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Whatever quibbles you might have about the Miami International
Piano Festival concerts, you certainly can't accuse them of
being stingy.
The
bi-county event's "Discovery Series" -- its second
and final leg -- opened Wednesday night at the Lincoln Theatre
with a concert to sate even the most ardent chamber music
fan. A program of three weighty piano trios spanning nearly
as many hours presented a non-movable feast that left one
musically satisfied, if feeling a bit dazed and overstuffed
afterwards.
Two
gifted pianists from the festival's regular roster were joined
by string colleagues they hadn't previously performed with.
The mostly inspired playing and surprising degree of ensemble
cohesion were a credit to all these artists. It's too bad
the turnout was, once again, so light for this event.
Though
an early effort, Brahms' Piano Trio in B major explores much
of the autumnal rumination of his later chamber works. Pianist
Ilya Itin, violinist Vesna Gruppman and cellist Mark Kosower
proved fully in sync with the music's ardent expression. The
lyric outpouring of the opening movement was especially fine,
the ebb and flow skillfully judged by all.
Dynamic
contrasts were a bit ironed out in the ensuing Scherzo, which
would have benefited from a lighter, more fleet touch.
Yet
with deep and spacious playing by Itin, the Adagio plumbed
the requisite vein of dark introspection, with sensitively
floated interplay by Gruppman and Kosower. The string players
didn't quite match Itin's combustible virtuosity in the finale,
which sounded like it could have used more rehearsal time,
but on the whole this was a rich and idiomatic Brahms performance.
With
Ariana Kim taking the violin chair, Itin and Kosower began
the evening with Schubert's expansive Piano Trio in B flat
major, D. 898. Itin's incisive style in the Andante seemed
less attuned to the fantasy element than his colleagues, with
Kosower's burnished cello and Kim's sweet-toned violin nicely
blended. All the musicians offered a tight, vigorous rendition
largely sympathetic to Schubert's elevated music, with energized,
high-spirited playing in the concluding Rondo.
The
concert's wild card was provided with Ernest Chausson's Trio
in G minor. This rarely heard work is a real find, dramatic
and well crafted, none the worse for its clear influences.
The shadow of Chausson's teacher Franck hovers in the music's
dark chromaticism, with brief appearances by Faure, Brahms
and even Wagner.
Anchored
by supremely committed keyboard work from Misha Dacic, Kim
and Kosower put across the surging passion of this stormy
music with dedication and powerful dramatic thrust.
Dacic's
performance was especially inspired. The young Yugoslavian
was alive to the daunting technical demands as well as the
poetic qualities, with poised and subtly colored keyboard
playing.
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