There are songs throughout the programme – well, all music is a form of singing, isn’t it – but mostly we hear them in the first work by Max Bruch and in new work by Dame Gillian Karawe Whitehead – a world premiere indeed – Ngā roimata o Mānuka for taonga puoro and string quartet.
For all its complexity, challenges and at times aggression, Bartók’s String Quartet No 4 is based on a series of dances. And there is no better ensemble in the world to bring that to us than the special guests at the Adam Festival: the Takács Quartet.
Dame Gillian Whithead (4th from left) with the performers of her new work 'Ngā roimata o Mānuka' Photo: Tim Dodd, RNZ
James Campbell (clarinet), Gillian Ansell (viola), Dénes Várjon (piano)
Bob Bickerton (taonga pūoro), New Zealand String Quartet
Takács Quartet
Recorded by RNZ Concert, Nelson Centre of Musical Arts, 4 February 2024
Producer: Tim Dodd
Engineer: Darryl Stack
