Aroha indeed. Chamber Music New Zealand's 2014 concert series in New Plymouth concluded on Friday night with a glowing performance by the Aroha Quartet, which basked the audience in the gentle warmth of their playing style.

Celebrating their 10th anniversary this year, the players have developed a very impressive homogeneity of tone and balance, especially as three of them are also full-time members of the NZSO.

Beethoven's early Quartet in A opened with nimble, velvety tone, moved through some playful variations, and concluded with gusto in the final allegro. Often it seemed as if their bows were strung with silk, as even the fortissimos brought no hint of stridency.

Although written in 1938, Shostakovich's String Quartet No 1 displayed a sunny disposition throughout.

The players brought a freshness to the vagaries of harmony and tonality in the first two movements, cantered through the all-too-short scherzo, and gave us a vigorous finale.

Two Chinese pieces, Spring Water Reflects the Moon and Song of Emancipation, explored a fascinating mix of Western and Oriental tonality, and there was an almost hoedown-like vitality alongside wonderfully sonorous chords in the second. Driving the Mule Team, played as an encore, had a charming, soaring melody to a pizzicato accompaniment.

Ravel's sole String Quartet in F is a major work from the turn of the Twentieth Century. The players revelled in its rich textures and harmonies, and again excelled in demonstrating the effectiveness of extreme softness (“pianissimo paradise”). They created a beautiful reverie in the third movement before agitated bowing announced the very lively ending.

Haere ra – until your next time in New Plymouth.