The programme was Haydn Piano Trio in A Hob.XV/18 and Beethoven’s Piano Trio in B flat Op.97 “Archduke”. The concert from my perspective was a bit of happenstance that worked well. Originally this was to be a violin and piano recital – Beethoven and one of the violinist’s own works – by Jennifer Pike and Martin Roscoe. Jennifer Pike pulled out and it was changed to the programme above with the Martin Roscoe Trio. Then Martin Roscoe pulled out and the final line-up was Tim Horton alongside violinist Fenella Humphreys and cellist Jessica Burroughs!
The piano trio by Haydn was – as you would expect from previous comments in this blog – appreciated and enjoyed. There was a quirky final movement that had folk music overtones which I particularly liked. I was at the back of the body of the church and the sound wasn’t great – it could have been where I was sitting, but the violinist seemed to be playing less assertively than she should have been – at some points it sounded more like a cello sonata with a violin occasionally interpolating…..but, as I say, that was probably the acoustics.
It is years since I sat down and listened to the Archduke Trio – I had a vinyl recording of it as a teenager but I am sure I have never heard it live……. I remembered the first two movements but the slow movement – a theme and variations – I must have skipped as a teenager, perhaps being over-impatient or feeling that it was boring. What a wonderful movement it is. The performance struck me as very good and got lots of cheering and stamping of feet at the end. Listening the next day to my recording of the Trio with the Beaux Arts Trio, I thought that maybe in the Roscoe Trio’s performance there was insufficient wonder and not as much of an almost religious awe to that slow movement that you’d find in some performances. But this is from a very high set of standards – Tim Horton and colleagues’ performance was excellent
John's musical journey 