Stokes Valley teen’s trio hits all the right notes
Liam Furey prefers not to talk about his earliest pieces of musical composition.
He was young (about 10 years old) and had fairly recently discovered and fallen in love with classical music.
And although his mum Nikki is proud of all the music her son has ever written, the early stuff too, Liam, now 18, is staunchly sceptical.
‘‘It was either majorly inspired or probably stolen from Beethoven,’’ he said.
Things have changed a bit since then and Furey’s more recent compositions have not only been works he has been proud of, they have been awardwinning.
Furey won the senior competition section of the 2016 Chamber Music Contest National Finals, with his Piano Trio No 1 in G minor.
He wrote it for piano, violin and cello, inspired by the works of neoclassicist composers such as Sergei Prokofiev or Dmitri Shostakovich.
Adjudicator Alex Taylor said Furey’s trio offered hints of Prokofiev, Debussy or Scriabin. It also featured a strong dramatic tension which was created in the first movement.
‘‘Overall a distinctive and energetic piece of chamber music,’’ Taylor said.
Furey said in hindsight there was a hint of impressionist Claude Debussy in what he had composed, but he hadn’t picked up on it at the time.
The trio was one of eight pieces Furey had written since his earlier composition phase. Only three of those had been performed publicly, though.
Those pieces ranged from solo piano works to ones for bigger chamber or orchestral groups.
He ‘‘sort of went all out’’ on the piano bits for his Trio, which took a bit of practice to nail down before he performed it with the violinist and cellist.
Furey is studying towards NCEA Level 2 this year through the Correspondence School and plans to study music at university once he finishes his home schooling.
Alongside his schoolwork, he is busy working on more composition projects including a Rachmaninov-inspired piano concerto.
‘‘I find it easy to work on a whole bunch and do a little as I go along,’’ he said.
He hopes to turn his love of music and composition in to a career.
‘‘My main aspiration would be to become a concert pianist and as well to do a lot of writing.’’