Immense fun for all

Conviviality ruled at Chamber Music New Zealand’s final 2018 concert, featuring Australian pianist Piers Lane and Japanese bassist Hiroshi Ikematsu alongside members of the New Zealand String Quartet.

And composer Franz Schubert had a lot to do with it, his lesserknown Adagio and Rondo Concertante providing a sparkling overture in the hands of Lane and the NZSQ players.

The Adagio, with sprinklings of harmonic salt and pepper, mixed grandeur and whimsy; the ensuing Allegro vivace was a deliciously frothy scamper.

The evening ended with a full cast of five in the composer’s celebrated Trout Quintet.

Ikematsu’s bass, pizzicato, added toe-tapping swing; with bow, he injected almost orchestral grunt. Best of all, his solid presence released Rolf Gjelsten’s cello to sing with glorious lyricism in the finale, and earlier, partnering Gillian Ansell’s viola.

Throughout the work, one could see as well as hear the immense fun being had with Schubert’s game of themes.

Ross Harris’ Orowaru added gravitas to the evening, its resonant portrait of three New Zealand rivers complementing the Schubert quintet to come. A master at mixing his colours, Harris tinted Lane’s Debussian ripples with wisps of gnarly strings and, towards the end, a procession of dark, low-down chords took us deep into both the river and our very souls.