Photo: Run in the shadows
This concert was part of the 2024 At The World’s Edge Festival, which is held every year in Queenstown and Wānaka. It has the aim to bring fabulous classical music to the Central Lakes District of New Zealand. This concert took place in Rippon Hall on the shores of Lake Wānaka.
At The World's Edge Festival Photo: © 2024 Run in the shadows, all rights reserved.
Festival directors Justine Cormack and Benjamin Baker are violinist and have lots of fantastic musicians as friends and collaborators. They invited a few of them to the festival to perform in various chamber music groups in all of the concerts.
The musicians are:
Benjamin Baker, Justine Cormack, Alexi Kenney, Marike Kruup, Sarah Lee - violins
Serenity Thurlow, Tal Amoore - violas
Sterling Elliott, Christine Jeon - cello
Deborah Wai Kaphoe - soprano & guitar
Let’s start with a string quartet by Benjamin Britten. It’s his String Quartet No. 1, and on violins we have Alexi Kenney and Marike Kruup, the viola player is Serenity Thurlow, and the cellist is Ian Greenberg.
The At The World’s Edge Festival features a New Zealand composer in residence, which means that each concert of the festival contains at least one of their compositions. In 2024 the composer in residence was Eve de Castro-Robinson. And her work we’re going to hear now is called Tumbling Strains. Tumbling Strains is a phrase describing an early type of vocal music, which reaches high pitches and then tumbles down in ululations. It’s performed by Benjamin Baker on violin and Sterling Elliott on cello.
The theme of the 2024 At The World’s Edge Festival is folk music inspired classical music. And now we have a beautiful folk song, Greensleeves. In a beautiful rendition by New Zealand soprano Deborah Wai Kapohe.
At The World's Edge Festival Photo: © 2024 Run in the shadows, all rights reserved.
We have three shorter pieces now. All of them are inspired by folk music from Brittain and Ireland. First, A Sad Pavan for these Distracted Tymes for string quartet, by Peter Maxwell-Davies. That is the English composer’s variation on the 1649 piano piece by Thomas Tompkins.
The second is by Benjamin Britten’s teacher Frank Bridge. It gets more upbeat and exciting with his An Irish melody: The Londonderry Air.
And we finish on a lighter and cute note with Molly on the Shore by Percy Grainger.
Here are Benjamin Baker and Justine Cormack on violins, Bryony Gibson-Cornish on viola, and Sterling Elliott on cello.
At The World's Edge Festival Photo: © 2024 Run in the shadows, all rights reserved.
There’s a bit of rotation now of the players for the final piece in this concert in Wānaka from the At The World’s Edge Festival. Welcome to the stage now Alexi Kenney and Marike Kruup on violins, Bryony Gibson-Cornish and Serenity Thurlow on violas, and Ian Greenberg on cello. If you counted right there are five players, and they play a string quintet now by Ralph Vaughan Williams. It’s his Phantasy Quintet for strings.
Recorded on 12 October 2024 at Rippon Hall, Wānaka
Recording Engineer & Producer: Adrian Hollay
Listen to the other concerts of the 2024 At The World's Edge Festival here:
At The World's Edge Festival 2024 - Concert 1: Dispersion
At The World's Edge Festival 2024 - Concert 2: Fantazi
At The World's Edge Festival 2024 - Concert 3: Out of Doors
