Two farewells and memories of an evening shoreline left the audience emotionally fulfilled at the Aroha String Quartet concert at Tauranga Park auditorium at the weekend.

Beethoven’s String Quartet in F major, Opus 18 No 1 was dedicated to friend Karl Amenda when Amenda returned to his homeland in 1799. Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No 3 in E flat minor Opus 30 was dedicated to Ferdinand Laub, a Moscow Conservatory colleague who died in 1875. The quartet was Tchaikovsky’s tribute to him.

New Zealand composer Gillian whitehead’s work Moon, Tides and Shoreline, was written while she was living at Paekakariki, was the second work on the programme.

The Aroha Quartet, formed in 2004, comprises professional musicians whose ‘day job’ is with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO). The standard of playing at the weekend’s concert was excellent – a fitting end to Tauranga Musica’s 2010 season.

First violinist Haihong Liu was joined by Anne Loeser – who played with the quartet for the past few months while the usual second violinist Beiyi Xue visited her sick father in China. Both women impressed with their technical and emotional range and viola player Zhongxian Jin and cellist Robert Ibell were a match for them.

The ensemble playing was impeccable, in tune, in time and very much in the style dedicated by the pieces they presented.

Gillian Whitehead’s Moon, Tides and Shoreline benefitted from Ibell’s explanation of the five sections. And a feature of this work was the solo viola concluding the third section.
Beethoven was his usual wonderful self in his quartet with the sadness over the departure of his friend encapsulated in the second movement. And there is nothing quite like Tchaikovsky being melancholy to create a wonderful melody.

The audience was treated to an encore of a traditional Chinese folk tune. There were echoes here of Lizst’s Hungarian Rhapsodies.

An excellent concert.