Festival du Comminges, 29/07/2017
Schubert : Piano Trio No. 2
Tchaikovsky : Piano Trio
Trio Zadig
Boris Borgoletto, violin
Marc Girard-Garcia, cello
Ian Barber, piano
Just two works on the programme, but mighty pieces, both, each clocking in at around 45 minutes. The Trio Zadig is a young formation, but they certainly don't lack commitment to the music, no matter how demanding. There were, however, a couple of technical issues, one unavoidable, the other which should have been taken care of during sound checks on site. The balance between piano and the two stringed instruments is always a delicate affair, since the piano is undeniably the most powerful of the three. It was clear that the Trio had not had a friendly ear in the church during rehearsals, because at the start of the Schubert, the piano was positively thunderous. It took around ten or fifteen minutes for Barber to adjust things properly, although it says much for him that he was actually able to do so while performing, and then they had to go through the whole process again for the Tchaikovsky, whose sound world is completely different from Schubert's. However, they did restore equilibrium in both cases.
The other problem was that Borgoletto and Girard-Garcia use gut strings, notoriously sensitive to humidity, and they were performing in a stone church at the end of a hot summer's day. The result was tuning breaks of upwards of 30 seconds between every movement. If it didn't matter too much in the Tchaikovsky, because there are only two movements in the first place, it rather disturbed the flow of the Schubert, resulting in a respectable reading but without the kind of spiritual intensity that produces really transcendent performances.
It was a different story for the Tchaikovsky, whose 45 minutes have never passed so easily and effortlessly before for me. This is reputed to be the most difficult piano music Tchaikovsky ever wrote, and Barber is a powerful, as well as accurate player. The warmer timbre of the gut strings made the opening melody sing with particular poignancy, while the substantial set of variations that comprises the second movement was played with a tremendous sense of character. Each variation was like a different personage, in the way Schumann's Carnaval is, each with its own distinct humour, and a great deal of panache. It made the return of the first movement's brooding, mournful theme all the more poignant.
[Next : 8th August]
Tchaikovsky : Piano Trio
Trio Zadig
Boris Borgoletto, violin
Marc Girard-Garcia, cello
Ian Barber, piano
Just two works on the programme, but mighty pieces, both, each clocking in at around 45 minutes. The Trio Zadig is a young formation, but they certainly don't lack commitment to the music, no matter how demanding. There were, however, a couple of technical issues, one unavoidable, the other which should have been taken care of during sound checks on site. The balance between piano and the two stringed instruments is always a delicate affair, since the piano is undeniably the most powerful of the three. It was clear that the Trio had not had a friendly ear in the church during rehearsals, because at the start of the Schubert, the piano was positively thunderous. It took around ten or fifteen minutes for Barber to adjust things properly, although it says much for him that he was actually able to do so while performing, and then they had to go through the whole process again for the Tchaikovsky, whose sound world is completely different from Schubert's. However, they did restore equilibrium in both cases.
The other problem was that Borgoletto and Girard-Garcia use gut strings, notoriously sensitive to humidity, and they were performing in a stone church at the end of a hot summer's day. The result was tuning breaks of upwards of 30 seconds between every movement. If it didn't matter too much in the Tchaikovsky, because there are only two movements in the first place, it rather disturbed the flow of the Schubert, resulting in a respectable reading but without the kind of spiritual intensity that produces really transcendent performances.
It was a different story for the Tchaikovsky, whose 45 minutes have never passed so easily and effortlessly before for me. This is reputed to be the most difficult piano music Tchaikovsky ever wrote, and Barber is a powerful, as well as accurate player. The warmer timbre of the gut strings made the opening melody sing with particular poignancy, while the substantial set of variations that comprises the second movement was played with a tremendous sense of character. Each variation was like a different personage, in the way Schumann's Carnaval is, each with its own distinct humour, and a great deal of panache. It made the return of the first movement's brooding, mournful theme all the more poignant.
[Next : 8th August]