Concert Review:
- The EROICA Trio
I attended this concert last night, February 9th, 2014 at the Marines’ Memorial Theater in San Francisco. It was an interesting program consisting of trios by Beethoven and Brahms at the beginning and end, as well as music by a French composer and British composer.
The music I enjoyed most was the Piano Trio by British composer Rebecca Clark, who lived from 1886 to 1979. Members of the Eroica Trio seemed particularly comfortable with this music. They succeeded in showing us music that was composed in 1921, with clear influence of impressionist styles of Debussy and Ravel. All three performers played out more in this piece. In the Andante Semplice movement there was a very successful quiet expressiveness shown by the performers.
French music was represented by Benjamin Goddard. His composition was the Berceuse from “Jocelyn”. While this piece a quite short, my own enjoyment was somewhat reduced by excessive sliding expressed by the string players.
My sense is that the performance itself suffered somewhat from the black curtains behind the performers. At this venue, one really needs a solid sound shell of some sort to allow the sound to project forward.
In my view, Cellist Sarah Saint’Ambrosio was able to overcome the venue’s environment and come through as the best player of this group.
Here is the Brahms Piano Trio No. 1, Op. 8, as performed by the Eroica Trio:
And next, here are the same performers playing the Schubert Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello, in B-Flat Major, Op 99, the 2nd Movement:
Tags: Eroica Trio, concert review, San Francisco, February 9, 2014, Beethoven, Brahms