more intimate surroundings; sometimes one craned forward to catch the hushed sonorities of Bright Sheng’s Four Movements for Piano Trio. The three players responded sensitively to Sheng’s […]
Audience Spellbound
FULL REVIEW: The newly refurbished Glenroy Auditorium provided the perfect backdrop for the brilliance of touring piano trio NZTrio last Friday night. Touring with Chamber Music New Zealand, NZTrio presented an “Old World: New World” programme, contrasting the brightness and eclectic feel of a series of modern works with the rich, emotional melodies of Tchaikovsky’s […]
