Melbourne’s young and vivacious Freshwater Trio brought a wonderfully varied program to the fourth year of their immensely popular concert series at the Recital Centre’s Salon this week. Opening with modernist Toru Takemitsu, then moving through Bach and Mendelssohn and ending with Shostakovich, Freshwater offered a fascinating repertoire that showed off their individuality and tendency to surprise their audience. The intimate setting of the Salon offers a kind of informal closeness that is lost in a larger venue, and certainly adds something to an already pleasurable experience.
Takemitsu’s Between Tides, a poetic meditation on the continuous movement of the ocean, was beautifully executed. Like the ebb and flow of oceanic tides, the music in this piece brings together the tradition of conscious reflection in Japanese music, and the influence of Debussy’s Impressionism. On piano, Eidit Golder drives the waves onto the shore, as Zoë Black and Josephine Vains on violin and cello respectively pull the water back home. Intensity increases only momentarily, and as it subsides we realise how captivating this piece is, we are all caught up in the passion of the moment.
In contrast to the elegance of Takemitsu, the performance of two Bach cantatas seems a little bit clunky. This is certainly not a reflection of the trio’s abilities, which are undoubtedly outstanding, but perhaps a result of late program changes and a last minute arrangement by Adam Yee, who stepped in for a suddenly unavailable Michael Keiran Harvey. The problem is in the first of the cantatas – Ich esse mit Freuden mein weniges Brot in that the contrapuntal baroque style is somewhat lost in piano and violin playing the same line through much of the piece. That being said, the addition of soprano Merlyn Quaife brings a lightness and grace to the work, and the overall quality is superb.
Program changes also meant that Freshwater took on the challenge of arranging one of Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words, a venture which should be encouraged for future performances as the result was a delight. From here the trio moved on to Shostakovich’s song cycle inspired by verses by Russian poet Alexander Blok. The mood of these short songs is on the whole quite dark and dramatic, and Quaife’s return to the floor ensured the emotion of the works was palpable. The journey we are taken on by Freshwater’s reading of Shostakovich is exhausting – lost loves are remembered through haunting cello, and piano and violin warn of impending apocalypse. An exciting end to a very interesting program. One can only assume that the Freshwater Trio will continue to contribute to chamber music in an inspiring and dynamic way in the future.
The next performance in the Freshwater Trio Concert Series 2009 is scheduled for 19th December, at the Salon, Melbourne Recital Centre.
Freshwater Trio
with Merlyn Quaife
at The Melbourne Recital Centre
October 28
December 16
