Calefax's encore of Moondog’s laid-back New Amsterdam closed their performance before a highly appreciative audience, which filled the stalls at the Glenroy Auditorium on Friday evening.
The Dutch ensemble featuring oboist Oliver Boekhoorn, saxophonist Raaf Hekkema, bassoonist Alban Wesly, clarinettist Bart de Kater and bass clarinettist Jelte Althuis have adventurous versatility across a range of creative genres including singing.
They opened with Sweelinck’s late-17th century work for organ Fantasia Chromatica. Althuis’ arrangement dives into the mellifluous twining counterpoint and sweeping theme to wonderful effect.
Bach’s 1720s Fantasia and Fugue in G Minor for organ, arranged by Althuis for the quintet, is a spiky, dense and convoluted work with plenty to entertain the ear and showcase the players’ technical skills.
Schubert’s piano duet Fantasie in F Minor, arranged by Hekkema, traverses the gamut of human emotions before returning to its opening sighing gambit. Its sometimes strident translation of the closing pianistic virtuosic demands failed to hold audience attention.
Rosie Langebeer’s As the Mountain Folds itself to Sleep was commissioned by Chamber Music NZ for Calefax’s 2024 tour. This beautifully realised work successfully marries the geological shape of mountains with their metaphysical significance to humankind. It breathes into life, rising in swirling figures to recreate a sense of awe.
Zuldam’s 2015 composition for Calefax, Three Dances, is a successful conversation over its three sections’ meandering between wry whimsy and sprightly levity.
Boekhoorn’s arrangement of Debussy’s impressionistic Suite Bergamasque: Prelude, Clair de Lune, Passepied was a successful exploration of wind instruments’ sonorous qualities, which won exuberant praise from the audience.
Gershwin’s An American in Paris also won thunderous applause from the audience. The ensemble moved around and between each other to illustrate the interplay between the instruments to delightful and amusing effect.
A wonderful achievement and a perfect close to a perfect evening.
Review by Marian Poole
