Westpac Series

Press, 9 October 1987, Page 4

Westpac Series

The University of Canterbury School of Music Piano Quartet and Quintet in the second recital of the Westpac Concert Series at. the Limes Room, Christchurch Town Hall, October 8, 8 p.m. Reviewed by Philip Norman. It may well be that my ears have grown acclimatised to a wet acoustic with the rash of concerts held in the Great Hall in recent weeks. Certainly I cannot recall the Limes Room as having such a marked shrivelling effect on a string tone as was evident last evening. This meant, of course, that the string players of the piano quartet and quintet presented by the University of Canterbury School of Music had to work substantially harder than usual to produce a warm and appealing tone. Generous vibrati and bow lengths became the order of the evening. In this warts-and-all musical ambience, it was inevitable that certain rasps of tone and unintentional thinning of textures would creep into the performances. However, such minor errors of intonation, magnified into blemishes by the dry acoustic, were surprisingly rare, and limited in the main to the opening work —

Mozart’s Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, K. 478. These problem spots aside, the ensemble of Jan Tawroszewicz (violin), Rachel Thompson (viola), James Tennant (cello), and Maurice Till (piano), gave a creditable account of the work. Melodies were delivered with commendable neatness, rhythms moved with elegance, and a happy blend of dynamic level was achieved within the group. The highlight of the evening was undoubtedly the passionate performance given of Schumann’s Quintet for Piano and Strings in E-flat major, 0p.44. For this, the quartet was joined by SusanJane Higgs as second violinist. Both the opening Allegro and the Scherzo movements were delivered at a sprightly gait. Cleanly articulated with a zestful pulse, they fell on the ear with entrancing vigour. The Adagio was despatched with a tenderness and lyric finesse that, was altogether satisfying. The rosy-hued melodies were roundly shaped and supported by richly-col-oured accompanying lines. “If there was a weak link in this attractive

chain of movements, it was arguably the finale. In this, the rhythms did not gel to the same degree as experienced earlier, and the pulse felt a shade sluggish. Nevertheless, the movement was marshalled to a stylish close. I think I am going right off Brahms music. The combination of a rising heat in the venue and the longwinded rhetoric of Piano Quartet in A major, 0p.26 made considerable, in places impossible, demands upon one’s concentration. I could not help but admire the stamina of the players in achieving what was a remarkably fluent interpretation of the work. Some rare finger slips from Maurice Till while scaling double-octave heights in the scherzo and an occasionally roughlypitched chord from the strings were the only audible signs of waning attention. Of the four movements, the Poco adagio appealed the most, not only for its relative brevity, out aiso for the extraordinary delicate sounds achieved by the performers. Inspired by Jan Tawroszewicz’s refined and immaculately controlled tones, the movement was gently led to a close of rare beauty.