COMPOSERCONNECTIONS

CHAMBER MUSIC NEW ZEALAND presents

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TouringNew Zealand2 – 25 June2015

Tour detailsTURNOVSKY

JUBILEEENSEMBLE

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Celebrating 50 years ofNew Zealand’s iconicChamber Music Contest

1Composer Connections

Programme

Welcome

Selections performed at residencies

Trio élégiaque in G minor

Corybas

Island Songs

Piano Trio in F sharp minor

page 5

page 6

page 6

page 7

Please respect the music, the musicians, and your fellow audience members, by switching off all cellphones, pagers and watches. Taking photographs, or sound or video recordings during the concert is strictly prohibited unless with the prior approval of Chamber Music New Zealand.

Rachmaninov

John Psathas

John Psathas

Interval

Babadjanian

New Plymouth Napier ChristchurchAuckland

“Composer connections”: don’t all concerts connect performers to composers and audiences to performers and composers? Of course. But there is something quite special about the concerts in our Composer Connections series. The starting point is composers connecting with composers. By inviting a group of New Zealand composers to design concert programmes Chamber Music New Zealand was essentially asking them what music they relate to most strongly. The answers tell us quite a lot about each composer’s stylistic orientation – but, more than that, they produce a rich and varied mix of old and new.

John Psathas and the New Zealand Chamber Soloists know each other well. The NZCS have released a CD of John’s works, some of which they’ve been playing for two decades. The rest of the programme – Rachmaninov and Babadjanian – reflects a strong and rich romantic vein in John’s music (hinted at, in any case, by the titles Island Songs and Corybas).

Chamber Music New Zealand is proud to present these Composer Connections programmes in New Zealand Music Month, alongside the activities that we’ve been able to cluster around the concerts: composer workshops and university residencies.

Peter Walls

Chief ExecutiveChamber Music New Zealand

11 May13 May 21 May23 May

WellingtonHamilton

8 May15 May

New ZealandChamber Soloists

Katherine Austin piano

Lara Hall violin

Chamber Music New Zealand

James Tennantcello

The New Zealand Chamber Soloists have been performing together since 2006 and have toured internationally since 2009. Katherine Austin, Lara Hall and James Tennant are the heart of the group, and the ensemble also collaborates with other leading musicians and composers to perform both standard chamber music repertoire and new music. All three are teachers at the University of Waikato, and the New Zealand Chamber Soloists has its base at the Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts in Hamilton. Their recordings include Elegy, which contains piano trios by Rachmaninov,

Babadjanian and Shostakovich, and their recent CD Corybas, which features works for piano trio and quintet by John Psathas. They regularly programme works by New Zealand composers, and in 2008 they premiered the triple concerto Convergence, written for them by Michael Williams. As well as performing around New Zealand, the New Zealand Chamber Soloists have toured to America, Europe and China. Earlier this year they undertook a concert tour of Britain, and they have recently returned from performing at the Castlemaine State Festival in Australia.

Composer Connections

John Psathascomposer

John Psathas studied both piano and composition at Victoria University, then continued his studies in Belgium with the composer Jacqueline Fontyn. At the age of 27 he returned to Victoria University as a lecturer, and he is now a Professor at the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington.One of New Zealand’s most frequently performed composers, John Psathas is also well known internationally. He was commissioned to write the music for the opening and closing ceremonies at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, and his work is regularly performed by high profi le

musicians such as percussionists Evelyn Glennie and Pedro Carneiro and pianist Joanna MacGregor. He has also collaborated with Salman Rushdie on an eBook of Rushdie’s work In the South.In New Zealand, John Psathas has won the SOUNZ Contemporary Award twice, and in 2004 was named as an Arts Laureate by the Arts Foundation of New Zealand. His music was featured at the opening of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the launch of the Auckland ‘super-city’, and he has written the sound tracks for two fi lms.

John Psathas

Chamber Music New Zealand

Tonight’s concert is an exciting new initiative from Chamber Music New Zealand and SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music to celebrate New Zealand Music Month 2015. We are bringing together some of this country’s leading composers and chamber groups so that you can experience the special connection between the two. This performance features the New Zealand Chamber Soloists with John Psathas, and we hope you will also have the chance to hear the other two collaborations, either live or broadcast on Radio NZ Concert: New Zealand String Quartet with Ross Harris, and NZTrio with three emerging composers (Alex Taylor, Karlo Margetic and Claire Cowan). Members of the New Zealand Chamber Soloists have been playing works by John Psathas for 20 years, and say they “are constantly drawn to his energy and passionate compositional style”. Their most recent CD features his music, and includes the works being played tonight plus the Piano Quintet. In 2012 they presented both Corybas and the shorter work Aegean to European audiences during their tour of Greece, France and Italy.

From his early days as a composer John Psathas has been writing for specifi c performers, and he frequently collaborates with musicians from many diff erent genres, from folk music to funk via classical and jazz. In an article entitled ‘When I am creating music ...’, he refl ects on the relationship from his perspective.

