NZTrio pianist Sarah Watkins is performing for the last time with the trio this week. She was one of the founding members along with Ashley Brown and Justine Cormack.
Sarah Watkins - NZTrio Photo: Kristian Frires
Sarah reflects on her time with NZTrio, looks ahead to what’s next and chooses some of her favourite music.
Five Faves w/ RNZ
This week NZTrio pianist Sarah Watkins is performing for the last time with the trio that has been her life for the past fifteen years. She was one of the founding members of NZTrio with violinist Justine Cormack and cellist Ashley Brown .
Sarah’s had an impressive career as a musician, performing globally. It’s not surprising given her education at the Juilliard School in New York and the University of Canterbury. She’s also passed on her musical knowledge to the next generation at some of our top schools, and has won many awards with NZTrio for their recordings.
She joined David Morriss in the studio to reflect on her career with NZTrio, talk about what’s next and choose some music that has had a profound effect on her.
Shostakovich: ‘Piano Trio in E minor’
“As a young chamber musician in high school, I thought this was the best piano trio I’d ever heard. The story behind the composition (written during WW2) influenced that feeling, but I was desperate to play it,” she says. “I had to wait until my Master’s graduation recital at Juilliard before that actually happened – but of course I have played it many times over the years with NZTrio.
“It still remains one of my favourites – a powerful example of musical story-telling without words.”
The recording below features Raysken Trio performing the second and fourth movements. This recording, care of RNZ Concert is from the NZCT Chamber Music Contest National Final in 2017.
The piece starts at 21:19.
Schumann: ‘Dichterliebe’
“Schumann’s song cycles are unsurpassed in the way the vocal and piano parts are inextricably linked, and equal – the introductions and postludes tell so much of the story,” Sarah says.
This performance is from the Adam Chamber Music Festival, 2017 and features Australian tenor Andrew Goodwin and Hungarian pianist Izabella Simon.
Psathas: ‘View From Olympus’
“I’ve always been a huge fan of John’s music – he never holds back, and I find it to be deeply emotional and authentic – and Michael [Houstoun] has been such an inspiration to me throughout my life,” she says. “This piece grabs you right from the downbeat, and doesn’t let go until the end – full of virtuosic solo writing for the piano and percussion, and glittering orchestral colours.
“I know this CD was a huge undertaking for Rattle Records at the time, so it represents a massive achievement for NZ recording, performance and composition – which of course is something very dear to me.”
Piazzolla: ‘Tango Zero Hour (Milonga Del Angel)’
“Piazzolla is such a familiar name to many now, but at the time I was introduced to this CD he was new to me. I was on my first CMNZ tour with cellist James Bush (he owned the CD), and we listened to it repeatedly as we drove around the country,” Sarah says. “Whenever I hear it, the music always takes me back to that time and place – probably the first time I had also driven through Central Otago in its autumnal splendour.
“Piazzolla is such an expressive performer on the bandoneon – he makes it breathe in a vocal way – and his whole band is great to listen to. There’s a moment in Milonga Del Angel when the bandoneon takes over a note from the violin – it’s as if they were one instrument. Just amazing.”
Puccini: Turandot opera
“I’ve always had a soft spot for Puccini dating back to my days as a Uni student, when I was a very green but enthusiastic rehearsal pianist for Canterbury Opera – and we did Tosca. It was always such a thrill to be surrounded by these incredible operatic voices, and absolutely confirmed the direction I was heading in at the time (focussing on accompanying and chamber music) was the right one for me,” she says. “I regret that I never saw a performance of Turandot at the Met when I was living there, so it was great to be a part of APO’s concert performance of it a couple of years ago.
“There are some definite lump-in-throat moments in the music – Puccini really was a master of vocal writing, but his harmonic language has an emotional intensity as well.”
