25 March - Benedetti Trio

Erika and I went to listen to the Benedetti Trio at Holy Trinity Church in Guildford. It was a part of the Guildford International Music Festival, and definitely a highlight of the season. This church has super acoustics and it's a great venue for us too as it is very close to Woking! Erika is a big fan of Nicola Benedetti, so she was really looking forward to this concert.

The trio consists of Nicola Benedetti (violin), Leonard Elschenbroich (cello) and Alexei Grynyuk (piano); the latter two performed last year at Breinton.

Each one is a fantastic musician and has their own dynamic solo career. As anyone would expect, the trio’s performance was fantastic. What struck me most, however, was not the fact that they were super talented players and therefore are capable of perfect and meticulous execution, but there was extra warmth in their playing. We could certainly feel their warm and trusting feeling towards each other, which put the listeners immediately at ease. And it was obvious they were enjoying performing together.

The first half was Schumann’s Piano Trio No. 3. The first movement, Bewegt, doch nicht zu rasch (Agitated, but not too fast), was played just like that. I felt this agitation coming out of the trio’s playing, and when I found out this first movement was called “Agitated, but not too fast”, it all made sense! No offence to Guildford International Festival, but their programme did not mention any details; short programme notes and at least details of the movements would have been much appreciated! Anyway, a few minutes into the movement, the violin and cello play exactly the same melody an octave apart, and I thought it was played marvellously - Nicola’s violin and Leonard’s cello worked in perfect unison. The whole piece was beautiful but I found this part really impressive and remember it clearly. The second movement was really beautiful; they repeated it as an encore with the explanation that this was their favourite movement.

The second half was Trio Elégiaque No. 2 by Rachmaninov. It is a massive work, very serious and heavy. Its dark beginning gave a sense that something was going to happen and explode! The piano part was really dynamic (Rachmaninov was a great pianist after all) and so was Alexei’s playing. There were some amazing chords going up and down, and he did not miss any. I enjoyed this work but it may have been a bit too much for Erika. After they finished Nicola added, “Thank you for hanging on with this piece, I know it is not easy.”

I was not familiar with either of these works – a total lack of study! There are so many beautiful chamber music pieces I should spend more time exploring and listening to them.