Image via www.melbournerecital.com.au
This recital attempted to fulfil several aims and having them explained to the audience took up a third of the performance. Firstly, this year the Melbourne Recital Centre’s Local Heroes series shared stories of World War I heroes in commemorating the ANZAC Centenary and on this occasion the performance paid tribute to Nurse Jessie Traill who worked as a Voluntary Detachment nurse in the Military Hospital at Rouen. After the war she became a well-known Australian painter. Further, the ensemble performed Charles Ives’ Piano Trio (c1909-10, revised 1914-15), a riotous celebration of the New World, and Dvorák’s extensive third Piano Trio in F minor, Op 65; these works were selected to pay homage to the heritage of two of the ensemble’s performers from the time of the first World War – Almonte’s being Czech and Kadarauch’s American. Lastly, the performance of the Ives was dedicated to Molly Kadarauch’s grandfather, an American musician of import.
The performance confirmed to me that the Salon of the Melbourne Recital Centre presents difficulties for large-scale, Romantic chamber music performance; the sound easily becomes forced and ugly in such a confined space. And the Sutherland Trio enjoys a ‘big’ sound – an ensemble of three soloists in other words – with standing violinist, cellist on a central podium and piano on full stick. It perhaps needs a bigger venue to be heard to its best advantage.
Ives’ three-movement Piano Trio, composed with memories of his years studying at Yale, is an eccentric construction indeed. The first movement (Moderato) recalls a philosophy lecture in form and mood. The second movement, marked TSIAJ (This Scherzo Is A Joke) presents a montage of folksong references including My Old Kentucky Home, Sailor’s Hornpipe, The Campbells Are Coming, Long, Long Ago, Hold the Fort, and There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood, amongst others. Instead of being written as a medley as one might expect, each song is deconstructed and played at once in fragments. The final movement recounts a Sunday service with another smorgasbord of musical references jammed together including Rock of Ages. Ives went on to make his fortune selling insurance. Although it was very entertaining to hear this work again, particularly in such an ebullient and distinctive performance, there must be many who, since hearing the work first performed, have been relieved Ives kept his day job.
Dvorak’s third Piano Trio, Op 65 is a far-reaching construction in four movements, though the printed program only listed three. On this occasion the performance was given plenty of throttle but there were some scrappy outcomes, particularly in the Finale.
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Sutherland Trio
Elizabeth Sellars, violin
Molly Kadarauch, cello
Caroline Almonte, piano
Presented by the Melbourne Recital Centre – Local Heroes Series
24 November 2015
