New Zealand Varied: Andrew Joyce (cello), Jian Liu (piano). Outdated Library, Whangarei, New Zealand, 16.6.2024. (PSe)

J S Bach – Sonata in G minor, for Cello and Piano
Vaughan Williams – Six Research in English Folks Music
Dorothy Buchanan – Soliloquy for Two
Fang Dongqing – ‘Lin Chong’
Hindemith – Phantasiestück in B main, Op.8 No.2
Brahms – Sonata No.2 in F main, Op.99

‘Some programmes’ works huddle spherical a theme, while others are twains that’ll by no means meet; most programmes to 1 or the opposite lean; to mingle is rarer, but rather more candy.’

As poems go, that’s pretty horrible, but it surely does draw out the purpose of the somewhat populous programme of this recital, introduced by Whangarei Music Society in affiliation with Chamber Music New Zealand.

England-born cellist Andrew Joyce gathered a wealth of expertise working with many English orchestras earlier than transferring to NZ and becoming a member of the NZSO in 2010. When away from his orchestra, he’s a chamber music fanatic. The Chinese language pianist Jian Liu has been everywhere in the world, gathering performing accolades a-plenty in addition to adjudicating competitions, and giving premiere performances of many works by NZ composers. He’s additionally an educator (with NZSM) and devoted chamber musician, a founding member of the Te Kōkī Trio.

In line with the ‘blurb’, this tour is their first outing particularly as a duo, and their programme ‘celebrates their musical and cultural heritages’. That final was true sufficient however, as was borne out by listening, it was not the complete fact. Though the interval divided the six works into 4 plus two, an underlying sample emerged when you regarded them as two units of three. The second and third works of every set ‘huddled’, every spherical a distinct ‘theme’; while the primary fashioned ‘twains that’ll by no means meet’, each with the remainders of their units and with one another – which all provides as much as about as ‘mingle’ as anybody can fairly make it. Whether or not this sample was chosen intentionally will not be for me to say; but it surely was palpable.

The duo began with the final of Bach’s three Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord. Neither the devices nor Joyce’s vibrato have been HIP, however the efficiency nonetheless bubbled with a charming HIP-style freshness and vivacity. Furthermore, Joyce and Liu had the blissful knack of subtly sustaining a gentle ‘highlight’ on the main line because it hopped from one participant to the opposite – particularly helpful within the attribute ‘stream of consciousness’ mode of Bach’s period, earlier than type was invented!

Representing the ‘English’ heritage, Vaughan Williams’s Six Research in English Folks Music have been realised with admirable delicacy, the gamers thoughtful of those being, not straight preparations, however contrapuntal evocations of the distinctive ambiance and timeless enchantment of those previous melodies. That stated, it struck me as curious that the concluding research on As I walked over London Bridge was brisk to the purpose of sprinting. Was VW’s tongue ever so barely in his cheek?

Kiwi composer Dorothy Buchanan’s Soliloquy for Two, written in 2017, sounds remarkably like a continuation of the VW. It’s based mostly on a Robert Frost poem describing a traveller confronted by a fork in his path, wrestling with the issue of which to take. The music thus is emotionally extra pointed, extra tense; but, there is similar primary sense of elaborating the ambiance and enchantment of a easy folks melody.

Standing for the ‘Chinese language’ heritage was composer, Fang Dongqing (b.1981), who’s famously expert at weaving collectively components of conventional Chinese language and Western Classical music. His Lin Chong attracts on the character of that title – mainly a ‘knight errant on a quest’ in historic China – within the traditional novel, ‘Water Margin’. Out of the blue, we have been in a really completely different soundworld. Strolling within the Snow is replete with ominous rumblings and dissonances, contrasted with a passage tentatively expressive in a Western manner. The central motion, unapologetically titled Slaughter, is extraordinarily harsh, savagely syncopated and alarmingly vicious music – in no way what you’d anticipate of a cello and piano duo, however brilliantly performed with an excessive amount of venom. It culminated in an enormous, crashing tone-cluster, generated by the affect of Liu’s whole forearm on the bass finish of the piano keyboard. Lastly got here Evening Journey, initiated by the piano rippling below a considerably passionate cello lyric. This was splendidly evocative, but (to me) didn’t sound significantly ‘Chinese language’. I should be lacking one thing.

There’s a standard impression that Hindemith’s music (his Symphonic Metamorphoses aside!) is somewhat dry and dusty. I are inclined to associate with that, though my perception was decidedly dented by Joyce and Liu’s taking part in of his Phantasiestück, Op.8 No.2. I used to be fairly shocked by the vertiginous sweep of the fervent theme, negotiated with hair-raisingly pinpoint accuracy by Joyce and additional lifted by Liu’s intensely lively accompaniment. The music reluctantly admitted some efficient factors of repose, however its ardour was all-consuming – till it was all spent.

Brahms is one other oft-regarded as considerably stuffy and heavy-handed, in his case despite a powerful array of works which can be something however. When the duo plunged into his Sonata No.2, I used to be flabbergasted: this was Brahms at his vaulting greatest, the music positively teeming – and distinctly pre-echoing (‘huddling’) the Hindemith we had simply heard. Joyce and Lin have been keenly delicate to the dynamics, which they marked sharply, engendering the music extremely emotive, with quieter passages darker and stressed.

Within the Adagio affettuoso, the recurring pizzicato determine was positively punched, contrasting starkly with the soul-searching lyric and its attendant wealthy sonorities. Bringing out the brittleness of its flurrying staccati lent the third motion a sense of Mendelssohn; playful, sure, however (in contrast to Mendelssohn) very a lot the rugged rough-and-tumble of ‘huge boys’ video games’! Beginning broadly within the method of the St. Anthony Variations, heat but keen, the finale quickly acquired a spiky vitality; and once more the duo utilized the dynamics craftily, carving the music’s hills and dales with nigh-on tectonic power. This was really spectacular, and effectively deserved its rousing ovation.

The encore was no ‘lollipop’ however the sluggish motion of Rachmaninov’s Cello Sonata, Op.19. This slotted into the sample somewhat effectively, as a result of formally it appeared very similar to the Hindemith and Brahms. Nevertheless, the merely attractive piano opening, when joined by the cello’s expansive lyric, came to visit us as a ‘breath of the air of one other planet’ – so completely different was the sound, the very ambiance exuded by the music. By itself, this was nearly well worth the admission value, a wonderful end to a resplendent recital.

Paul Serotsky