“It is always fascinating to hear what performers - who must go deeply inside a work in order to communicate its meaning - fi nd during their journey. At their best, performers, ensembles, and orchestras will reveal to the composer dimensions of their work that he or she was previously unaware of. I have had this happen a number of times, and it is always the most profound of revelations.”

As an audience member, you are also playing your part in the creation of music, as he notes:

“To create any kind of art is to be a lens through which the universe is diff racted, combined with the hope that there may be some common ground and points of connection with others, so that we may share and be strengthened by the sharing. This is why concerts are so important. We share music at concerts, with each other in the audience, with the composer at a distance, with the performers on stage, and - hopefully - with the ineff able.”

ComposerConnections

5Composer Connections

Sergei RachmaninovBorn Oneg, 1 April 1873 | Died Beverley Hills, 28 March 1943

Trio élégiaque No 1 in G minor

Lento lugubre

Rachmaninov was not only a highly accomplished composer and conductor, but also a pianist with a formidable technique. After he left Russia in 1917 he built a career as a performer and wrote very few new works, so most of his significant compositions date from the early part of his life, when the great Russian romantic tradition of soulful and deeply-felt music was in full swing. The family moved to St Petersburg in 1882 and he entered the Conservatory there, but personal difficulties meant that he failed at his exams three years later. Fortunately, his cousin Alexander Siloti - himself a noted pianist - obtained a residential position for the young Rachmaninov at the house of a leading piano teacher, Zverev. The discipline he acquired, and the contact with musical figures such as Anton Rubinstein, Tanayev and Tchaikovsky, had a profound effect on his development. In 1888 he entered the Moscow Conservatory, graduating with honours in piano in 1891, and with a Gold Medal in composition the following year. For his graduation, Rachmaninov wrote the one-act opera Aleko and symphonic poem Prince Rostislav, and also managed to finish his First Piano Concerto and write his first piano trio (Trio élégiaque No 1), and perform both. A second Trio élégiaque, in D minor, was completed in 1893 in response to Tchaikovsky’s death and was given an opus number, but the Trio élégiaque in G minor remained without. Other than some pieces for cello and piano, these are his only complete chamber works.The G minor Trio was reportedly written in only four days in January 1892, and performed nine days after its completion, but was not published until 1947. The main theme contains musical references to Tchaikovsky’s music, and since the older composer was in good health at that time it is possible that Rachmaninov was using the term ‘elegy’ in the sense of a commemoration, to indicate his deep respect. The single movement is written in sonata form and displays Rachmaninov’s characteristic late-Romantic melodic lines and richly-coloured piano writing. The initial character marking Lento lugubre [slow and gloomy] is superceded by later sections that are to be played con anima [with feeling] and appassionato [impassioned], giving the music an expansive emotional impact.

6 Chamber Music New Zealand

John PsathasBorn Taumaranui, 3 July 1966

Corybas

John Psathas wrote Corybas for the New Zealand Chamber Soloists, and they gave the first performance in 2012, at the Casa dei Mezzo Festival in Crete. It was commissioned by Ian Graham as a birthday present for his wife Agi. As John Psathas has noted: “This poses an interesting situation for a composer; how much do you take into account the occasion of the commission? How much does it shape the composition?”The name Corybas stems from Agi Graham’s interest in a species of orchid of that name, the flowers of which resemble the helmets worn by certain Ancient Phrygian priests. These priests were known for their wild dancing, and John Psathas uses a Macedonian dance rhythm in 17/8 as the basis for the driving piano part. The 17 beats are divided into a pattern of 4-6-7, and the more melodic string parts interact with the piano to increase the sense of momentum.The composer has described the work as “dynamic, wilful and playful, based on odd-metered, Eastern European dance-types”.

Island SongsIIIIII

The Island Songs trio was composed in 1995 for the Kandinsky Ensemble (Katherine Austin and James Tennant with Richard Foreman, clarinet), and was adapted for piano trio in 1999.The composer writes:“Island Songs were each inspired by certain styles of Greek dance music. They are not so much simulations of these styles as they are my own reaction to them, and what I have responded to mostly is the unique energy of each of the dance type.The first piece involves a number of styles and reflects what I perceive as the latent energy of much of the music – although here it only surfaces from time to time. The second is a reaction to the great strength of the zeibekiko dance, which is in 9/4 time, and often extremely slow.While not cast in the same time frame as a true zeibekiko, this movement does dwell upon the uncertainty of the downbeat and the intensely focused emotional content of this dance. The third piece is much in the style of the Sirto dance, whose energy is always lively and unfailingly contagious.”

