Violinist Isabelle Faust, cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras and pianist Alexander Melnikov have distinguished solo careers, and have toured widely and made several recordings as a trio. Faust and Melnikov have appeared at Koerner Hall before, but the Montreal-born Queyras was making his debut. They offered a program of Schumann, Carter, and Brahms, which had its ups and downs.
Robert Schumann’s Piano Trio No. 2 dates from 1847 – it is played less frequently than his Piano Trio No. 1., with good reason. It lacks the melodic inventiveness and passion of its predecessor. The Melnikov-Faust-Queyras Trio emphasized the introspective character of the piece. Their experience with historically-informed performance likely influenced their interpretation, which was more subdued than is convention. Throughout the concert, Melnikov achieved near-miraculous soft playing, which allowed the string players to be easily heard – in the Schumann and later in the Brahms, his playing was sometimes too subdued.
Isabelle Faust (Photo provided)
Elliot Carter’s Epigrams was less enthusiastically received. The most noteworthy thing about the piece is that it was apparently the American composer’s last work, and was written when he was 103 years old. Unfortunately, audiences have never really warmed to his difficult musical abstractions. The Koerner Hall audience didn’t seem to get much out of Epigrams. There are lots of fine pieces for piano trio; Epigrams isn’t one of them.
After intermission came the highlight of the evening: Brahms’ magnificent Piano Trio in B major, in its revised version of 1889. Melnikov starts it off with a piano solo. It is marked piano and Melnikov played this gorgeous melody with restraint, holding back to let the cello and violin take center stage when they entered in succession a few bars later. The tempo was perfect and the music built beautifully to fortissimo. A little more heft at the climax might have been exciting, but this group tends to favour poise and finesse over abandon. The second movement (Scherzo) could hardly have been better. The bouncing bows in the main section were playful, crisp and precise, and the big tune in the B major middle section was noble and grand.
Jean-Guihen Queyras (Photo provided)
The slow movement Adagio is one of Brahms’ most sublime creations. It opens with slow-moving chords in the piano marked pianissmo sempre legato. Melnikov was at his very best here with a sound that seemed to come from another world. In the fourth bar violin and cello joined in espressivo, again, as if from some better world beyond. Faust and Queyras blended beautifully with each other and with Melnikov when they played together later on. Time stood still.
The cello starts off piano in the final Allegro with the piano accompanying at a pianissimo dynamic. Again, Melnikov judged the balance perfectly. The pesante second subject offered a wonderful change of pace and the Trio took it in stride. It was a fine performance of a masterpiece.
Koerner Hall
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