***** (5 stars)
“Delightful and Passionate”
Yik Liang Soo, Khalil Johnson and Elze Fedorcovaite are the Chiara trio, who made their first visit to Northesk parish church as part of the ‘Music at the Brunton’ series. ‘Chiara’ is Italian for ‘clear’: on a lovely sunny day the trio brought their clear, strong, and equal voices to their performance of trios by Haydn and Dvòrăk.
I’m more familiar with Haydn’s string quartets, which are delightful and encompass the full range of emotions – frequently sunny and joyful, occasionally moving into ‘the darker side of things’ but never really hitting the depths of anguish. This G minor trio was written in 1794, when Haydn was 61: its jaunty start had an underlying melancholy – a cloudier day with occasional gleams of sunshine. As the piece went on, I was aware of the constant visual communication between the three players – and, increasingly, the subservient part the cello was playing while the violin and piano took turns to shine… Asked about this afterwards, cellist Khalil Johnson said ‘yes, but I’m really the important one – the rhythm section on which the other two build’ – and that’s very true!
The Dvòrăk F minor trio is a considerably more substantial piece, with some fascinating key changes. It begins and ends in F minor, with a move to the relative major, Ab – but the second movement is in C# minor – a slightly off-the-wall choice, but a most interesting one. Written after the composer’s ‘Slavonic’ period, in which he used many folk tunes, and before the famous ‘Dumky’ trio, this is a dark, dramatic and powerful piece, possibly reflecting the composer’s emotions following his mother’s death.
Here the three musicians put their hearts and souls into the music, pouring out passionate, fluctuating emotions which tumbled and soared and wove around each other. Rising and falling, dramatic outbursts alternated with tranquil moments and gleams of sunshine in the turbulent storms. Elze’s piano rippled and thundered, Yik’s violin soared and wept, Khalil’s cello rumbled and grumbled and then burst out into gloriously clear and noble melodies. There was no subservience here – each voice had its turn to shine in the spotlight and then dance with the others in an unending conversation with occasional gleams of sunshine on the crests of waves in a dark and stormy sea.
This magnificent performance was greeted with a veritable storm of applause, richly deserved, and prolonged – we really didn’t want these three immensely talented youngsters to leave us. Our reward came with the perfect encore – a delicate, sunny, slightly cheeky fun bagatelle by English composer Frank Bridge. It was a joy to see three friends having such fun together – I really do hope they return to Musselburgh very very soon!
Chiara Trio, The Brunton at Northesk,, Run Ended
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