NZTrio | Tectonic Uprising

PROGRAMME:
Frank Bridge (UK) | Hornpipe
New NZ Commission (tbc)
Edward Elgar (UK) | Lento assai – Allegro moderato
Samuel Holloway (NZ) | Stapes
Frank Bridge (UK) | Valse Russe
Charlotte Bray (UK) | That Crazed Smile
Charles Ives (US) | Trio
Dmitri Shostakovich (USSR) | Piano Trio No.2 in e minor

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The three-concert TECTONIC series explores the fundamental forces that shape our land and society, Empires and Super Powers.

Aotearoa New Zealand is a very young land, geologically – freshly exposed by massive subterranean forces. 2019 marks the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook’s arrival on this young land, and of the first encounter between Māori and Europeans. We look back over the years since then and right up to the present, and reflect on Māoritanga, empire, colonisation, immigration, tolerance, unity and understanding. The first half of each concert commemorates this anniversary through the lens of Piano Trio. We examine the music and sounds that were heard in Aotearoa before that first encounter and the dialogue between Māori and Pākehā that ensued with brand new commissioned works involving Taonga Pūoro call and Piano Trio response. These new commissions come from composers sincerely engaged with Māoritanga and Taonga Pūoro: Dame Gillian Karawe Whitehead, Martin Lodge and Rob Thorne. We evoke the music and attitude that early settlers brought with them on the ships from Great Britain as they sought to extend the British Empire, through seldom-heard (and some freshly-discovered) old English tunes. We celebrate the intertwining of cultures and the subsequent evolution of music, with the culmination being found in 21st Century works by Kiwi composers. And we compare and contrast those with fresh new works from back in Cook’s motherland, Great Britain.

The second half of each concert focuses on old Cold War Super Powers and the struggle for supremacy. Towering masterpieces from USA and Russia/USSR loom menacingly in an icy standoff.

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