Concert Review—

Outstanding French Trio Performance Was A Delight

By June S. April

The only regrettable aspect of Paris Piano Trio’s November 13 concert at Edmond Town Hall was that there were no compact discs available to purchase at Edmond Town Hall.

The majority of their recordings are on the Harmonia Mundi label and may be bought via the Internet. The recordings of this notable chamber music trio are a must for any serious music lover’s collection.

Violinist Regis Pasquier, cellist Roland Pidoux and pianist Jean-Claude Pennetier have been friends since they were students at the Paris Conservatory. Each has a highly acclaimed career as a soloist, but their personal kinship and love of sharing the beauty and wealth of chamber music has made their union the larger commitment.

Thus, they are on the road a great deal of the time; currently touring throughout the United States. Before coming to Newtown this month, they conducted Master Classes in Alabama, Washington and New York; as well as performing at universities and concert halls.

The richness of their tones might be compared to the sumptuous colors in the paintings of Degas and Renoir. There is a glow in the timbre and roundness of their harmonies that is not often heard. One does not merely hear the music, rather the audience “inhales” it. Walking out one was filled with a sense of euphoria.

Though the range of music Paris Piano Trio performs/records includes some contemporary works, the profoundly lyrical trios of Haydn, Schubert and Schumann dominate.

The clarity and nuances that distinguish this trio were exquisitely executed in the opening selection, Franz Josef Haydn’s Trio in E-flat minor, Hob XV, No.31.

The lush and passionate melodic strains in Robert Schumann’s Trio in D minor, Opus 63, has this reviewer eagerly anticipating their (promised) future recording of this piece. It was brilliantly performed and clearly, deeply felt by the musicians.    The afternoon concert closed with a remarkably memorable trio which was composed by Franz Schubert in the last year of his all-too-short life. At age 31 this gifted composer held such promise for so many more extraordinary new ideas for future musical creations. Happily, Paris Piano Trio has made a CD of this work.

That Newtown Friends of Music, who sponsored the concert as part of its 2005-06 season, brings such outstanding artistry to this area is to be applauded.