Farr's intriguing Forbidden Colours sees the piano trio become a somewhat impressionistic entity, with statements emerging from the overall texture with increasing clarity. Above the piano's shimmering, gamelan-like waves, the strings gradually reveal busy, soaring lines, with the work's hypnotic spell broken only by a brief strident middle section.
I became intrigued by a phenomenon called "forbidden colours" – unseeable by the human eye because their light frequencies automatically cancel each other out. The piece establishes itself as a blurry, impressionistic texture – but soon, things start popping into focus, and then sliding away again out of view. I have tried to create the musical equivalent of when you have to strain your eyes to make something out – to even ascertain if you're looking at anything at all, or if it's just a figment of your retinas.
"The Notturno's sequel, a new piece by Baker's fellow New Zealander Gareth Farr, is called Forbidden Colours – i.e. "bluey yellow" being not quite green – says the composer, because of what he describes as "the elusive, blurry nature of the piece". What's blurry is the water-music in the piano part – superbly rippled by Armstrong – and underlined by the strings, but the structure of this work, which doesn't outstay its welcome, is clear, the themes well defined and touches like the melodic line from violin and cello octaves apart but also having to add extra string harmony in between proof of a fine ear for textures" ≠ The Arts Desk, 15 Sep 2015.
