INDEPENDENT NEWS

Have piano, will travel -duo takes salon concert on the road

Published: Mon 30 May 2016 11:14 AM

Have piano, will travel - duo takes salon concert on the road

It's a heavy undertaking to tour a programme of music for piano and cello around New Zealand. Re-creating the intimate atmosphere of an early Nineteenth Century salon concert at nineteen venues around New Zealand means that Wellington-based musicians Douglas Mews and Robert Ibell have to lug a whole vanload of gear around the country - including the piano!

"The two of us on our own can just manage to get the piano out the window of my house and into the van," said Douglas. "The piano we're using for our tour is very special. It's a Broadwood square piano, made in England in the first half of the Nineteenth Century. Not only does it look unusual, but it has a wonderful history, having spent well over a century in the Aro Valley where I live."

The pair of musicians are performing by candlelight under the name 'Hammers & Horsehair' between June and September in houses, churches, halls, hotels, a winery, and even crematoriums, from Omapere in the Hokianga to Arrowtown in Central Otago. They will play works by Beethoven, Mozart, Romberg and Breval on instruments that date from around the period when the pieces were written.

"We're looking to create a special atmosphere," said Douglas. "The candles are part of that, but we'll also be chatting with the audience as if we were playing in their sitting room at home. The old instruments and playing style are key aspects of it too. People will be able to hear the music much as it would have been heard by audiences when it was written two hundred years ago."

Robert's cello also has an interesting background. Made in the Eighteenth Century, probably before Beethoven was born, it came to New Zealand in 1940 with Greta Ostova, a Czech escaping the Nazi occupation. Greta became a founding member of the National Orchestra (which became the NZSO), later passing the cello on to her student Judith Hyatt who then handed it on to Robert. "It's pretty special to be the third generation of NZSO cellists to have this wonderful instrument, and I'm really looking forward to using on the Hammers & Horsehair tour, playing it alongside a piano with its own intriguing history."

As well as transporting the instruments, Douglas and Robert will be carting chairs, a beautiful wooden music stand, lamps, and costumes with them, along with a good supply of candles.

Hammers & Horsehair tour dates & centres

26 June - Taihape

27 June - Clevedon

29 June - Auckland

1 July - Omapere

2 July - Warkworth

3 July - Tauranga

10 July - Putaruru

13 July - Lower Hutt

14 July - Palmerston North

15 July - Hastings

16 July - Taupo