[ Atoll / CD ]
Release Date: Friday 26 July 2024
Somi Kim in her debut solo album gives sparkling performances of two compositions inspired by visual art - the great 19th century work by Mussorgsky "Pictures at an Exhibition", which remains a challenge to pianists 150 years later, is preceded by Janet Jennings' composition written to compliment the Mussorgsky. A beautiful accompanying booklet is illustrated with the art and provides insights into the music.
":Several albums vied this year for the title of best local release, but this selection of songs - recorded to mark 100 years since Katherine Mansfield's death - tops the lot. Hamiltonian Janet Jennings is a fine writer for voices, and her setting of five Mansfield poems gets its world premiere here, accompanied by the same composer's previously recorded Sit Down With Me Awhile and Fauré's La chanson d'Ève. Natasha Te Rupe Wilson makes sensitive work of all three, and her performances suggest that while we have many fine singers, she may be the one who has taken the biggest artistic step up in recent years. Wilson's association with NZTrio pianist Somi Kim goes back to their high school days, and you can hear that intuitive connection in tracks like Jennings' 'The Opal Dream Cave'." Richard Betts NZ Listener 2023
JANET JENNINGS:
Aotearoa Pictures
MODEST MUSSORGSKY:
Pictures at an Exhibition