Salina Fisher Photo: Hagen Hopkins
NZTrio commissioned New Zealand composer Salina Fisher for a new work, and the result was an exploration of her Japanese heritage through music. It’s also an exploration of the transformation that can occur when something breaks and you pick up the pieces with great care.
Pottery repaired using kintsugi Photo: Creative Commons
The work is called ‘Kintsugi’, which literally means to join with gold. Kintsugi is the Japanese tradition of repairing broken pottery with gold dust… and it celebrates the history of broken objects by making them more beautiful with precious metals.
Salina Fisher describes how this philosophy inspired her:
“I am personally drawn to kintsugi as a metaphor for embracing ‘brokenness’ and imperfection as a source of strength.
This piece for piano trio is my expression and exploration of kintsugi, and involves musical fragmentation, fragility, mending, and finding beauty in the cracks.”
Recorded at St Andrew's on The Terrace, Wellington by RNZ Concert
Producer/engineer: David Houston
