…
… Markus Groh, with Rachel Roberts (viola) and Robert Plane (clarinet), played Schumann’s Märchenerzählungen Op. 132.
“This was a historic performance both for the quality of the music and the sheer presence of three instrumentalists at the very top of their leagues.”
Roberts and Plane are longtime collaborators who adore each other. The third movement’s duet between viola and clarinet was a joy to behold. Roberts and Plane smiled and nodded to the other each time their melodic lines were answered…
Groh awakened the piano from its slumber for the final movement where sweeping octaves drive the German march…. Viola and clarinet still dialogued adoringly. The three glanced at each other, their instruments sang the same tonic chord in the home key, and that’s how it ended – as poised and balanced as how it began.
Groh left, Roberts and Plane remained, and Finghin Collins returned for a sumptuous, lyrical account of Mozart’s “Kegelstatt” Trio….
“… The physics and the chemistry were perfect.”
Photo credit: The Arts Desk
