Classical music - Selby and Friends

Sunday afternoon, Elder Hall and Hayden, Beethoven and Schubert piano trios on the program - a pleasant prospect for a full house on a glorious afternoon. And the expectant crowd was not let down. Selby and Friends, TrioZ, gave an enthusiastic and lively performance led by the pianist, Kathy Selby. Selby doubled as master of ceremonies and educated and informed with background into the music and its composers.

The Haydn piece was written after a triumphant second tour to London and it was a good example, according to Selby, of an earlier fashion of trio music in which the right hand played a violin part and the left hand a cello. Haydn's music always sounds so neat and clean and polished and this was no aberration. The slow second movement was exquisite.

Beethoven's Ghost Trio, the heart of the concert, kicked off in energetic fashion and never looked back. Violinist Niki Vasilakis obviously enjoyed performing and it was great to see a musician getting into it rather than the dispassionate cool -- "I'm playing it but I don't like it much" expression that some classic musicians display.

Cello player Emma-Jane Murphy was terrific throughout and all three players interacted and came and went in and out of the music seamlessly. The Schubert piece, Trio in B flat, was sublime with Selby showing a mastery of the keyboard a special delight. And what a finish. An enjoyable concert made even more salubrious by the excellent catering of the Friends.