Barley and De Pledge: Dream team

Stephen de Pledge (piano) and Matthew Barley (cello)
”…we just clicked!”

“Musical relationships are like fine wine and beautiful old cellos,” says acclaimed English cellist Matthew Barley.  “They get better with time.” He and New Zealand pianist Stephen de Pledge were introduced by a mutual friend two decades ago, when de Pledge was based in London. Together they’ve performed and toured many times since. “We just clicked,” says de Pledge, on the eve of their ten-concert national tour in August with Chamber Music New Zealand. “We’re great friends, and, musically, we’re both naturally inquisitive and easily bored, so we strive to do interesting stuff.”

Barley is always surprised by how little rehearsal they need when they get together. De Pledge, he says, “has a really good balance between the confident strength of a soloist and the quick sensitive reactions of the chamber musician. It creates a wonderful field for music-making.” 

Their New Zealand programme combines beloved popular repertoire for cello and piano with some of that “interesting stuff”.  Opening with the gorgeous melodic conversation between cello and piano of Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro Opus 70, the programme has at its heart substantial sonatas by Beethoven and Brahms. “It’s a dream programme to play,” says Barley. “We’ve all had such a tough couple of years, I wanted to make a whole evening of pure reward and pleasure.”

The pair are also keen to entertain their audiences with occasional surprises. Barley describes as “little jewels” the Three Pieces for Cello and Piano composed by Frenchwoman Nadia Boulanger a century ago. “The interplay between the instruments is very clever and the Finale is just helter-skelter.”

Cellist Matthew Barley

“…something theatrical and flamboyant.”

Their programme ends with music Barley and de Pledge first performed many years ago and included on their 2005 album “Reminding”. Looking for a virtuosic work to end a concert, Barley made an arrangement of Shostakovich’s Suite from Cheryomushki. “I wanted some humour, something theatrical and flamboyant that showed off the capabilities of the cello,” he tells me. “It features a medley of very beautiful Russian folk songs, some of which the audience will know from other classical works. It’s great fun to play, but fiendishly difficult!”  

“Beethoven & Brahms” with Matthew Barley (cello) and Stephen de Pledge (cello) Auckland, Hamilton, New Plymouth, Napier, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Dunedin, Invercargill & Palmerston North 8 – 22 August 2022 Programme recorded by RNZ Concert for later broadcast. More information here

This preview was first published in the NZ Listener, issue 13 August, 2022.