PARADIGM TRIO, First United Methodist Church, Friday.

For its first concert of the new year, the Paradigm Trio — Kelly Parkinson, violin; Joel Rosenberg, viola; Jed Moss, piano — paid a musical tribute to Rosenberg's late mother, Gladys Gladstone Rosenberg, who passed away in February 2002.

The program, which was a benefit for the Wheelchair Sports Foundation, included Mendelssohn's impassioned yet lyrical Piano Trio in D minor, op. 49. The trio was a work that was dear to Gladys Rosenberg and one that she performed frequently during her long career as a concert pianist.

The D minor Trio is one of Mendelssohn's most captivating chamber works. Exquisitely crafted, and even though it is embroiled in romantic fervor and intensity, the piece retains a remarkable freshness and vitality that is uniquely Mendelssohn.

At Friday's well-attended performance, the threesome captured the shifting moods of the work as it passes from the dark storminess of the opening movement, to the heartfelt lyricism of the slow movement, to the light and fluid scherzo, and ultimately to the sunny optimism of the finale.

Throughout, the Paradigm's interpretation of the Mendelssohn was charged with a dynamic spirit that was forceful and dynamic, but above all, eloquent.

All of these characteristics were on display in the Mendelssohn but came out in full bloom in the other work on the program, Brahms' Sextet for Strings in B flat major, op. 18, which was played in Theodor Kirchner's arrangement for piano trio. (The cello parts for both the Brahms and the Mendelssohn were transcribed for the Paradigm Trio by Kelly Richardson.)

The Paradigm captured the warmth and lyricism of the sextet with their expressive, articulate and intelligent reading. However, the opening movement, as well as the scherzo, would have benefited from a more nuanced interpretation. Both of these movements were played fluidly, and, in the case of the first movement, leisurely. Yet the threesome's approach was a bit too gentle.

The same can also be said of the finale, although here the Paradigm's mellow playing underscored the soft lyricism of the music.

The second movement, on the other hand, was the most successful in terms of presentation and execution. The ensemble gave a forceful, driven and persuasive reading of this delightful movement.

As an encore, the trio gave a wonderfully sultry and sensuous reading of Astor Piazzolla's "Autumn."

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E-mail: ereichel@desnews.com