Broadcast live on Friday 14th August at St Luke's Church in London, this was another superb chamber music concert which should have had a live audience, and due to current restrictions, unfortunately didn't.
This concert featured the classic chamber music combination of piano, violin and cello; commonly referred to as a piano trio.
Three works were performed and expert and informative introductions to each were given by violinist Belinda McFarlane. With McFarlane on the small stage this afternoon were Jennifer Bronn (cello) and Elizabeth Burley (piano). And if it hadn't have been for the inclusion of a Rachmaninov piece in the programme this would have been a completely all-female affair.
The concert started with the Nocturne from 'A Russian Summer' by contemporary composer Judith Lang Zaimont. I had never heard of this composer before, but according to the programme notes supplied online for the concert, she is an American composer and pianist of eastern European heritage, and in this piece she goes back to her roots with a sombre Sarabande-inspired piece. The piece is reminiscent of a long summer night in the middle of nature, as it pulses, ebbs and flows, all around her. Wistful one moment, jarring and nightmarish the next. The piece gives prominence to all three instruments equally, and is actually quite "Romantic" in style and in the programmatic nature of the composition. It is also quite lyrical too.
A very short piece followed by another new-to-me contemporary compoer: Hannah Kendall's minature fantasy, "A Winged Spirit" for piano and violin duet. Born in London and now studying in New York, Kendall introduced this piece herself, and informed us that she took inspiration from a piece of fine art by Joseph Cornell - a ballerina seemingly in flight.
This piece segued into the final piece of the evening, Rachmaninov's Trio Elegaique #1. For a Rachmaninov super-fan, this was no surprise being in a paino trio concert, as it has been since being written by Rachmaninov in 1892 at the age of 19, one of the concert platform's favourite trios. I have lost count of the number of times I have listened to this work, inspired by his muse, Tchaikovsky. Even at the age of 19, Rachmaninov was able to write lush, melancholic passages of pure romantic and passionate beauty. It is both lyrically rich and richly lyrical, and is always a joy to listen to.
Once again I was applauding furiously at my computer screen. I hope this is not going to be the new norm! Please let us have live performances back, the computer is a very poor substitute!
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 16/8/20
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