Paradigm getting better and better

PARADIGM TRIO, First United Methodist Church, 203 S. 200 East, Monday; also 7:30 p.m. Thursday, donations at the door (Utahns Against Hunger benefit).

The fact that hardly any music has been written for a piano trio that substitutes a viola for the customary cello hasn't hindered the Paradigm Trio. To be sure, several transcriptions have been published for this unique combination, which gives the Salt Lake group some substantial programming choices. And thanks to the efforts of Orchestra of Sandy City violinist Kelly Richardson, the trio has been able to noticeably expand the repertoire.

Monday's season opener by the Paradigm Trio (Kelly Parkinson, violin; Joel Rosenberg, viola; and Jed Moss, piano) featured two works that have been arranged for the group by Richardson. Franz Schubert's Trio No. 1 in B flat major, op. 99, and Felix Mendelssohn's Trio No. 1 in D minor, op. 49, are both mainstays of the piano trio literature — and both sound remarkably solid in their transcriptions.

Having a viola instead of a cello lightens the texture of the music, of course. But the musical fabric doesn't become transparent or flimsy because of it. There is still a richness and volume to the sound that makes the music in this form resonant, if somewhat less mellow and weighty. The viola doesn't detract from the composer's intentions. If anything, it makes it clearer and more succinct.

It helps to have an exceptional ensemble such as the Paradigm Trio play this music. The Parkinson/Rosenberg/Moss collaboration has been around for several years now, and it just keeps getting better and better with every concert. Each member is an outstanding soloist in his or her own right, and as a group they exhibit finely tuned and nuanced ensemble work. Their concerts are examples of chamber music of a high caliber.

They opened Monday's concert with the Schubert Trio, one of the composer's major chamber works, and one of the most significant works to stem from the early 19th century. The Paradigm captured the vibrancy and spirit of the piece with its energized and driven performance. The group's interpretation brought out beautifully the large gestures of the work. There was also a naturalness to their playing that lent itself readily to the free-flowing melodicism and genial lyricism that courses throughout each of the four movements.

The Mendelssohn was no less articulate. Much more impassioned than the Schubert, Mendelssohn's trio is imbued with a dramatic restlessness that is barely constrained by the classical forms the composer employs.

The Paradigm gave a solidly robust and at times voluptuous reading of this wonderfully intense work. Driven and vibrant, the musicians nevertheless infused their playing with delicately carved phrasings that highlighted the subtle interplay among the instruments.

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