Emotional trios at Park City fest

Monday's Park City International Music Festival concert consisted primarily of works from the 20th and 21st centuries — beginning with the Utah premiere of Frank Levy's Piano Trio No. 2.

Written in 2001 for the Leonore Trio — which also performed it Monday — the work is a bold statement that encompasses an immense range of emotions. Levy's music is solidly grounded in tonality, yet he manages to inject new life into the tried-and-true formula with striking harmonies and disjunct melodic lines.

Levy's Trio opens with an unashamedly romantic theme and conventional harmonies, yet this soon gives way to intense outbursts. The music is emotionally charged, at once angry, anguished and angst-ridden. The boldness of his thematic material, the sudden juxtaposing of unleashed fury with tender lyricism is what defines not only this work but also much of Levy's output.

The Leonore Trio (Rebekah Johnson, violin, Scott Ballantyne, cello, and Steven Masi, piano) gave a passionate, heartfelt performance that brilliantly captured the changing moods of the work. It was an intelligent, probing and thoughtful interpretation, brimming with power and raw energy.

After the Levy, violinist Arturo Delmoni, clarinetist Russell Harlow and pianist Doris Stevenson performed Aram Khachaturian's Trio for Violin, Clarinet and Piano from 1932. The work is a clever blend of different styles and character ranging from neo-classicism to hints of Gershwinesque jazz to folk elements. The three artists played the work wondrously, infusing their performance with ebullience that brought out the music's irresistible charm.

The second half of the concert opened with Delmoni and Stevenson collaborating on Debussy's Sonata for Violin and Piano. Written about a year before the composer's death, the sonata displays the austerity that is found in his last works, yet it is also a remarkably lyrical work with delicately woven lines. Delmoni and Stevenson captured the subtleties of the music with their perceptive and finely delineated performance.

In stark contrast to the preceding, the Brahms Piano Quartet, op. 26, ended the evening. The Leonore Trio, joined by violist Leslie Harlow, exhibited extraordinary ensemble playing in their eloquent performance of this work. Their poetic interpretation underscored the subdued lyricism and subtle drama of the music perfectly.

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