Helen Ridley, piano
Works by New Zealand composers performed by Helen Ridley in the State Trinity Centre at 8 p.m. on Thursday, September 6. Reviewed by Nicholas Frost.
Christchurch audiences seldom have the opportunity to hear a full programme of piano music devoted to New Zealand composers. The Dunedin ' pianist, Helen Ridley, presented a highly varied programme in Christchurch last evening and achieved a successful amalgam between composer and interpreter. In her opening remarks, Helen Ridley lamented the fact that so many works sink into oblivion after one or two performances. She is obviously determined to rectify that. She began with Bruce Crossman’s “Reflected Moments” (1981), an eclectic two-movement piece involv!ng sharp dynamic contrast. She followed this with
Marire Goodall’s “Waiata Kupukore” (1973) and later “Aramoana” (1978), which showed a much more improvisational approach, within a conventional diatonic idiom. Not so Jack Speirs’ “Metamorphoses” (1976). Although it was played with clarity and variety of tonal colouring, this cryptic atonal work does not succeed as a composition. It was, however, a measure of Helen Ridley’s interpretations! prowess that the relative merits (or lack of them) of each piece were thrown into sharp relief. With Christopher Norton’s toccata-like “four, three” (1976), we were exposed to bold experimentation with harmonies within a basically conventional framework. In this mode, lan McDonald’s “Imitations” (1969) proved to be just that — archaic cliches wrapped up in modern dress.
Three pieces by the student composer, Peter McClymont, proved charming with their unobtrusive quirkiness. Helen Ridley displayed much sensitivity and a sharply pointed sense of rhythm here. After these pieces came the highlight of the pro-
gramme, Chris Cree Brown’s “Three Small Pieces” (1977). These sparse, insistent, absolutely modern pieces were superbly controlled.
Helen Ridley concluded her programme with “Chaconne for Piano” (1946) by our most (only?) famous composer, Douglas Lilburn. This demanding work exposes Lilburn’s intense antiwar feelings and is a mixture of anthem-like martial themes, Lisztian virtuosity and exquisite tonal colouring. She performed this with great clarity and power, concluding a highly worth while and original recital.
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Bibliographic details
Press, 7 September 1984, Page 4
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340Helen Ridley, piano Press, 7 September 1984, Page 4
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