BY GABRIELLE RUTTICO
Musica Viva: The Sitkovetsky Trio
Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 15 by Smetana
Piano Trio ‘The Village’ by Carl Vine (World Premiere)
Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 50 by Tchaikovsky
Perth Concert Hall, April 8 2014
There are some performers that are so perfect it discourages you from ever picking up your instrument again. This wasn’t the case with the very talented Sitkovetsky Trio, however. Musica Viva’s slogan of ‘Music to Inspire’ was never truer than it was on Tuesday night at the Perth Concert Hall.
It took Alexander Sitkovetsky two notes of Smetana’s Piano Trio to have the audience in the palm of his hand. Alexander’s bow stroke cannot be faulted and as a result his violin sung every single note. Not mentioning a vibrato that we students (and a few professionals) would die for.
According to the program, violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky, cellist Leonard Elschenbroich and pianist Wu Qian have played together since they were children studying in the Yehudi Menuhin School. A bit like the Harry, Ron of Hermione of chamber music, the three musicians displayed an amazing friendship. Alexander and Leonard would stare one another down, almost leaping off their chairs to get at one another. Wu would then give a huge downbeat, breaking apart the tension and setting the group in a different direction. They moved and breathed every phrase together.
It seemed that the trio were more comfortable performing Smetana and Tchaikovsky rather than the Vine. Perhaps this is due to their musical tastes, or the stress of working for a living composer. Regardless, their tones and playing techniques seemed a lot more suited to longer Romantic melodies rather than rhythm-based ostinatos. This is not to say that Vine would have been disappointed with the Sitkovetsky Trio’s performance – quite the opposite. The techniques in the Vine, including difficult double stops and harmonics, were very impressive and played brilliantly.
The Tchaikovsky was clearly the trio’s main piece. Leonard even introduced it as dear to their hearts, and one could hear in his voice the sadness when he said it would be the last time they played it in Australia. Again, the theme of friendship was touched upon as the cellist explained the depth of grief in Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio in A minor, and how when they played it they “feel like we have been through something together”. The facial expressions and body language of the three during performance suggested this completely the case.
It was, however, the end of the concert that was the most moving. Even time itself stopped to hear the last few piano chords of Tchaikovsky’s Trio. The three players, upon finishing, did not move for what seemed like an eternity. They kept the audience suspended, and only let us go when they felt that we had witnessed properly the tragic emotion of the piece and the ‘something’ the trio went through to perform. It was truly, truly amazing.
My one and only criticism of the performance is the two string players’ process of putting on mutes. Understandably, neither player wants to keep their mute on behind the bridge because of the buzzing or rattling it creates. This is completely fine. The cellist kept his next to his spike which could be a little distracting when he put it on because he had to reach all the way to the bottom of his cello. However, that isn’t a huge drama. But did Alexander really have to keep his mute in his back pocket? In a sensitive work such as the Tchaikovsky, any bodily movements not directly related to the music itself tend to detract from it. Although Alexander did a very good job of subtly applying his mute, I felt it didn’t manage to avoid the attention of audience members.
The Sitkovetsky Trio performs once more in Australia in Canberra on Thursday April 10. These musical magicians cannot come more highly recommended from their Perth audience (all mutes aside). Canberra audiences will also have the delight of hearing Beethoven’s Piano Trio in B flat, Op. 97 instead of the Tchaikovsky Trio.
Image supplied.
