A few years ago, when Anna McGregor was a student at the University of Auckland, she invariably stood out in any concert, whether dispensing circus-like jollity on bass clarinet in a David Hamilton choral piece or delivering radiant clarinet solos by Stockhausen and Gillian Whitehead.
After post-graduate studies in Sweden, McGregor has remained in that country, returning home in 2014 to tour with the four string players of her Dalecarlia Clarinet Quintet.
Auckland central slipped off a seven-venue itinerary that ran from Cromwell to Warkworth, but an outstanding Atoll CD, Fjarran, now presents the two major New Zealand compositions featured in those concerts.
Ross Harris' Fjarran bursts into bloom from just one evanescent phrase in Brahms' Clarinet Quintet, which was also on the touring playlist two years ago.
Harris defines his Swedish title as "something far away, elusive, to be understood only in fragments", perfectly capturing its captivating 21 minutes. A wistful romantic spirit is afoot here, a sense of yearning that the musicians catch in pliant, arching phrases; elsewhere, the highly charged give-and-take between the five players is the mark of collegial chamber music at its best.
