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1 July 2011
Jian to the rescue for chamber music tour
When acclaimed New Zealand pianist Diedre Irons fell and injured her thumb last Friday, this week’s Chamber Music NZ tour with flautist Alexa Still and violinist Martin Riseley was in jeopardy.
However, her recently appointed Assistant Professor of Piano at the NZ School of Music came to the rescue and learnt the whole programme in just three days.
Jian Liu also achieved amazing rapport with Still and Riseley throughout the five major works they performed in the Theatre Royal on Wednesday evening.
The delicate, restrained nature of Bach’s Trio Sonata in G allowed rich, low flute tones to balance well with the violin and the excellently articulated keyboard part. Beethoven’s Sonata for Piano and Violin needed a much more robust sound and for me there was far too much pianissimo.
There was plenty of collaborative refinement in the phrasing and dynamic shaping, but a mysterious lack of tone from the violin.
The lively third movement reminded us of Beethoven’s delight in inserting accents where least expected.
The gypsy-inspired Tzigane by Ravel displayed all the “bells and whistles” of violin technique to great effect. This exuberantly rhapsodic showpiece brought cheers of delight from the audience and again proved the excellence of Jian’s rapidly learnt accompaniment.
Prokofiev’s Sonata in D for flute and piano demanded widely ranging musicianship from both players – beautifully noble melodic lines, florid acrobatics (with no hint of the short rehearsal time), serene, suave tones and successfully indulged mood-swings in the jocular finale.
Zoom Tube by contemporary English composer Ian Clarke, was a real ear-opener for solo flute with a warning: “I’ll be making some odd sounds, but they’re all on purpose!”. A catchy, bluesy swing encompassed an array of exaggerated breath sounds, glissandos, vocalised harmonies and much more to stretch the boundaries of flute techniques. Quite a party-piece for Still’s skills.
The final Trio for flute, violin and piano by the Italian Nino Rota again really tested the ensemble’s powers of concentration and they came through with flying colours.
The slow middle movement was passionately expressive and they maintained superb togetherness through the extremely vivacious finale.
Interlude by Jacques Ibert was a delightfully soothing encore to end a triumph for this hastily reconstituted group.
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