BY HOANG PHAM
Sitkovetsky Trio
Musica Viva
Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre, 18 July
The Sitkovetsky Trio played an absorbing recital in front of an enthusiastic audience at the Melbourne Recital Centre. The last time I heard this trio perform was in 2014 with a different cellist. But other than this, the high quality of their performance remained consistent with my last experience.
Early in the evening, we were treated to a passionate performance of the famous Shostakovich Piano Trio No. 2. The range of emotion and instrumental flair throughout was stunning. At one point during the climactic final movement, it seemed cellist Bartholomew LaFollette would fall off his seat – this was playing where the music gripped both performers and audience.
Lachlan Skipworth’s Japanese-inspired Piano Trio was the featured Australian work on the program (did you read Lachlan’s blog about his work?). The trio played this work with an array of colour and nuance. To open the concert, they presented Rachmaninov’s early Piano Trio No. 1, which saw pianist Wu Qian navigate the famous composer’s virtuoso writing with striking effect.
In the famous Mendelssohn Piano Trio No. 1, which marked the end of the concert, all three performers revelled in the melodic beauty and constant invention of this much-loved work. Alexander Sitkovetsky’s solo in the second movement was especially touching.
The evening concluded with an encore of the slow movement from Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 2, played with the same talent as the earlier performance of Mendelssohn.
Image supplied. Credit: Karen Hutt.
