For the first concert of Keswick Music Society’s new season the Da Vinci Trio presented us with three number ones: Beethoven’s Opus 1 no. 1 in E flat; Shostakovich’s No. 1 in C minor and Mendelssohn’s No 1 in D minor, Op. 49.
Beethoven made the piano trio into a conversation between friends, the piano’s arpeggios weaving between the resonance of cello and violin, before the piano led in the lovely Adagio Cantabile, followed by the light Scherzo and the energetic Finale-Presto.
This delightful start was followed by a sadly beautiful piece by the Estonian composer, Arvo Pärt. It was written in memory of Pärt’s friend, the celebrated violinist, Oleg Kagan, famous for his playing of Mozart. Liivi Ander, who is from Estonia, began on the piano playing the Adagio from the sonata K280, but, as she played, Anthony Moffat, on the violin, and Rudi de Groote, on the cello, entered with sad harmonies and disharmonies, which were sympathetic yet changed the feel of the music completely. It was as though the violin and cello were remembering their friend playing Mozart and expressing their profound sense of loss. It ended with a single, brief note.
After the interval they played Shostakovich’s one movement Trio, written when he was 17. Though some of the melodies were lushly Romantic and the music was, almost inevitably, influenced by Tchaikovsky, Glazunov and Rachmaninov, there were elements – the strident rhythms from the violin and the pushing towards discords – that anticipated the troubled, agonised Shostakovich of later years, this piece had a melancholic beauty that seemed to suggest a hopefulness.
The concert finished magnificently with one of Mendelssohn’s great chamber works, one of the two Piano Trios which he wrote when he was 30. The Molto allegro agitato, with its tempestuous energy was followed by the Andante con moto tranquillo, a lovely movement, a Song Without Words, introduced by the piano playing a singing melody above a rippling accompaniment as the violin and cello joined in, taking up the theme. A light, lively Scherzo was followed by a Finale that was truly Allegro assai appassionata.
It was a wonderful concert enhanced by the way the Da Vinci Trio shared an intimate musical understanding.
The next concert in the Music Society’s programme will be on November 2nd at 7.30pm at St. John’s, given by the Sirocco Winds Wind Quintet.
Steve Matthews