Dynamic Duo Sol shines forth

By WILLIAM DART

If the Eroica Trio was the glamour act of Chamber Music New Zealand's 2002 season, then Duo Sol from Australia has taken its place this year.

Sultry posters of violinist Miki Tsunoda and Caroline Almonte are gracing billboards from Invercargill to Auckland to publicise their nine-centre tour. The Melbourne-based women have known each other since high school, although it was only relatively recently that they set their collective sights on the competition circuit. It paid off. In 1999 they carried off the Primo Trio de Trieste.

"It was a big stepping stone for us - nice to get the prize and even nicer to get the concert engagements in Italy and South America," Tsunoda says.

The win was especially encouraging after "four previous competitions where we'd always reached the finals and returned home empty-handed".

Although Tsunoda can relax now, there were traumatic moments in Trieste. She remembers doing the Beethoven Kreutzer in the second round. "Because we were so nervous, we played it astonishingly fast. None of the judges could believe the tempo and they were as horrified as we were."

Life as as a professional chamber music duo is rewarding, they say. Both women have a love of chamber music and collaboration, which across the Tasman has included cellist Li Wei for some concerts.

Tsunoda doesn't discount a Trio Sol in the future but for now violin and piano is sufficient. "There is such a vast and wonderful repertoire that doesn't get much of a hearing."

On the financial side, it wasn't easy to begin with. And "it doesn't get any easier, because there isn't that solid infrastructure with our kind of music," Tsunado says.

Nevertheless, Chamber Music New Zealand impressed them when they first toured New Zealand in 2002. "You have a country with the same population as Melbourne and you mount these wonderful concerts."

Tsunoda says playing in smaller centres was particularly enjoyable two years ago. "A lot of people get more out of hearing a performance in a closer environment than a concert-hall. It's easier for us to interact and make the audience very much part of our performance."

Back then, Duo Sol attracted critical kudos for playing their programme from memory. "It all happened when we were working on the Debussy sonata in a studio with no windows, where we always practise," Tsunado says. "One section of the work wasn't coming together so we decided to turn the lights off and as soon as we were in pitch black things fell into place. The next step was playing from memory."

Careful programming is one of Tsunado's main concerns.

On Tuesday evening, Duo Sol will offer an intriguing mix of sonatas (Debussy, Strauss), one sonatina (Dvorak) and shorter works by Korngold and Dunedin composer Anthony Ritchie.

Tsunoda enthuses about Ritchie's Rhapsody. "It's a wonderful piece. It's inspired by a recording of Hungarian folk musicians playing a popular wedding dance and is very, very accessible. It's important that pieces fit well together and the shorter works can be a relief."

Tsunoda finds a parallel. "Being a food fanatic, I relate it all to a good meal where every course complements the others - with the appropriate wine, of course."

Performance

* Who: Duo Sol

* Where and when: Auckland Town Hall, Tuesday July 20, 6.30pm