Performance: International Chamber Music Festival - July 20-21

Concert Chamber and Town Hall

Review: Tara Werner

Two highly contrasting concerts last Thursday and Friday nights signalled the variety of works on offer over the past week in the International Chamber Music Festival.

Not all of the music-making may have been of consistent standard but the wide choice would certainly have kept concert-goers happy.

It is arguable whether Bach's Magnificat and Vanhal's Missa Pastoralis on display in the Town Hall on Friday night could really be termed chamber music in terms of their large scale. Even though they may have been performed on authentic instruments their inclusion, however welcome, was pushing the boundaries of the genre somewhat.

Of the two concerts, the intimate Nordic Nocturnes in the concert chamber on Thursday night was the more impressive due to the performers' obvious rapport with each other and the sheer strength of their musicianship.

This was most noticeable in Grieg's Sonata No 3 for violin and piano, written when the composer was at the height of his fame. This is music of colourful intensity and, despite a slightly subdued start by violinist Takako Nishizaki, it received an impassioned and sympathetic performance, both by her and pianist Sergei Babayan.

Beforehand, Babayan tackled 10 of Grieg's piano pieces in assured although somewhat bombastic fashion. This element sometimes overwhelmed the subtle qualities in much of the music, but suited the miniatures from the Lyric Pieces such as Butterflies and Nostalgia as well as the Prelude from the Holberg Suite. Finally the oddity in the programme, the early Piano Quintet (1890) by Sibelius. The composer was never happy with this work, and it was easy to see why, given its abrupt endings and muddy textures.

Even so, the five musicians involved (James Buswell and Stephen Copes, violins, Theodore Kuchar, viola, Carol Ou, cello, and Sergei Babayan, piano) provided a beguiling performance that drew out the work's underlining charm.

With such forceful notes from Scandinavia still ringing in the ears, it took some time to acclimatise to the sound of Bach on baroque instruments in Friday night's Bach 2000 concert conducted by Uwe Grodd.

The Brandenburg Concerto No 2 sounded quite muted, however beautifully performed by the concertino group of trumpet, recorder, oboe and violin.

When compared to its ignominious opening offering last Sunday night the Aradia Baroque Orchestra was much more confident in its home territory and fully redeemed itself with an accurate Magnificat. Here the soloists and the Tower Voices New Zealand also contributed handsomely to the festive and dramatic mood.

Finally, in comparison to Bach, Vanhal's music seemed a dwarf to a colossus, but the Sinfonia in C and the Missa Pastoralis still had their moments. While unrelenting in their brightness both works were given a lively performance.