KEY POINTS:
PERFORMANCE
Who: Still/Chase/Kondonassis
Where and when: Auckland Town Hall, Saturday 8pm
When I last caught up with flautist Alexa Still, she was teaching along the corridor from the Takacs Quartet on the University of Colorado's Boulder campus. She is still teaching, but has moved a little closer, with a post at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. And, over the next few weeks, she is closer still, touring our country with violist Roger Chase and harpist Yolanda Kondonassis, with an Auckland concert this Saturday.
The New Zealander, Englishman and American have been combining their talents since 2003, when they met at Tuscon's Winter Music Festival, making music while the weather outside was "just like a nice summery day in New Zealand", she laughs, then pauses when I ask why they work so well together.
"Everybody's got their opinions and, with this combination of instruments, that's a very desirable thing," she says. "Roger spends a lot of time fine-tuning the beginnings of notes, especially in the Debussy Sonata where the sound travels from flute to viola or vice-versa. The colour of the attack makes a big difference. It can be subtle or a 'notice-me-now' thing; it's open to negotiation."
Yolanda Kondonassis has a high profile in her field, having released more than a dozen CDs, including her own take on Vivaldi's Four Seasons. "Harpists don't generally play fast notes," notes Still, "but Yolanda does, with panache, which takes a certain fearlessness."
Inevitably, Debussy's 1915 Sonata for the three instruments is one of the major works in the repertoire and Still remembers being "quite scared" the first time she played it.
"You are very aware of every mistake and there is no room for any squeaks and bubbles," she adds. "Playing with the harp is terrifying in terms of intonation as you can easily hear anything that's not all right. But the more I play it, the more I think about the bigger picture and how the music drifts from one thing to another. It's a perfect piece."
Saturday's concert features a classic with a sequel. Debussy's famous flute solo Syrinx will be followed by all three musicians in Richard Rodney Bennett's Sonata after Syrinx. "You can hear little bits of the original Debussy all the way through," Still explains.
It is a work with special connections for the group's violist. "Roger gave the first performance of it in 1986 as it was written for the Nash Ensemble. We have got the real McCoy here."
Still has not forgotten the New Zealand composer and Helen Fisher's Matairangi 2 will be on Saturday's bill. "This has some strong, driving Celtic rhythms in it. It's nice to acknowledge that Scottish ancestry is so important in this country."
Still traces her forebears further north. "My family are all tall giants, so I suspect there are Vikings in the mix".
Having lived abroad since 1998, Still feels she has a valuable perspective when it comes to what gives New Zealand music its particular character. "The music here is so individual and unique. You can't categorise it as 'New Zealand music' because every composer here seems comfortable doing his or her own thing. We all celebrate this and it is an enviable position to be in. In some countries, there is a pressure for composers to sound like the person who has been most successful. We are very lucky that's not the case here."
