Forest Collective’s Pierrot Lunaire had voices weave beautifully around each other

Kate Bright’s performance of Pierrot’s stories of of love, sex, religion, violence, crime, blasphemy and haunted return home, was both masterful and atonal. My favourite selection was movement VII where Bright and Kim Tan (flute) had a fabulous duet together. Not knowing German, and having only glanced at the translations of the movements before the performance started, I had little understanding of the message in the piece, but Bright and Tan’s voices wove beautifully around each other and really took advantage of the acoustics of the St Stephen’s church.

After the opening sections of Pierrot Lunaire, the concert included “Selections from Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer) by Gustav Mahler” where Bright and Danae Killian (piano) performed a moving duet full of warmth and vibrancy.

In the middle of the concert, Killian performed two piano-only pieces, Drei Klavierstucke, Op 11 and Suite, Op 25, both by Arnold Schoenberg. While each piece was an amazing demonstration of Killian’s talent, the concert lagged a little here, with the piano-only part feeling like it ran a little long. After Suite, Bright rejoined Killian for a haunting rendition of Befreit by Richard Strauss. Once again the audience was spellbound, and remained so when the rest of the ensemble joined in for the closing movements of Pierrot Lunaire. Somehow, a full hour had passed and yet it felt like the music could go on forever.

The Forest Collective is one to watch out for and I hope you are able to join them for future concerts.
Review for:
Forest Collective – Pierrot Lunaire | Thursday 17 Nov 2016 | St Stephen’s Anglican Church, Richmond