Cirrus sweeps us into the heights of Schubert’s musical charm, shifting us into Rachel Clement’s glassmaking inspired sound world. Through passionate mood changes and luscious melodies reminiscent of the late French Romantics, Panufnik’s piano trio takes us into the depths of the nebulous glow of the clouds of Aotearoa in the NZTrio's new commission by Gillian Whitehead. Rachmaninoff’s masterpiece reflects on the huge journey of the whole series and brings the year to a dramatic close with a sense of pathos and heightened emotion. - NZTrio
RACHMANINOV: Piano Trio No 2 in D minor, Élégiaque
Performed by NZTrio at their concert "Dramatic Skies - Cirrus", Auckland Concert Chamber, 12 December 2021.
NZTrio - Amalia Hall, Ashley Brown, Somi Kim Photo: Jen Raoult-ClairObscur
A 19-year old Rachmaninov wrote this work in tribute to Tchaikovsky, who had helped the young man immensely in his early career. When Tchaikovsky died suddenly in 1893, Rachmaninov began this trio that evening and finished it within two months.
Indicating Rachmaninov’s grief at losing his mentor and friend, it’s largely a sombre and tragic work.
Recorded by RNZ Concert, Auckland Concert Chamber, 12 December 2021
Producer: Tim Dodd; Sound Engineer: Adrian Hollay
Gillian WHITEHEAD: Ka maranga nga kapua
The world premiere performance by NZTrio at their concert "Dramatic Skies - Cirrus", Auckland Concert Chamber, 12 December 2021.
NZTrio - Somi Kim, Ashley Brown, Amalia Hall Photo: Jen Raoult
Gillian Whitehead writes:
"Ka maranga ngā kapua translates as ‘the clouds will lift’. There are three short pieces in the set, and the last two were written just after the whole of Aotearoa went into Level 4 lockdown in August 2021. The pieces reflect our changing perceptions through the juxtaposition of ideas or styles from different times.”
Ka maranga ngā kapua was commissioned by NZTrio in 2021 with funding from Creative New Zealand.
Recorded by RNZ Concert, Auckland Concert Chamber, 12 December 2021
Producer: Tim Dodd; Sound Engineer: Adrian Hollay
Andrzej PANUFNIK: Piano Trio Op 1
Performed by NZTrio at their concert "Dramatic Skies - Cirrus", Auckland Concert Chamber, 12 December 2021.
NZTrio - Somi Kim, Ashley Brown, Amalia Hall Photo: Jen Raoult
Andrzej Panufnik was born in Poland in 1914 but fled from there during the second world war. He had to leave all his music scores behind. After the war finished he was able to return to a bombed out Warsaw. His apartment had miraculously survived but a squatter had burnt the scores for heat.
During the 50s, he defected from Poland to the United Kingdom. He was briefly chief conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
This is one of his very early works, written as a student at the age of 19, and one of those that was burned. Luckily, Panufnik was later able to reconstruct it from memory. Despite being written by a young man, it has a profound depth of feeling.
Recorded by RNZ Concert, Auckland Concert Chamber, 12 December 2021
Producer: Tim Dodd; Sound Engineer: Adrian Hollay
Rachel CLEMENT: Shifting States
Performed by NZTrio at their concert "Dramatic Skies - Cirrus", Auckland Concert Chamber, 12 December 2021.
NZTrio - Somi Kim, Ashley Brown, Amalia Hall Photo: Jen Raoult
Rachel Clement writes:
"This set of short pieces is inspired by an interest in mid-20th Century glassmaking, in which the process of changing state, changing phase is examined. Each piece is titled with the name of a different technique and expresses the processes of freezing, melting, vaporization, condensation and sublimation."
The five movements are:
sabbia (sand)
filigrana (filigree)
bullicante (with bubbles)
millefiore (thousand flowers)
sommerso (submerged)
Shifting States was commissioned in 2005 by NZTrio with funding from Creative New Zealand.
Recorded by RNZ Concert, Auckland Concert Chamber, 12 December 2021
Producer: Tim Dodd; Sound Engineer: Adrian Hollay
SCHUBERT: Piano Trio movement in Bb D28
Performed by NZTrio at their concert "Dramatic Skies - Cirrus", Auckland Concert Chamber, 12 December 2021.
NZTrio - Somi Kim, Amalia Hall, Ashley Brown Photo: Jen Raoult-ClairObscur
Schubert wrote his one movement Trio in B flat major when he was only 15, but as Charlotte Wilson writes in her programme notes: “He’s all there already – those divine Schubertian melodies, his boldness and whimsy, whiplash change in moods, perfect writing for the instruments, above all that sense that the music always existed and we just follow wherever it wants to go wandering.”
Recorded by RNZ Concert, Auckland Concert Chamber, 12 December 2021
Producer: Tim Dodd; Sound Engineer: Adrian Hollay
