Three of the Best: Beaux Arts Trio

It was a shame that the New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall was not sold out that Thursday night. With 45 years of performance experience behind it, the Beaux Arts Trio showed once again why it has continued to be perhaps the world's most acclaimed piano trio. The trio's current members-pianist Menahem Pressler, violinist Young Uck Kim and cellist Antonio Meneses-dazzled a polished audience composed mostly of middle-aged Boston society and a sprinkling of the conservatory's students.

What was most apparent from the performance was how Pressler, Kim and Meneses, each a charismatic soloist in his own right, blended so seamlessly. Throughout its history of ever-changing faces (Kim and Meneses are in just their third year with the trio), the Beaux Arts Trio has set the standard for piano trios as well as other chamber ensembles. The group has performed at all the world's major music centers from New York to London to Vienna, as well as some of the most prestigious music festivals including Tanglewood, Aspen and Ravinia. In addition, their recordings have won awards and honors including the Gramophone Record of the Year, three Grand Prix du Disques and a Grammy nomination.

The trio opened with Brahms' Piano Trio No. 2 in C Major, Opus 87. Throughout the first movement, the strings and the piano traded the melody so smoothly that the exchanges seemed barely perceptible, as though the sequences had been performed on a single instrument. From lyrical legatos to graceful pizzicatos, the three seemed to draw the best out of one another's sound. At one especially triumphant arrival, the passionate Meneses had his eyebrows furrowed painfully as Pressler perhaps unconsciously began to sing at the piano. In the third movement, Pressler showed again the flair of a seasoned performer as he maintained a strong rhythm and constant tempo that kept the anxious intensity. Kim was the great showman in the playful fourth movement. His energy propelled not only his bowstrokes, but also his limbs; indeed, at times he seemed to be lifted from his seat.

The contemporary Piano Trio, a piece by Schnittke in two movements, emerged under the trio's hands as a work of magical realism. In Schnittke's piece, the first movement begins deceptively happily before spiralling into intermittent dissonance. Pressler created a haunting echo under the strings, an ever-bubbling undercurrent of the dissonance to come, as each performer surprised the audience as he punctured the melody with a seemingly random trill.

The Beaux Arts Trio ended its performance with Mendelssohn's Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor, Opus 66. Kim highlighted the beautiful second movement, with one pure note bleeding out of a great swell. The frantic third movement was all the more breathtaking and agitated with the trio's crisp strokes and articulation, subito pianos and roars. As the last note faded away, the audience became visibly relaxed, as they half-chuckled at how easy the trio made the movement seem.

With the end of the Mendelssohn, the audience exploded in nonstop applause and shouts of "Bravo!" They were rewarded as the trio sat down once more for an encore. The last movement of the E major Haydn Piano Trio proved to be a delightful, almost giddy, piece, with quirky and crisp grace notes passing among each member of the trio. The group members were obviously having great fun throughout this encore. In jest, Pressler deliberately drew out one note, heightening the anticipation with flair, charm and beautifully clean technique. As the enthusiastic audience once again applauded the brilliant and passionate performance, the trio departed from the stage, showing flashes of the camaraderie that makes them the consummate chamber ensemble musicians.

BEAUX ARTS TRIO

at

Jordan Hall

Oct. 12

at

Jordan Hall

Oct. 12