Review: At the World’s Edge Festival Entertains Chicago

Organizers from the At the World's Edge Festival entertained a sold-out audience at Guarneri Hall on Wednesday evening. Led by artistic director Benjamin Baker and festival director Justine Cormack, AWE is based in the Queenstown Lakes Region in Aotearoa New Zealand’s South Island. Every October since 2021, this festival has brought chamber musicians together in different venues around the southern Alps. It being spring in that part of the world, the festival welcomes the return of warm weather to this beautiful leisure destination.

Wednesday’s “Taste of AWE” was the second time Chicago audiences got to hear what’s on offer. Guarneri Hall’s cozy performance space, nestled on the third floor of a loop high rise half a block from State Street on East Adams, provided the right intimate setting.

Benjamin Baker. Photo courtesy of Guarneri Hall.

AWE programs bring New Zealand composers together with established composers who share some commonality. On this year’s tour of North American destinations, the Taste of AWE turned to three Czech composers.

First on the program was a violin duo by AWE composer-in-residence Victoria Kelly. Benjamin Baker and American violinist Claire Bourg faced each other from opposite ends of the stage to perform Waraki, which is Aori for “Dawn Chorus.” From high up on the top strings they reproduced the chirping sounds of birds singing at dawn, with one violin echoing the other. The stage separation made it feel as if the birds were calling from the tops of neighboring trees.

Baker and Bourg stayed on stage for Josef Suk’s Melodie for two violins. While Suk did bring melodies into Melodie, the shifting chords and harmonies are what struck me. Baker and Bourg offered tight interactions that gave the evolving sounds a very warm feel.

Benjamin Baker, Claire Bourg, Jessica Thompson, and Alexander Hersch. Photo courtesy of Guarneri Hall.

One of the evening’s high points was Bohuslav Martinů’s Three Madrigals for violin and viola. Baker was joined onstage by east-coast-based violist Jessica Thompson. The first piece opens with lots of pulsating rhythms and undulating shifts in dynamics as things move quickly from quiet to loud and back again.

The second madrigal has light trills and tremolos on muted strings played in perfect unison and simultaneity. The violin and viola’s differing timbers created an eerie effect. Throughout these pieces, Baker and Thompson gelled well, as if they’d been playing together for years.

Baker and Thompson stayed onstage for Yabo, a recent composition by New Zealand composer Salina Fisher. The program notes discussed how this work recalls Fisher’s Japanese heritage as it is inspired by the shō, a Japanese woodwind instrument played at the imperial court. The work has lots of glissandos and slides on the fingerboard that Baker and Thompson shared.

The only sag in the evening’s performance was the final work, Bedřich Smetana’s autobiographical String Quartet no. 1 in e-minor, From My Life. As Baker explained, Smetana takes the listener through various episodes in his life. It culminates with the onset of tinnitus, which left Smetana deaf for his last 10 years.

Many things about this performance were admirable. Following the loud, opening chord, Thompson played the sad theme on the viola as Baker and Bourg on violins and Alexander Hersch on cello backed up with quiet infills. The bucolic secondary theme contrasted well with the opening. The build-up to the climax in the development was breathtaking.

This work features a slow, third movement, Largo sostenuto, which is one of the most dramatic and passionate slow movements in the entire string quartet repertoire. Whether playing chords together or passing the melodies between them, the ensemble milked this performance for every ounce of those feelings.  

The finale has a very sunny feel with an ominous undercurrent anticipating something dramatic to come. The ensemble captured this very well. However, in performing the climax, a high E-note that Smetana heard at the onset of tinnitus, Baker played it rather haltingly, which lessened its dramatic impact.

Other issues in the performance were a lack of cohesion. The opening chord was ragged, as were other occasions when simultaneity was not precise. There were times when Thompson’s tonality was ever so slightly flat. That said, it was still an enjoyable performance of a great piece of music.

This year’s At the World’s Edge Festival runs from October 5 through October 13, 2024, at several venues near Queenstown, New Zealand. The seven concerts will feature the music of Bartok, Brahms, Prokofiev, Mendelssohn, Schubert, and several contemporary composers from New Zealand and the United States. There will also be a concert of music from British composers. For more information, click here.

Louis Harris

A lover of music his whole life, Louis Harris has written extensively from the early days of punk and alternative rock. More recently he has focused on classical music, especially chamber ensembles. He has reviewed concerts, festivals, and recordings and has interviewed composers and performers. He has paid special attention to Chicago’s rich and robust contemporary art music scene. He occasionally writes poetry and has a published novel to his credit, 32 Variations on a Theme by Basil II in the Key of Washington, DC. He now lives on the north side of Chicago, which he considers to be the greatest city in the country, if not the world. Member of the Music Critics Association of North America.