<PeninsulaReviews>

Reviews of Musical Events on the Monterey Peninsula
Lyn Bronson, Editor
121 Fern Canyon Rd.
Carmel, CA 93923-9604

It was a long program Chamber Music Monterey Bay served up to us last night at Sunset Center as the award-winning “Trio Con Brio Copenhagen” performed four significant works for piano, violin and cello. However, the players’ superb artistry was so convincing that the audience easily accepted the length of the program, and by the end of the concert it was difficult to imagine any of the works to have been played any better.

Consisting of two Korean sisters, violinist Soo-Jin Hong and cellist Soo-Kyung Hong, plus Danish pianist Jens Elvekjaer (well, with the “Copenhagen” sobriquet, somebody had to be Danish), these young performers performed together displaying splendid ensemble, virtuosic instrumental skills and a profound musicianship that made everything they played seem solid and satisfying.

In the opening work, Haydn’s Piano Trio in C Major, Hob.XV/27, so major was pianist Elvekjaer’s contribution to the ensemble that you could easily have been convinced us that this work was a piano concerto played with a substitution of two string players for a requisite small orchestra. Although we know that Haydn’s keyboard skills paled in comparison to Mozart’s, you would never have guessed this based on the difficult keyboard writing in this trio. Although there was a lot of work cut out for Mr. Elvekjaer, since his part was virtuosity personified, his idiomatic and effective performance was charming and seemingly effortless. In the sparkling final Presto movement, Elvekjaer outdid himself with his fast flying fingers and fabulous clarity at any speed.

In the second work on the program, Ravel’s Piano Trio in A minor, we entered a magical new world of sensuous sound. We continued to be impressed with pianist Elvekjaer’s remarkable skills, but in the Ravel we were hearing much more from Soo-Jin and Soo-Kyung Hong, who suddenly had quite significant roles. It was a pleasure to hear how they made their instruments sing with stunning mastery and such a flair for color and sonority. This was glorious playing.

After intermission we heard the west coast premiere of Bent Sørensen’s “Phantasmagoria,” which Elvekjaer, speaking from the stage, told us was all about silences and shadows of silences − all serving a special world of mysterious sounds. Well, actually it came across as more about sounds than silences, and during its 17-minute duration, we heard some unworldly sounds that were as beautiful as they were mysterious. We heard delicately sliding string glissandos, occasional pitch-less songs (a little like early 20th century Sprechstimme), and some almost human melodies eerily intoned by the strings that reminded me of the reputed sounds of Die Lorelei, the mythical singing maiden high on a crag overlooking the Rhine who lured ships to their destruction on the rocks below. The piano writing was equally other worldly and also totally effective. This is not a work that you would be likely to forget, so haunting is its ambience.

The final work on the program was the Brahms Piano Trio in B Major, a work so large and overwhelming that it could have constituted the entire second half of the program. No matter how many times you have heard this absorbing work, it never fails to command your attention and hold you hostage for almost 40 minutes. Last night we heard an especially moving performance of this work that was so full of passion that it held you enthralled from beginning to end. The Scherzo movement was dazzling, the Adagio movement as compelling as always, and the final Allegro just carried us over the top.

After a standing ovation we heard one encore, a movement from Dvořák’s “Dumky” Trio. The young musicians mingled with members of the audience in the lobby after the concert and seemed as charming off stage as on.