Last Concert Of Chamber Music Season

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30234, 12 September 1963, Page 16

Last Concert Of Chamber Music Season

The last concert for this season given by the Chamber Music Society last evening in the Civic Theatre was an outstanding success, and the playing of the Trio di Bolzano will long be remembered with enthusiasm and gratitude by the audience. Nunzio Montanan is a pianist with a rare fluency and control in chamber music playing. There was striking flexibility in all his work and the dynamic qualities of his touch, which imparted such stirring life to the music, never upset the balance in the slightest. It seeemed to have the flashing thrust of a truly-tempered Toledo rapier. Giannino Carpi’s violin playing had a beautiful sheen in tone in every phrase he played. From the most delicately whispering sounds to brilliant cascades and most exciting climaxes, there was not one note that was not thoroughly beautiful and interesting. It was superbly vital playing, richly vibrant, and exactly suited to the spirit of the music at all times. Sante Amadori's 'cello seemed to have magical qualities in the rounded mellowness of the tone he produced from it, especially in the fantastic strength when his fingers seemed to be right up on the bridge itself. He gave us an astonishing variety of timbres ranging from a melting lyricism to an arresting and challenging tone, which could cut through without any apparent power used to do sb. All these very exciting and rewarding qualities in the playing of the Bolzano Trio were under the strictest discipline and guided by an artistry which reached very deeply into the music far beyond the printed page, and the highly-individual powers merged into a completelysatisfying and electrifying ensemble.

The programme began with Mendelsohn’s Trio in C minor, Opus 66. As played by the Bolzano Trio, this music came forth as deserving much greater attention than was suggested by the rather patronising programme notes. The scherzo was a sheer delight and had that will-o-the-wisp magic which Mendelssohn knew how to impart with such ease and grace. Mozart’s Trio in E major was played with perfect insight and exemplary shaping of every phrase. It all sounded so easy and inevitable and had that silken elegance which no amount of technique can impart merely of itself. Wide experience and understanding lay behind all that we were given here.

The great work on the programme was Ravel’s incomparable Trio in A minor, and in this the players reached a memorable height. This very lovely work began with cool sounds falling graciously, then rising momentarily to an impassioned climax. This was followed by a delicately-soaring theme from the violin and worked out into an intricate and most beautiful tapestry of sound with the other instruments. It was a movement of mystical and lyrical atmosphere and was superbly interpreted with telling artistry and amazing mastery of expressive colouring right through to its spellbinding ending. The second movement had a swirl of a lively dance with intriguing little quirks of rhythm aind harmonic piquancy, all of which were played by the Bolzano Trio with a seeming telepathic sympathy for the finest varieties of nuance. The third movement was a passacaglia free from pedantry. It began in shadows which gradually dispersed giving place to an illumination of noble scenery of vast depth. The last movement grew from the preceding one with strength and spirited exuberance and unfolded its story of high adventure. The main burden of the movement belonged to the piano with entrancing side effects from the strings. It was all wonderful playing richly deserving the ovation it received. —C.F.B.