Leg One | North Island Tour 2025

We're on the road this September with concerts in Tauranga, Coromandel, Paeroa and Auckland.

Thursday 11 September | TOTARA ST, Tauranga

Friday 12 September | Hauraki House, Coromandel

Saturday 13 September | The Refinery, Paeroa

Sunday 14 September | Cable Bay Vineyards, Waiheke Island

PROGRAMME NOTES

Joseph Haydn (1732—1809)

String Quartet in D Major, Op. 64 No. 5 “The Lark” (1790)

I. Allegro moderato

II. Adagio cantabile

III. Menuetto Allegretto

IV. Finale: Vivace

Haydn’s string quartet  "The Lark", composed in 1790, celebrates the beauty and vitality of nature, particularly inspired by the skylark, a bird renowned for its soaring melodies and graceful flight.

The opening movement, Allegro Moderato, begins with a jubilant and lively theme, akin to the chirping of birds greeting the dawn. The music evokes a sense of freedom and exuberance characteristic of the skylark. In the second movement, Adagio cantabile, Haydn crafts a lyrical melody, with the quartet’s tender expression and graceful phrasing capturing the serenity of the natural world, inviting contemplation and reflection. Conversely, the minuet movement exudes a rustic charm, evoking images of playful woodland creatures frolicking before being interrupted by one of Haydn’s earthy trios. The final movement, Vivace, bursts forth with effervescence, mirroring the exuberant song of the lark. Haydn’s masterful counterpoint and virtuosity paint a vivid picture of nature’s vitality, and the enduring power of music to evoke the wonders of nature.

WORLD PREMIERE:

Mika Cornelius

Universal Veil (2025)

Universal Veil takes us on a journey through the quietly remarkable life cycle of a single mushroom - starting from hyphae, the delicate threads that form the foundation of fungi; autumn rain, the seasonal trigger of mushroom growth; spores, scattered through silent eruptions of energy; and returning to mycelium, the intricate web of underground networks. The presence of fungi gently drapes over the earth like a universal veil, blurring the lines of individual and collective. In a world increasingly concerned with individuality, fungi teaches us that the borders of our bodies are less definite than we thought: we host more microbes in our body than our own cells. So where do 'we' end, and where does nature begin?

By Mika Cornelius

To celebrate the premiere of this brand-new composition, composer Mika Cornelius sat down with SOUNZ for a composer kōrero. Head to the SOUNZ website to read the full interview!

Alexander Borodin (1833—1887)

String Quartet No. 2 (1881)

I. Allegro moderato

II. Scherzo. Allegro

III. Notturno. Andante

IV. Andante - Vivace

Alexander Borodin’s Second String Quartet, written during a summer retreat in the countryside, is often seen as a musical love letter to his wife, Ekaterina. Unlike the often turbulent or nationalistic tone of his contemporaries in “The Mighty Handful,” this quartet is unusually lyrical and personal, filled with warmth and romanticism.

From the outset, the piece exudes grace and intimacy. The flowing first movement, with its tender, song-like melodies, immediately establishes a mood of gentle rapture. The Scherzo that follows is light and playful, showcasing Borodin’s deft handling of texture and rhythm. At the heart of the quartet is the famous Notturno—one of the most beloved slow movements in the quartet repertoire—later adapted into the song “And This Is My Beloved” for the musical Kismet. Its long, arching melodies and rich harmonic backdrop evoke an almost vocal expressiveness.

The final movement is brisk and joyful, weaving folk-inspired themes into a lively sonata structure. Throughout, Borodin’s gift for melody and orchestral colour is evident—even within the constraints of the string quartet, his writing feels lush and expansive.

Though Borodin was a part-time composer (his day job was as a chemist and professor), this quartet stands as a testament to his natural talent. Intimate, tuneful, and unabashedly romantic, it remains one of the most enduring works in the 19th-century quartet canon.