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Palm Beach Daily News Commitment key for piano trio AtosBy KEN KEATON One never knows what to expect on the Young Artist Series in the Rinker Playhouse. Though quality is always high, occasionally there is truly exceptional talent. Such was the case Monday night when a packed house heard the Atos Trio. Atos is a piano trio, which is based in Germany, with pianist Thomas Hoppe, violinist Annette von Hehn and 'cellist Stefan Heinemeyer. They were winners of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award (as was the Trio con Brio Copenhagen, another astonishing ensemble from two seasons ago), along with many other distinguished awards in chamber music. They are deeply committed to the ensemble, to the life of chamber musicians. Commitment — that's the key. Atos is committed to every note, every phrase, every movement and every piece they perform, and that's what electrified this performance. The first thing one noticed was tone. Pianist Hoppe has an exquisite sound — clear, pearly, perfectly balanced. Von Hehn's sound, which was perfectly balanced across her range, was especially lovely in the lower register. 'Cellist Heinemeyer had in some ways the most amazing sound. He could sing a melody as meltingly as any, and he could blend with von Hehn as though they were both violinists. But when needed, he could produce an almost percussive intensity in the lower register. Then there was dynamics. I've rarely heard such control, such attention to detail, as from this ensemble. Dynamics were tied to all aspects of expression — rhythm, harmonic tension, articulation — nothing escaped these musicians, and all details came together for the most heightened expressiveness imaginable. Leonard Bernstein once described Beethoven's greatness as inevitability. His melodies may not be the most moving, his counterpoint sometimes awkward, his form wildly experimental, but when everything came together, there was an undeniable rightness to be found. Not a single note could be changed without harming the piece. That quality infused the Atos' performance. The program was conservative, if interesting. Beethoven's Op. 70, No. 2 opened the concert. This was the titan's penultimate trio (after the Ghost and before the Archduke) and, as was his custom, it was a gentler work than either of those. This was lyric Beethoven, the country occupied by his Pastoral Symphony, the Fourth Piano Concerto or the Harp Quartet. The third movement has been singled out for attention, as something of a precursor to the lyricism of Schubert. It had more the character of Mozart, such as one of Papageno's arias from The Magic Flute — simple and lyric, yet still full of character. Schubert's two trios are not the only works he wrote for this instrumentation. His Notturno from the same period anticipates the sublime slow movement of his Quintet. It is music that could only have been written by Schubert, combining the gentle and the majestic as only he could do. The second half was given to Mendelssohn's Trio in D Minor, one of the great masterworks of the genre. One could quibble with the Atos' use of rubato — subtle, though perhaps more than one would normally find in Mendelssohn — but still inevitable. Nothing but what was presented could be possible, at least on this night. One could quibble with the Atos' use of rubato — subtle, though perhaps more than one would normally find in Mendelssohn — but still inevitable. Nothing but what was presented could be possible, at least on this night. Encores on a chamber music program? It would normally seem inappropriate, but Monday's audience would not be denied. The Atos performed the perfect encore, Kreisler's delightfully tacky Viennese March — a perfect close to a treasurable concert. |
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