Kōrua packed a lot into a one-hour timeslot.
What: Kōrua piano and violin duet
When: March 1
Where: St Andrew’s Church, Taupō
Reviewed by David Nutt
For this midday Friday concert, Noelle Dannenbring (piano) and Lucas Baker (violin) travelled down from Rotorua to perform a wide range of music to a high professional standard.
The music chosen was well-suited to the occasion and extremely well-received by the midday audience.
They began with three romantic pieces written for this combination.
Grieg’s slow movement in his violin sonata was a real stand-out. The gentle, lilting quality, derived from a Norwegian folk song, created a wonderful lyrical atmosphere and was played with great tenderness.
Next came a violin and piano reduction of Prokofiev’s score for his ballet Romeo and Juliet.
In just 15 minutes, it vividly conveyed the characters and events of the ballet, with all the liveliness of the young Juliet, the power of the fight scenes and the tragedy of the ending.
The programme continued with some dazzling virtuosity in the form of two movements from a Shostakovich violin concerto.
All this was finished off by the perfect encore of an Argentinian tango.
Perhaps most impressive of all was how these two brilliant young musicians captured the style of each item in an extremely varied performance. So much great music, all fitting neatly into the one-hour time slot.
From now on, these concerts will occur at 12pm on the second Friday of the month, right through the year. The performances, which include all types of music, are wonderful musical treats and certainly worth attending.
David Nutt is the writer of the weekly Wednesday Walkers’ report for the Taupō and Tūrangi Herald. Last week, he utilised a well-earned sit-down and sent us this review.
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