Alliance Française Concours de la Chanson
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Dame Malvina Major and the NZSO – a concert of commitment
By Peter Mechen, May 14, 2010
I was originally going to “roll two reviews into one”, as Dame Malvina Major was performing on consecutive days with the orchestra in Wellington; but after thoroughly enjoying the first of the two concerts I made an executive decision to write about the two events separately, so as to properly “place” the tumbling profusion of impressions that the first event alone landed upon me. What struck me most forcibly... read more
Zephyr Ensemble plus Diedre Irons at Lower Hutt
By Rosemary Collier, May 13, 2010
When there is a delightful programme, a thoroughly enjoyable and satisfying performance and players of the calibre of these NZSO members and a pianist of international stature, there is really not much for a reviewer to say. Each of the musicians played perfectly, as far as I could tell.
The Mozart quintet is quite well-known, and was claimed at the time by its composer to be “the best thing I... read more
NZSM voice students at St Andrew’s for lunch
By Lindis Taylor, May 12, 2010
We are in the season of mid-year, students’ recitals from the New Zealand School of Music; in this, we had five women and one man in a programme that was varied and delightful.
Though I missed the first three songs, from Imogen Thirlwall and Xingxing Wang, they both reappeared later so that I could gain some impression of their talents.
Laura Dawson had just begun Der Nüssbaum from Schumann’s cycle Myrthen... read more
Fantasy and reality – New Zealand School of Music Orchestra Concert
By Peter Mechen, May 12, 2010
This concert reinforced my feeling that there is a pressing need in Wellington for an alternative mid-sized venue for concerts. Ensembles such as amateur and student orchestras, whose following wouldn’t perhaps stretch to filling with audience an auditorium such as the Town Hall, nevertheless deserve to play somewhere that’s more acoustically grateful to orchestral sound than is St. Andrew’s on-the-Terrace Church. Throughout both of the orchestral concerts I’ve... read more
Bach’s organ music illuminated by Nicholas Grigsby on new organ at St Paul’s Lutheran
By Rosemary Collier, May 9, 2010
Nicholas Grigsby is Director of Music at Wanganui Collegiate School, and a fine organist. This event was obviously designed to showcase the brilliant new two-manual organ at St. Paul’s Lutheran church. It is a small but incisive instrument.
Grigsby covered only the early years of Bach’s career, and illustrated his talk with illustrations from archives and published scores, as well as at the organ. He stated that Bach must have... read more
Songs My Mother Taught Me – Mother’s Day Music from Nota Bene
By Peter Mechen, May 9, 2010
Christine Argyle's "Nota Bene" Choir got the mix right for their Mother's Day concert, with a programme of music whose first half did strong, sonorous homage to Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, before paying tribute after the interval to ordinary, everyday mothers, with songs of affection, remembrance, and wry humour - and finishing with "Rytmus", Ivan Hrušovsky's well-known "choral etude" in praise of Eve, the first human mother... read more
Benefit duet for mezzo and piano
By Rosemary Collier, May 8, 2010
A delightful recital by two well-qualified young musicians, both already having quite impressive track-records took place on Saturday.
NZSO demonstrates a century of New Zealand music
Comments Off A Touch of Spain – Trio Con Brio with Caprice Arts Trust (2010 Concert Series)
By Peter Mechen, May 4, 2010
It didn't take long for the Trio Con Brio's mellifluous combination of guitar, violin and viola to make a lasting impression on this listener. What I heard in the grateful acoustic of St.Mark's Church in Lower Hutt, all but persuaded me to give myself entirely over to the music of Ferdinando Carulli as if it were among the greatest ever written. I strongly suspect that, attractive though the music... read more
Themocracy