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In the performance given by the Gould Piano Trio, [Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ A Voyage to Fair Isle] emerged as a piece of the most ravishing colours, its opening misty and mysterious, followed by outbursts of fierce, feverish passion.
“The tributes to the Fair Islanders’ own traditions in the form of brilliantly worked cadenzas were delivered by the Goulds with a panache that was the perfect foil for the deep sensitivity of the more mournful passages. Davies appeared delighted, as well he might.”
By way of complement, the Gould Trio gave the premiere of James MacMillan’s Piano Trio No 2. Cast in one single movement, its initial fast and pounding rhythmic dynamic had an immediately arresting quality, with the piano writing, realised with resonant force by Benjamin Frith, propelling everything forward. Yet, the more reflective, keening mode of Lucy Gould’s violin and Alice Neary’s cello were so persuasively delivered as to make the return of the manic opening doubly effective.
Framing these two works were staples of the classical trio repertoire, Beethoven’s trio Op121a – the Kakadu Variations, and Brahms’s Trio in C major, Op 87.
“The Goulds found a wealth of expressive detail in individual melodic lines, but it is the collective intelligence and insight of their playing that is so impressive and the Brahms, in particular, was made to carry a positively symphonic intensity.”
The Concert:
Gould Piano Trio
Guildhall, Bath
Bath International Music Festival, 2014
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies A Voyage to Fair Isle
James MacMillan Piano Trio No 2 (world premiere)
Beethoven Piano Trio op,121a
Brahms Piano Trio in C major, op. 87
photo: classicalsource.com
