Vicissitudes
Excerpt from Vicissitudes – Part III MIKE NOCK TRIO:Mike Nock (piano)Brett Hirst (bass)James Waples (drums)NZTRIO:Justine Cormack (violin)Sarah Watkins (piano)Ashley Brown (cello)Mike Nock (ONZM) is an internationally recognised master of jazz. His trio, with Christchurch-born bassist Brett Hirst and Australian drummer James Waples, is one of the top modern jazz groups in Australasia. NZTrio is New […]
Vicissitudes CD excerpts
VICISSITUDES: Mike Nock Trio and NZTrio Free Radicals Vicissitudes Pt III Vicissitudes Pt IVa Vicissitudes Pt IVb Vicissitudes Pt V Vicissitudes Pt VI MORE INFO and BUY NOW from the Rattle Label Website
Brilliant performance brings evening of joy
Fluttering birds [represent] our longing for light, stars, rainbows and joyous song.The evening almost stole upon us. First up, clarinettist Julian Bliss gave us Debussy with pianist Sarah Watkins and, with shivery brilliance, achieved the ultimate challenge of tone both sweet and penetrating. Violinist Justine Cormack joined them for a life-affirming Suite by Milhaud; infectiously […]
Clarinettist Julian Bliss thrills in Invercargill
As a clarinet enthusiast back in my younger days, and a general music lover, I was excited to have the opportunity to see clarinettist Julian Bliss and NZTrio live. I was not left disappointed. The concert opened with Brahms’ Trio for clarinet, cello and piano in A minor Op.114, with Bliss on the clarinet, Ashley Brown […]
Music as salvation and sustained beauty
It is 75 years ago that French composer Olivier Messiaen wrote his Quartet for the End of Time. The circumstances of its composition were extraordinary. It was written and performed in a German concentration camp in the depths of winter, 1941. Messiaen wrote it to bring “eternal light and unalterable peace” to all people. Seventy-five years […]
Evening of perfect musical bliss.
It was an evening of perfect musical bliss. Naturally, I expected nothing less when British clarinet virtuoso, Julian Bliss, teamed up with the NZTrio – Justine Cormack (violin), Ashley Brown (cello) and Sarah Watkins, (piano) – for a programme of 20th and 21st century chamber music. Bliss and Watkins opened proceedings in style with Claude […]
NZTrio and Julian Bliss
At the outset, I must say, this was a superb concert – cleverly constructed, beautifully balanced and wonderfully well played. We all know just what a fine piano trio NZTrio has become over the years, but I have never heard them play better than here, and their partnership with brilliant young British clarinettist Julian Bliss […]
Inspiring performance shows commitment to the craft
In these unsettled times it somehow seems appropriate that Chamber Music New Zealand would plan to bring together one of the world’s outstanding clarinettists and NZTrio, thus facilitating the opportunity for performances of one of the seminal chamber works of the twentieth century – Quartet for the End of Time. Composed by Olivier Messiaen while […]
Chamber Music concert in New Plymouth was one to savour
A number of regular Chamber Music NZ patrons missed Monday evening’s concert. A great pity as both the playing and the programme were superb. Written near the end of Brahms’s life the Trio for clarinet, cello and piano contains many appealing melodic lines. British clarinettist Julian Bliss, along with cellist Ashley Brown and pianist Sarah […]
Messiaen works a privilege to hear
Major interest in this concert was the performance of Quartet For The End of Time by Messiaen – composed and first performed with Messiaen as the pianist while a prisoner of war ” vastly different for this performance in elegant surroundings played on superb quality instruments. Messiaen was deeply religious and mystical in character, aspects […]
