Get Herald RSSThe Vienna Piano Trio is the type of group you can often hear only in very crowded New York City concert halls - if you're lucky enough to get tickets.
So Brown students, faculty and Providence community members were very fortunate to hear the group this past Wednesday night in Alumnae Hall.
The trio kicked off this year's classical music series sponsored by the Rhode Island Chamber Music Concerts, a community organization that brings two groups to campus each semester.
Though the hall was more than half-full and included some students, it was composed primarily of older community members.
Classical music is often performed by aging musicians - particularly well-known masters - so this trio's youthfulness was refreshing. The pianist Stefan Mendl and the violinist Wolfgang Redik are both just nearing 40 years of age, while the cellist, Matthias Gredler, is even younger. The performers are poised at a great moment in their careers. Though professionally experienced, they exhibited a supremely fun, youthful level of excitement.
The "Piano Trio No. 43 in C," composed from 1794-95 by Franz Joseph Haydn, opened the performance, and the 200-year old piece sounded anything but stale. Haydn wrote wit into his music, and the group performed it with flawless humor. There were moments throughout the piece where the music almost smirked. Notes were held back just a quarter of a beat or less by the performers, like punch lines to glib parlor quips.
The group would share a tiny breath - if you blinked you would have missed it - but there was the indescribable satisfaction, and indeed, the slight smile, of being in on a funny joke.
After the applause for the Haydn settled, the players retuned and slipped into the opening bars of the "Piano Trio in A minor," by Maurice Ravel. Not only was the music making a 120-year leap, but it was also jumping into an entirely different palate - Paris in the early 20th century.
It only took a few bars to realize that the Austrian players could speak French too. This four-movement piece contained an expansive world of tone, as moments of incredible depth and richness, fast trills and quick darts of sound gave the performance a thoughtful, contemplative feeling that carried through from beginning to end.
This performance had a unity very much like a tightly wound rubber band - one that contained an enormous store of potential energy.
A very special dialogue happened in the third movement, entitled "Passacaille," which featured a slow and deliberate passing back and forth of motifs, phrases and themes. Amid the energy of the evening, the group embraced a beautiful moment of peace in the second half of the Ravel, where the intimacy of the players - both musically and personally - was evident to the audience.
The fourth movement sizzled and cooked like jazz. It was not a simple Hollywood ending, though Ravel finishes in a bright major chord. The final moments were a churning progression of trills with seemingly dark undertones.
The program closed with the "Schumann piano trio in d minor, Opus 63," a four-movement work of German romanticism.
Comfort pervaded the dark hall: the audience knew the players, they had seen what the group was capable of and they could lean back and have fun. And the particular nuances of the players were particularly evident. With every delicate gesture, Mendl lifted his arm in an elegant, swooping arc, which would have seemed stylized had it not been so genuine.
Building to an inevitable and wonderful conclusion, "Mit Feuer" (with fire) - the final movement of the Schumann - captured the entire technical mastery of the group. The trio tore through massive chords and equally daunting string runs with complete ease - leading to a well-deserved standing ovation.
Chances to see live music of this caliber are invaluable to the University community, and students have access to discounted $5 tickets. Single tickets for non-students run up to $32.
Though the hall was more than half-full and included some students, it was composed primarily of older community members.
