Spectacular Tri Nation Trio's concert was a treat to behold
Nigel Britto
It wasn't mere classical music; it was an elaborately-crafted dossier of proof that classical music, often thought to be a thing of the past, has a very bright future. Those that believe that today’s young musicians are letting down the great classical tradition in favor of lesser genres probably weren’t present at Kala Academy on Friday. The Tri Nation Trio, comprising talented musicians from India, Germany and China all studying in Europe, presented a chamber recital that brought to life and celebrated the works of the great masters of yore.
After the usual hiccup of a late start, Sanya Cotta, Sabine Ehlscheidt and Lin Lin Fan got down to business, proceeding to tackle Brahms’ Trio II for Piano, Violin and Viola Opus 40, whose two movements, Andante and Scherzo, incorporated both melancholy and liveliness (with Ehlscheidt’s viola replacing the usual horn). This piece was written by Brahms in honor of his deceased mother; and the grief was compounded when the stage lights failed during the concert, leaving the musicians confused and the audience wondering whether they had come for a magic show. The performers, though, recovered admirably and proceeded from the second movement. Strangely for a concert pitted as a ‘Trio’, this was the only work where all three played together; it was followed by either solos or duets.
Beethoven was next, and the opening movement Moderato cantabile of Sonata op 110 was executed clinically without much excitement (it started and stopped at first movement). The following piece, Lin Lin Fan’s interpretation of Chopin’s Scherzo No 1, was clearly the highlight of the concert. The Chinese award-winning pianist made a perfect ally of the other German on stage, the shiny black Steinway, attacking the keyboard ferociously for the first two chords (fortissimo), and then proceeding to blitzkrieg faster than a hungry cheetah on steroids, decelerating only for a lush melody in the middle, and then resuming the savage attack.
There was no sheet music to read from, and the pianist’s sheer exuberance gave the performance a rich air of spontaneity. It’s unlikely any key went untouched during the final assault, a string of rapid arpeggios from the lowest to the highest note, back down, and back up again, several times. The high velocity of this piece meant a sudden drop in intensity for the next one, Schubert’s Sonata in A Minor D 821. Its three movements, Allegro Moderato, Adagio and Allegreto, were played by Ehlscheidt on the viola, accompanied on the piano.
Sonata in G Major by Beethoven marked a return in zing; Cotta, who had begun with uncharacteristic caution earlier (while performing Brahms), seemed to be back in her element as her playing got fresher and more natural as the recital wore on; the intonation was perfect, and she was ably assisted by Chinese prodigy Fan, who, by her reticent yet aggressive style, made the entire crowd Fan fans. The interpretation was clean and well-executed.
Jean Martinon is considerably lesser known than his more illustrious 20th century counterparts, but he’s nevertheless one of the more important conductors of his age. The Frenchman’s fiendishly complex compositions, sometimes without any accompaniment, leaves the performer with a formidable task at hand; but Cotta, with poise and supreme concentration, proved why World War veteran’s name appears only in the concert repertoires of only the best and most confident. The increasing confidence was highly evident in the fact that the encore of Brahms’ Scherzo turned out much better than the rendition performed earlier in the evening.
The flipside was the consistently shaky performance of compere Kiran Thapar, who started off saying the ‘the music is composed by three young girls’ (Beethoven, Chopin and Schubert definitely weren’t) and continued her Friday the 13th moment throughout, goofing up as the concert went along, never really settling down.
Also, for this caliber of musicians, the decision to perform selected movements in isolation was surprising (Schubert’s Sonata by Ehlscheidt/Fan being the only complete work on display), and one hopes the next recital would feature chamber works in their entirety. From the audience point of view, the impromptu accompaniments by ringing mobiles and crying babies were not really necessary and could have been done without.
After the usual hiccup of a late start, Sanya Cotta, Sabine Ehlscheidt and Lin Lin Fan got down to business, proceeding to tackle Brahms’ Trio II for Piano, Violin and Viola Opus 40, whose two movements, Andante and Scherzo, incorporated both melancholy and liveliness (with Ehlscheidt’s viola replacing the usual horn). This piece was written by Brahms in honor of his deceased mother; and the grief was compounded when the stage lights failed during the concert, leaving the musicians confused and the audience wondering whether they had come for a magic show. The performers, though, recovered admirably and proceeded from the second movement. Strangely for a concert pitted as a ‘Trio’, this was the only work where all three played together; it was followed by either solos or duets.
Beethoven was next, and the opening movement Moderato cantabile of Sonata op 110 was executed clinically without much excitement (it started and stopped at first movement). The following piece, Lin Lin Fan’s interpretation of Chopin’s Scherzo No 1, was clearly the highlight of the concert. The Chinese award-winning pianist made a perfect ally of the other German on stage, the shiny black Steinway, attacking the keyboard ferociously for the first two chords (fortissimo), and then proceeding to blitzkrieg faster than a hungry cheetah on steroids, decelerating only for a lush melody in the middle, and then resuming the savage attack.
There was no sheet music to read from, and the pianist’s sheer exuberance gave the performance a rich air of spontaneity. It’s unlikely any key went untouched during the final assault, a string of rapid arpeggios from the lowest to the highest note, back down, and back up again, several times. The high velocity of this piece meant a sudden drop in intensity for the next one, Schubert’s Sonata in A Minor D 821. Its three movements, Allegro Moderato, Adagio and Allegreto, were played by Ehlscheidt on the viola, accompanied on the piano.
Sonata in G Major by Beethoven marked a return in zing; Cotta, who had begun with uncharacteristic caution earlier (while performing Brahms), seemed to be back in her element as her playing got fresher and more natural as the recital wore on; the intonation was perfect, and she was ably assisted by Chinese prodigy Fan, who, by her reticent yet aggressive style, made the entire crowd Fan fans. The interpretation was clean and well-executed.
Jean Martinon is considerably lesser known than his more illustrious 20th century counterparts, but he’s nevertheless one of the more important conductors of his age. The Frenchman’s fiendishly complex compositions, sometimes without any accompaniment, leaves the performer with a formidable task at hand; but Cotta, with poise and supreme concentration, proved why World War veteran’s name appears only in the concert repertoires of only the best and most confident. The increasing confidence was highly evident in the fact that the encore of Brahms’ Scherzo turned out much better than the rendition performed earlier in the evening.
The flipside was the consistently shaky performance of compere Kiran Thapar, who started off saying the ‘the music is composed by three young girls’ (Beethoven, Chopin and Schubert definitely weren’t) and continued her Friday the 13th moment throughout, goofing up as the concert went along, never really settling down.
Also, for this caliber of musicians, the decision to perform selected movements in isolation was surprising (Schubert’s Sonata by Ehlscheidt/Fan being the only complete work on display), and one hopes the next recital would feature chamber works in their entirety. From the audience point of view, the impromptu accompaniments by ringing mobiles and crying babies were not really necessary and could have been done without.
This article was first published in The Times of India's Goa edition on August 15, 2010.
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