Music-making of the highest calibre

30 Oct 11

The Gould Piano Trio is celebrating its 20th-anniversary season in vibrant form, but little will surpass the elan of their two-day, morning-till-night, exploration of Brahms. Violinist Lucy Gould, cellist Alice Neary and pianist Benjamin Frith enlisted family, friends and students for this joyous total immersion.

“In the warm, clear acoustic of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama’s new hall, the ideal recital space, the pain and passion of Brahms never felt more alive: grief for Robert Schumann, love for Robert’s wife Clara, the frustration of failure – there was feeling in every note.”

As the weekend’s presiding force, the Gould’s own performances of the trios in C Major, Op 87 and the revised version of the B Major, Op 8 framed proceedings. The playing was exemplary, realising the symphonic rigour of Brahms’s conception, yet never losing the essential intimacy of chamber music. With Tim Thorpe in the Horn Trio, Op 40 and Robert Plane in the Clarinet Trio, Op 114, it was the mix of eloquently melodic sweep with precise details of texture and colouring that held the attention. In the String Sextet in B flat, Op 18, violinist Naomi Thomas, violists Scott Dickinson, David Adams, and cellist Rosie Biss joined Gould and Neary to create a sound of great tenderness and richness, and it vied with the Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op 34, for sheer intensity of expression.

Invidious as it might seem to single out one when chamber music embraces all, Frith deserves an accolade of his own. Combining the most delicate tracery and the most powerful force, his instinct for both the emotional and the architectural weight of Brahms’s utterances was unerring.

“It was all music-making of the highest calibre.”

The Concert:

Gould Piano Trio
with Robert Plane (clarinet), Tim Thorpe (horn), Naomi Thomas (violin), Scott Dickinson(viola), David Adams (viola), and Rosie Biss (cello)
Dora Stoutzker Hall, Cardiff

Brahms Piano Trio in C Major, op 87
Brahms Piano Trio in B Major, op 8
Brahms Horn Trio, op. 40
Brahms Clarinet Trio, op 114
Brahms Sextet in B flat, op. 18
Brahms Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op 34