Chamber Music New Zealand Concert
Violinist Suyeon Kang with pianist Stephen de Pledge
Century Theatre, Napier, Sunday, July 10
Music by Schubert, Ravel, Mozart, Stravinsky and Kenneth Young
Reviewed by Peter Williams
It was great pleasure to hear violinist Suyeon Kang again, having heard her performances when she won the 2015 Michael Hill International Violin Competition. This concert was the last of 11 in a nationwide tour, part of the winner's prize package.
Each contestant was required to play the very personal commissioned unaccompanied solo, Gone, by New Zealand composer Kenneth Young. This piece showed the ultimate skill of Suyeon Kang, as she drew such beauty and depth of expression from the Guadagnini violin loaned to her by Sir Michael Hill.
Either side of this piece were works by Schubert and Stravinsky. Each of the four brief movements of the Sonatina in G minor conveyed the essential song-like character of Schubert's music in a well-balanced performance between Kang and pianist Stephen de Pledge.
Even better was to come in the final work on the programme - Stravinsky's Divertimento. This seemed to be the epitome of all that an audience wants to hear in chamber music - a conversation between the instruments that highlighted the facets of every detail of the music.