SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Whangarei Music Society, in association with Chamber Music NZ:  Tawahi Trio -  Donald O’Neil (viola), Jean-Michel Bertelli (clarinet), Richard Beauchamp (piano) Capitaine Bougainville Theatre, Whangarei, New Zealand, 7.8.2008 (PSe)

Alfred Uhl – Kleines Konzert
Schumann – Märchenerzählungen (Fairy Tales) op. 132
Rebecca Clarke – Prelude, Allegro and Pastorale
Mozart – Trio in E flat, K498 “Kegelstatt”


Where would we be without those happy little accidents and coincidences that help to brighten things up? One occurred in 2006, whilst the Lyon Opera Company was at the Edinburgh Festival. Donald O’Neil, one of the orchestra’s viola players, just happened to bump into an old pal, pianist Richard Beauchamp.  In itself, that’s hardly what you’d call Earth-shattering but this chance reunion of two expatriate Kiwis ignited an idea – why not form a compact chamber group specifically for touring New Zealand? Taking “busmen’s holidays” would, to say the least, save a packet on trips home! So, opting for a trio, they roped in the clarinettist Jean-Michel Bertelli, a colleague and occasional chamber music partner of O'Neil's. Their choice of name was really neat –  “Tawahi” means “the other side”, in the sense of “across the ocean”.

I sometimes feel so sorry for the viola, and not because of all the jokes. It has such a cuddly, lovable, “acorn-coloured” sound, intimate and is so very quietly-spoken. Unfortunately, this last quality makes it difficult to accommodate as a solo instrument. To make its matk, the viola must rely on considerationboth from composers, who generally avoid it, and from playing partners who, let’s face it, cannot entirely subordinate their own interests. The articulate and vociferous clarinet, if anything, suffers from the opposite problem.

I’d hazard that for these reasons, most composers conclude that they clarinet and and viola make uncomfortably strange bedfellows. The four featured in this recital, at least, thought otherwise, as of course must the Tawahi Trio. Truth to tell, the works presented revealed that in spite of their apparent incompatibility, the viola and clarinet actually go together like peaches and cream – provided, that is, that the performers play ball.

And “ball” was what the Tawahi Trio definitely played. Both Bertelli, whose body-language would have won Harry Partch’s approval, and the more businesslike Beauchamp epitomised good manners. The former evidently reined in his clarinet’s power, with a presumed proportionate gain in tonal purity. The latter’s fingers truly “tickled the ivories”  almost treating the piano as a spinet. In a very real sense, both players were implicitly obeying the admonishment generally inscribed on that singularly fragile instrument: fait plus douceur que violence.

Did it do the trick? Well, not quite – the louder or more agitated the music, the less the viola came through. To be fair though, the lady sitting next to me thought it sounded fine,  which I guess  makes me a bit too picky. Nevertheless, as the viola is such a crucial component of both the Tawahi Trio and their programme, it wouldn’t hurt for them to make double-sure that they nail this.

Overall, the Tawahi Trio’s playing strikes me as refined – possibly due to a certain Gallic influence? – and expressive but without affectation. The Schumann movements were well characterised, whilst Mozart – who was no slouch at promoting both the clarinet and the viola – benefited from the lack of affectation; although refinement did rather smooth the “dance” out of the Minuet. Perhaps surprisingly, given the exalted company, the recital’s real highlights came courtesy of the two “lesser” composers.

Perusing the programme I wondered at first, “Who the hell is Alfred Uhl?”  but soon found out. He is someone who, when it comes to marrying his peaches to his cream, really knows his onions! Enjoyable as were the concerto-esque pyrotechnics, it was when Uhl caused Bertelli and O’Neil to converge onto curvaceous melodic lines that my jaw dropped. I’d never heard anything quite like it; the extraordinary, luminous beauty of their blended sound left my metaphor looking decidedly dog-eared.

Rebecca Clarke’s description of her work as “unpretentious” refers to its modesty of means and style. Equally modest herself, she made no claims for any emotional depth. Calling the Pastorale “rather melancholy and nostalgic” in no way prepares its audience for what happens: an initially innocent idyll becomes blighted by almost imperceptibly creeping corruption.  Suddenly, a bell rang in my head, and I asked myself, “When was this written?” Not I, but the programme note replied, “1941” – amid the Second World War’s darkest days. Here’s another of those accidents and coincidences, because the entire process and intention is the same as the (equally misleadingly titled!) Romanza of Vaughan Williams’s contemporaneous Fifth Symphony.

Other than a great, big “thank you”, further comment on the skill of the Tawahi Trio is, I suspect, superfluous.

Paul Serotsky

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