7Composer Connections

Arno BabadjanianBorn Yerevan, 22 January 1921 | Died Moscow, 11 November 1983

Piano Trio in F sharp minor

Largo - Allegro espressivoAndanteAllegro vivace

Although he is a 20th century composer, Babadjanian’s music is strongly influenced by 19th century romanticism, as well as by the folk music of his native Armenia. His musical talents were recognised early by the composer and fellow Armenian Aram Khachaturian, and at the age of seven Babadjanian was admitted to the Yerevan Conservatory. His first composition dates from two years later. As a pianist he won the Armenian National Competition at the age of twelve and at seventeen he moved to Moscow to study both piano and composition, graduating in 1948. During the first half of the 1950s Babadjanian returned to the Armenian capital to teach piano at the Yerevan Conservatory, and it was during this time that he wrote many of his most significant works, including the Piano Trio in F sharp minor. In the later part of his life he devoted his energies to performing and teaching, though he also wrote a popular film theme in 1958, a cello concerto for Mstislav Rostropovich in 1959, and many songs with texts by leading Soviet poets. He was made a People’s Artist of the USSR in 1971. Armenia has a strong folk music tradition that has links with both Middle Eastern sounds and Western (particularly Slavic) styles. It uses modes rather than Western scales, and these give the music a somewhat mournful tone. Highly rhythmic dances and work songs contrast with decorated solo melodies (often love songs) to form a rich and well-documented body of music, which has been studied and notated since the late 1800s. Babadjanian was exposed to the tradition as a child, as his father was a noted folk musician, and incorporated many characteristic elements into his compositions.Piano Trio in F sharp minor was composed in 1952 and first performed in 1953, with the composer at the piano alongside the violinist David Oistrakh and cellist Sergey Knushevitsky. A heart-felt theme played by the strings in the introductory Largo reappears in various guises throughout the whole work. The central Andante is an ethereal blending of decorative song-like melodies with lush Romantic harmonies and intertwined instrumental lines. The final movement is an energetic dance-based piece, much of it in 5/8, tempered with reminders of the earlier singing melodies.

Chamber Music New Zealand

BranchesAuckland: Chair, Victoria Silwood; Concert Manager, John Giff neyHamilton: Chair, Murray Hunt; Concert Manager, Gaye Duffi llNew Plymouth: Concert Manager, Susan CaseHawkes Bay: Chair, June Cliff ord; Concert Manager, Liff y RobertsManawatu: Chair, Graham Parsons; Concert Manager, Virginia Warbrick Wellington: Concert Manager, Rachel Hardie Nelson: Chair, Annette Monti; Concert Manager, Clare MontiChristchurch: Chair, Colin McLachlan; Concert Manager, Jody KeehanDunedin: Chair, Terence Dennis; Concert Manager, Richard DingwallSouthland: Chair, Shona Thomson; Concert Manager, Jennifer Sinclair

Regional Presenters Marlborough Music Society Inc (Blenheim), Cromwell & Districts Community Arts Council, Musica Viva Gisborne, Music Society Eastern Southland (Gore), Kaitaia Community Arts Service, Aroha Music Society (Kerikeri),Chamber Music Hutt Valley, Motueka Music Group,South Waikato Music Society Inc (Putararu), Waimakariri Community Arts Council (Rangiora), Rotorua Music Federation, Taihape Music Group, Tauranga Musica Inc, Upper Hutt Music Society, Waikanae Music Society, Wanaka Concert Society Inc, Chamber Music Wanganui, Warkworth Music Society,Wellington Chamber Music Trust, Whakatane Music Society, Whangarei Music Society.

BoardChair, Roger King, Paul Baines, Gretchen La Roche, Sarah Sinclair, Lloyd Williams, Vanessa Van den Broek

Level , 75 Ghuznee Street PO Box 6, Wellington

8 CONCERT ( 8)

info@chambermusic.co.nzwww.chambermusic.co.nz /ChamberMusicNZ

Staff Chief Executive, Peter WallsBusiness Manager, Jenni HallBusiness Support Coordinator, Gemma RobinsonOperations Coordinator, Rachel HardieArtistic Manager, Catherine GibsonEducation and Outreach Coordinator, Sue JaneProgramme Writer, Jane DawsonAlumni Correspondent, Salina Fisher Audience Development Manager, Victoria DaddMarketing & Communications Coordinator, Candice de VilliersTicketing & Database Coordinator, Laurel BruceDesign & Print Coordinator, Darcy WoodsPublicist, Sally Woodfi eld Offi ce Administrator, Becky Holmes

© Chamber Music New Zealand 1 No part of this programme may be reproduced without the prior permission of Chamber Music New Zealand.

Regional Concerts & Other Events

Trio Amistad (fl ute/sax/guitar)

Whangarei 15 MayWarkworth 16 MayTauranga 17 MayGisborne 19 May

Andrew Beer & Sarah Watkins (violin/piano)

Wellington 21 June

Te Kōkī Trio (piano trio)

Rotorua 13 JuneTauranga 14 JuneMotueka 18 JuneBlenheim 19 JuneRangiora 20 JuneWaikanae 28 June

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