Archive for February, 2010

On the whole Bach’s keyboard works – probably more than anyone else’s – admit of a vast range of interpretations. Composers from Mozart to Stravinsky have sought to illuminate Bach’s contrapuntal complexities by re-scoring his works for expanded forces, thereby giving added dimensions of color and space to his monochromatic keyboard blueprints. Above [...]

In a one hour program the engaging members of the New Zealand String Quartet introduce a range of musical ideas to a family audience, using audience participation, theatre and lively explanations. These programs are suited to an audience with children in the 4-10 year old age group and are marketed to parents and grandparents. The [...]

In a one hour program the engaging members of the New Zealand String Quartet introduce a range of musical ideas to a school audience, using audience participation, enjoyable games and lively explanations. All musical excerpts are from the classical string quartet repertoire. There is time for questions from the audience near the end. These [...]

New Zealand composer Gillian Karawe Whitehead has written two quintets for the New Zealand String Quartet and Taonga Puoro (Māori instruments) specialist Richard Nunns. These outstanding works, Puhake ki te rangi (“spouting to the skies”) and Hineputehue (“the woman of the sound of the gourd”) have been performed many times in New Zealand, Europe and North America and audiences have found them fascinating, evocative and moving.

A theatrical tour de force, The Kreutzer combines dance-theatre, live classical music and an interactive audio-visual feast. The work is based on an original idea by Peter Barber and has been adapted and directed by Sara Brodie. The Kreutzer is based on the famous Kreutzer Sonata by Beethoven, a novella by Tolstoy and Leoš Janácek’s first string quartet.

The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross Opus 51 by Joseph Haydn
Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross was commissioned for performance during Lent. Traditionally, the words or phrases (taken from all four gospels) are spoken, followed by a reading from the gospels, a homily or meditation on [...]

The New Zealand String Quartet’s French Connections series in 2008 presented two captivating programmes illustrating the sensuous qualities of French music. The Quartet performed two programmes of beguiling music by Fauré, Debussy, and Ravel, and their successors Henri Dutilleux and Debussy-inspired Japanese composer, Toru Takemitsu.

There was Bach – whose music can inspire the mind with the magnificence of its architecture and touch the heart with the wonder of its melodies.

And there was Mendelssohn – the brilliant young composer, romantic and passionate, whose lifelong obsession with the music of Bach shaped his own career and inspired him to reveal it to the world.

For its annual series tour the New Zealand String Quartet prepared two special programmes of discovery and celebration to honour Haydn, a composer who brought new heights of expression and individuality to chamber music.