Friday 29 Jan 2016

Flyer (987KB)

The short recital before the society`s AGM was by the piano trio who were the winners of the last Croser Hughes Chamber Music Competition, held at the University of Surrey.

Consisting mostly of separate movements from a variety of composers,the first to be heard was the" Poco Adagio" from the Piano Trio No 3 Op.65 by Dvorak. Here, apart from a little initial unsteadiness, the general impression was of a good well grounded performance albeit with perhaps a somewhat forced predominance of piano in the forte passages.

The first movement of the Elgar Violin Sonata followed, and certainly lived up to the directive of "Allegro Risoluto" by being a powerful and competent rendering by the violinist and pianist, of the beginning of this famous work.

Mendelssohn`s "Lied ohne Worte" Op.109 for piano and cello, was sensitively played with a fine tone and phrasing by the cellist, and the same composer`s Piano Sonata No.1 Op 6 also sounding very similar to a "song without words", was played with a nice singing tone and good dynamic control by the soloist.

Finally, the trio came together again for a performance of the first movement from the Brahms Piano Trio Op.8 where each player contributed admirably towards a convincing whole. Personally, I again found the piano a little too loud, but maybe, had the piano lid been raised with a short stick instead of being fully open, the balance might have been better.

PB

Roy Cheung was the winner of the Croser-Hughes Chamber Music Competition, the Quattro Mani Piano Duet Competition and the recipient of an award for the best performance of a Romantic piano piece.