Music transcended
- Auckland Chamber Mu-: .sic Players. Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. Mary O’Brien, violin. Rob-' ert Davis, cello. Stanley Jackson, oboe. Peter Scholes, clarinet. Janetta McStay, piano.- Reviewed by Margaret Buchanan. ' Martina’s Quartet for vio-; Tin. oboe, and cello opened an interesting and varied , programme of music. After one’s ear adjusted to the . resonance of this beautiful building, the intricacies of this work played harmoniously on. the listener: The delighfut transparency of the scoring of this work was enhanced by the light sensitive playing of the indefatigible Janetta McStay, a pianist of tremendous experience. At times the old grand
was found wanting (like in. the opening of the andante poco moderate), but only erred on the side of softness, a lesser fault considering the acoustics. . * . ’ -Beethoven’s Archduke Trio featured in the first part'of the programme. This magnificent masterpiece sounds as' if it should “just play itself.”’ but demands the utmost in performers’. musicianship and expertise. ' Ross Harris's Quintet (1980), whicli preceded the Beethoven, was commissioned bythe Music Federation of .New Zealand'on its thirtieth anniversary. ’ This did not fare so well at first, because of the rigorous opening, which quite confused the celestial heights, but gradually sorted
itself out to tease,and beckon the listener.. An apparent profusion i of themes in the first section are all, according, to Harris, concentrated into a gradual ’acceleration of one_ element of the music. The. * clarinettist;'- . Peter Scholes, excelled in this role. The.final item, on the programme was Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time, a work.first performed in a concentration camp'in 1941. Quartet'for the End of Time, says Olivier Messiaen, was directly inspired from the Relevation of St John. The fifth piece, Praise to the Immortality of ..Jesus, was an extended solo for violin and piano to which Mary O’Brien, gave a moving, if at times not 'all that secure rendition.
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Press, 30 April 1981, Page 20
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308Music transcended Press, 30 April 1981, Page 20
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