From Deseret News archives:
Sequenza is a class act
Elegant. Refined. Dignified. Whatever they set their hands to, the three Sequenza members — Colin Carr, Mark Kaplan and Yael Weiss — seem bound to these ideals.
That's the way it was Tuesday at the concert sponsored by the Chamber Music Society of Salt Lake City. In a program presenting two masterworks — Beethoven's "Archduke" Piano Trio and Schumann's Piano Trio No. 2 in F and the premiere of Hersch's "Variations on a Poem" — the trio was a class act.
The concert began with the Schumann. From the exuberant first movement to the last, the three approached this piece in a moderate romantic vein. They gave it plenty of emotion without being melodramatic, staying within the bounds of taste and decorum. Members of the trio were sensitive to each other and the intertwining of the counterpoint, and at times it seemed the audience was eavesdropping on a pleasantly animated interchange between three good friends. Clean and articulate, the trio gave an excellent performance of this work.
Hersch's "Variations on a Poem," which followed, provided a striking contrast to the rest of the program. Using a poem by Lord Byron as the theme (followed by musical variations), this piece is gloomy and dark. (It was also literally "dark," since the stage lights were dimmed.) The performance captured the sense of atmosphere and color that permeated the work, and there were nice moments of intensity, such as the variation that featured the violin and cello in a duo.
But overall, this piece was hard to warm up to or become engaged with — although the writing itself is obviously well-crafted and deserving of praise. It could have been a combination of its abstract nature, slow tempo and somber tone. In any case, here's one slightly humorous anecdote: At one point during the piece, a phone was heard ringing (it sounded somewhat distant). Instead of being annoying, however, the sound seemed to somehow fit what the trio was playing at that moment. Avant-garde composer John Cage would have been proud.
Beethoven's Piano Trio in B-flat Major ("Archduke") ended the concert. Carr, Kaplan and Weiss brought a sense of life, balance and refinement to this piece with an elegant yet spirited performance. There were some particularly lovely moments with the melodic themes of the first movement.
E-mail: rcline@desnews.com
