Radius’s season finale offers three works by composers in full bloom, two in the springtime of promising careers and one from a high summer cut short. Salina Fisher pays tribute to a role model and fellow New Zealand composer, the late Douglas Lilburn, in Unfinished Portrait for flute, oboe, bassoon and piano. Drawing inspiration from Lilburn’s correspondence with the painter Rita Angus (who twice tried to paint Lilburn only to destroy the canvases in frustration), Fisher forms a chain of tribute and influence in this gently undulating work. Franz Schubert was his most mature and expressive mode in 1824 when he produced his lengthy, six-movement Octet in F major, D. 803 for winds and strings, just four years before his untimely death. The Octet is a treasured classic, admired for the lightness of its textures, the beauty of its themes, and the depths of its craftsmanship. A premiere trio for flute, viola, and cello by the student winner of the Pappalardo Composition Award rounds out the program.
Trio for flute, viola and cello by the student winner of the Pappalardo Composition Award
SALINA FISHER – Unfinished Portrait for flute, oboe, bassoon and piano
FRANZ SCHUBERT – Octet in F major, D. 803
