Impressions of a Holiday

PERFORMED in Melbourne only five times a year, recitals by Trioz are to be treasured, as is clearly evident from the ensemble's Wednesday night program.

Kathryn Selby's piano drew most of the attention during the opening Haydn Trio in G, the one that ends with the Gypsy Rondo. It was a fluent and pointed reading that justified this artist's pre-eminence among Australian chamber music keyboard players. Not that violinist Niki Vasilakis or cellist Emma-Jane Murphy underplayed their roles, but the work highlights the piano while the strings remain muted secondary presences.

However, all members had plenty of exposure in the night's finale, Mendelssohn's Piano Trio in C Minor. Though not as popular as its D minor predecessor, the work has enjoyed a revival at recent Melbourne international chamber music competitions where it endured assaults from several groups. The Trioz interpretation operated on a high level, the group's mastery of shading a delight from the opening restless Allegro to the finale's climactic Genevan chorale - here, a moment of earnest and surging energy, not the usual overblown piety.

Vasilakis and Murphy matched Selby in craftsmanship, their voluble lines relishing Mendelssohn's penchant for euphonious thirds and sixths, with Murphy's high register a soaring pleasure.

All three showed sympathy with the Opus 50 Trio by Granados, including a light touch in the Scherzetto.

Even finer work came in the players' expounding of Eugene Goossens' Five Impressions of a Holiday, a successful fusion of Gallic rapidity of movement and English rusticity and a real find, well deserving of greater exposure.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
When: Trioz, Melba Hall, May 19