French Connections Concert: Programme 2

Be captivated by the sensuous world of the French Impressionist composers in the New Zealand String Quartet’s French Connections series. New Zealand’s foremost chamber ensemble and pianist Michael Houstoun will perform two programmes of beguiling music by Fauré, Debussy, and Ravel, and their successors Henri Dutilleux and Debussy-inspired Japanese composer, Toru Takemitsu.

The breath-taking use of musical colour, texture, rhythm and imagery in the music of Debussy and Ravel was profoundly influential in the 20th century. Each composer wrote only one string quartet and both works have become popular classics of the chamber repertoire.

Michael Houstoun says of Fauré’s C minor Piano Quartet “I fell in love with this music . . . for me, the ‘play-out’ of the slow movement is one of the most sublime moments in all chamber music”.

Takemitsu, a major Japanese composer of the twentieth century, describes his own music as “a fragrant and tranquil garden where a listener might stroll” – a seductive image for the music of this special concert series.