Download The Fujita Piano Trio 9 October 2015

The Fujita Piano Trio 9th October 2015
The Fujita Piano Trio gave the first recital of the 2015-2016 season of the Minehead and West
Somerset Arts Society at the West Somerset College last Friday evening. If you missed it, you
missed a treat.
The Fujita sisters, Megumi on the piano, Arisa on the violin, and Honoka on the cello, have been
playing together from early childhood, and since their debut concert in the Wigmore Hall,
London in 1999, have carved out a successful international career for themselves. Their
repertoire includes orchestral works, such as the Beethoven Triple Concerto, as well as a large
range of chamber music.
On Friday they gave us three pieces from this repertoire: Piano Trios by Haydn, Smetana and
Schubert. In the interval, many people were commenting that it was the first time they had
heard the Smetana Trio in G minor, which was inspired by the death of his eldest daughter
when she was only four years old. His grief caused him to throw himself into his music,
producing what is held to be the first work to reveal his extraordinary power as a composer.
From the opening urgent violin solo, with its sorrowful chromatic line and strong dotted
rhythms which immediately set the personal and tragic character of the Trio, to the exciting
finale of the last movement, marked presto, the playing of the sisters held us spellbound, and
pointed up Smetana’s journey from grief to hope.
This work followed a performance of Haydn’s Trio in C which was published in London following
Haydn’s first visit to England, and was dedicated to Therese Jansen, a professional pianist and
successful teacher. It showed off the capabilities of the new English grand pianos, which
enabled the composer to take advantage of their full tone and impressive bass register, and the
powerful playing of Megumi Fujita enabled us to appreciate these. The sisters play from
memory, which allows the rapport between them to develop to the full, and which benefits
their playing.
The final piece after the interval was Schubert’s Trio in E flat in E flat major, probably the best
known of the three. It was one of Schubert’s last works, written in 1827, and is substantial,
lasting nearly fifty minutes , so longer than most piano trios of the time. It was one of the few
late pieces that Schubert actually heard performed, at a private party to celebrate a friend’s
engagement.
I always feel that performances of well known pieces need to be especially good, and the sisters
did not disappoint. This is one of the greatest piano trios in the repertoire, along with
Beethoven’s Archduke Trio, full of Schubertian lyricism and energy which was brought out by
the beautiful tone of the string instruments, particularly evident in the rondo like final
movement, and the excellent ensemble playing. A wonderful end to an excellent evening.
JML (West Somerset Free Press 16 October 2015)