on 15 March 2025
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The Bechstein Trio at Breinton
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The Bechstein Trio at Breinton
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Priya Mitchell, violin
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Guy Johnston, cello
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Emmanuel Despax, piano
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The Bechstein Trio at Breinton
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Photographs by David Hogg of Horizon Imaging.
My plan to invite the Bechstein Trio to Breinton started from an email from pianist Emmanuel Despax. In it, he introduced the upcoming brand-new concert hall in London, Bechstein Hall, then yet to be completed. He explained that a piano trio was being formed to open this concert hall – would I be interested in engaging them? I grabbed the opportunity right away.
The evening with the Bechstein Trio was everything we wished for. Their programme of Fauré, Beethoven and Mendelssohn was filled with lively excitement and joyful brilliance.
There were numerous heavenly moments in the recital, and the Andantino of Fauré’s sole piano trio was one of them for me – wistfully nostalgic: the singing duet of violin and cello with piano as if gently humming; and the violin and cello in octave doubling a beautifully haunting melody to a heart-wrenching singing by the piano.
The second movement of Beethoven’s Ghost piano trio had the effect of glue on the audience. Sure, the character of this slow Largo is spooky and eerie, but I felt every note played by each instrument was definitive and their artistic expression sublime. The audience was feeling the thrill and breathing with the music. The whispering conversation between the violin and cello was haunting, and the gradual crescendo sounded as if the piano was wrapping them from behind.
Then the gorgeous Mendelssohn piano trio No. 1. Compelling melodic charms, unsettling turbulence, and the masterful interweaving of themes was achieved by the instrumentalists’ dazzling virtuosity. The trio showed an incredible dynamic range of sounds, tones and volume, in a splendid fluidity. It was a one hundred percent crowd-pleaser, and the evening finished with tumultuous applause.
Cellist Guy Johnston writes about the creation of the Bechstein Piano Trio, formed for the opening of London’s new Bechstein Hall:
Earlier this year, pianist Emmanuel Despax received a dream invitation to form a piano trio for the opening of the new Bechstein Hall this season. He immediately set about finding the players, and through various conversations initially with me, we led on to inviting violinist Priya Mitchell to join the new Bechstein Trio.
Guy Johnston is one of the most exciting British cellists of his generation. His early successes included winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year, and significant awards, notably the Shell London Symphony Orchestra Gerald MacDonald Award, Suggia Gift Award and a Young British Classical Performer Brit Award.
He has performed with many leading international orchestras including the London Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra,BBC Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, and St Petersburg Symphony.
Emmanuel Despax has gained worldwide recognition as a singular artist, whose interpretations bring a rare sincerity and imagination to the music.
A remarkable performer of romantic and post-romantic music, he has been invited to give recital performances in the UK (Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, Chipping Campden and Petworth Festivals, and the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham, where he was appointed artistic director in 2020 of a complete Beethoven piano sonata cycle);
Priya Mitchell grew up in Oxford and studied with David Takeno at the Yehudi Menuhin School and with Zachar Bron in Germany. She was then chosen as the British representative of the European Concert Halls Organisation ‘Rising Stars‘ Series, this success led to highly acclaimed tours and performances with, amongst others, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, London Mozart Players, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the Philharmonia.
- FAURE
- Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 120
- BEETHOVEN
- Piano Trio in D major Op. 70 No. 1 'Ghost'
- MENDELSSOHN:
- Piano Trio No 1 in D minor Op 49