I’d never heard of the British-based Gould Piano Trio, which played Sunday at the Phillips Collection, although it has a fairly large discography. But this group demonstrated, phrase by phrase, what is missing when this music is played by soloists who rehearse a few times together. Pianist Benjamin Frith, violinist Lucy Gould and cellist Alice Neary have high-level professional credentials, including occasional solo engagements with orchestras. But what they produce, after playing for 20 years together, is simply extraordinary.

“The only comparison that comes to mind is the old Beaux Arts Trio; the combination of jeweler-like precision and a musical fire that ignites from the first bar.”

The two string players sport superb bow-arms that make the tiniest distinctions in articulation, in perfect tandem and always with clear musical purpose. Frith… supports or drives the rhetoric with understated virtuosity and startling clarity.

“Though three musical personalities come through, the melding of the minds (and fingers) is on a plane one rarely hears today.”

… Celebrity groups cannot equal the musical excitement generated by first-class players building up an interpretation through years of exacting study and performance, however memorable this or that solo passage may be. This was the most satisfying concert I’ve heard all season.

The Concert:

The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
February 23rd 2014

Haydn Piano Trio in C major Hob XV:27
Stanford Piano Trio no 2 in G minor op 73
Mendelssohn Piano Trio in D minor, op. 49

photo: classicalsource.com