Trio Con Brio Copenhagen Dazzles Us!
by
Lyn Bronson
Soo-Jin Hong, Jens Elvekjaer & Soo-Kyung Hong
It was a long program Chamber Music Monterey Bay served up
to us last night at Sunset Center as the award-winning “Trio Con Brio
Copenhagen” performed four significant works for piano, violin and cello.
However, the players’ superb artistry was so convincing that the audience easily
accepted the length of the program, and by the end of the concert it was
difficult to imagine any of the works to have been played any better.
Consisting of two Korean sisters, violinist Soo-Jin Hong
and cellist Soo-Kyung Hong, plus Danish pianist Jens Elvekjaer (well, with the
“Copenhagen” sobriquet, somebody had to be Danish), these young performers
performed together displaying splendid ensemble, virtuosic instrumental skills
and a profound musicianship that made everything they played seem solid and
satisfying.
In the opening work, Haydn’s Piano Trio in C Major, Hob.XV/27,
so major was pianist Elvekjaer’s contribution to the ensemble that you could
easily have been convinced us that this work was a piano concerto played with a
substitution of two string players for a requisite small orchestra. Although we
know that Haydn’s keyboard skills paled in comparison to Mozart’s, you would
never have guessed this based on the difficult keyboard writing in this trio.
Although there was a lot of work cut out for Mr. Elvekjaer, since his part was
virtuosity personified, his idiomatic and effective performance was charming and
seemingly effortless. In the sparkling final Presto movement, Elvekjaer outdid
himself with his fast flying fingers and fabulous clarity at any speed.
In the second work on the program, Ravel’s Piano Trio in A
minor, we entered a magical new world of sensuous sound. We continued to be
impressed with pianist Elvekjaer’s remarkable skills, but in the Ravel we were
hearing much more from Soo-Jin and Soo-Kyung Hong, who suddenly had quite
significant roles. It was a pleasure to hear how they made their instruments
sing with stunning mastery and such a flair for color and sonority. This was
glorious playing.
After intermission we heard the west coast premiere of Bent
Sørensen’s “Phantasmagoria,” which Elvekjaer, speaking from the stage, told us
was all about silences and shadows of silences − all serving a special world of
mysterious sounds. Well, actually it came across as more about sounds than
silences, and during its 17-minute duration, we heard some unworldly sounds that
were as beautiful as they were mysterious. We heard delicately sliding string
glissandos, occasional pitch-less songs (a little like early 20th
century Sprechstimme), and some
almost human melodies eerily intoned by the strings that reminded me of the
reputed sounds of Die Lorelei, the
mythical singing maiden high on a crag overlooking the Rhine who lured ships to
their destruction on the rocks below. The piano writing was equally other
worldly and also totally effective. This is not a work that you would be likely
to forget, so haunting is its ambience.
The final work on the program was the Brahms Piano Trio in
B Major, a work so large and overwhelming that it could have constituted the
entire second half of the program. No matter how many times you have heard this
absorbing work, it never fails to command your attention and hold you hostage
for almost 40 minutes. Last night we heard an especially moving performance of
this work that was so full of passion that it held you enthralled from beginning
to end. The Scherzo movement was dazzling, the Adagio movement as compelling as
always, and the final Allegro just carried us over the top.
After a standing ovation we heard one encore, a movement
from Dvořák’s “Dumky” Trio. The young musicians mingled with members of the
audience in the lobby after the concert and seemed as charming off stage as on.
