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Reviews - Sitkovetsky Piano Trio Sitkovetsky Trio, Smetana's G minor trio/Beethoven's Archduke, Melbourne Recital Centre, 22 and 25 March 2014 "Violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky gave a gripping start to Smetana's G minor Trio, leading his colleagues on a path that embraced the composer's eloquent melody-writing and the fierce emotion that permeates each of the three movements [...] The Sitkovetskies have recorded this work, so a consequent ultra-familiarity shone out. Their achievement in Beethoven's Archduke was just as eloquent, the timbre of cellist Leonard Elschenbroich a continuous pleasure, particularly in close partnership passages with Sitkovetsky during this massive work's slow movement." - Clive O'Connell, The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 Mar 2014 Supersonic - Antonin Dvorak: Klaviertrio Nr. 3; Bedrich Smetana: Klaviertrio op. 15; Joseph Suk: Elegie für Klaviertrio op. 23, 5 Mar 2014 "Wenn die Musiker des ‘Sitkovetsky Trio’ zum ersten Satz des Dvorak-Trios op. 65 abheben, und die Düsterkeit des Beginns mit großer Ernsthaftigkeit herausarbeiten, nicht ohne eine gewisse Nähe zu Brahms zu suggerieren, ist der Hörer sofort auf ihrer Seite, zumal es an Intensität im Spiel der drei nicht fehlt." - Remy Franck, Pizzicato Magazine, 5 Mar 2014 Antonin Dvorak's Piano Trio no.3 in F minor, op. 65; Bedrich Smetana Piano Trio in G minor, op. 15; Josef Suk Elegy for piano trio, op. 23 - CD review "Le Trio Sitkovetsky nous livre un cd de qualité. A la fois brillant, équilibré et profondément inspiré par les contextes respectifs des oeuvres." - Michel Lambert, Crescendo Magazine, 24 Feb 2014 Concert, Vancouver, 23 September 2013 "A Schubert Fall for Vancouver listeners got started in a big way this weekend. Yesterday was the Canadian debut of the Sitkovetsky Trio at the Chan, a concert which took many of us right back to the glory days of the Vancouver Chamber Music Festival. Alexander Sitkovetsky, violin, Wu Qian, piano, and Leonard Eischenbroich, cello, hail from Moscow, Shanghai, and Frankfurt respectively, but met at the Menhuin School and agreed to make England their base of operations. Much in their playing and their essential approach to music making is congruent with London (and not New York) values. How I enjoyed them: good Brahms, spectacular Mendelssohn. And then the Schubert E-flat Trio. I always think twice, then think again, before submitting to the demands of hearing this work. I feel about it the way many listeners feel about the late, great quartets of Beethoven. It is an impossible piece: absurdly long, annoyingly repetitive, and emotionally nihilistic. The three performers are about the same age Schubert was when he composed the piece: here were incredibly gifted young adults speaking Schubert’s language with a febrile poetry that was both intense and honest. I never know exactly what audiences take from Schubert’s perplexing final works, but I do know this particular audience was as wrapped up in the Trio as were its performers. This was magic, pure and simple." Crescendi Artists [email protected] | www.crescendiartists.com - Eric Hoeprick, 24 Sep 2013 Concert, Brahms, Mendelssohn, and Schubert, September 2013 "The Sitkovetsky Trio was formed in 2007 at the Menuhin School and they have garnered considerable critical acclaim over quite a short period of time and won a number of prestigious awards. The programme for this concert comprised three of the great masterpieces of the chamber music repertoire from the 19th Century. Brahms’ C minor piano trio was written in 1886 and it is a concentrated and intense work full of big orchestral sonorities. The piano textures in the opening Allegro energico are particularly dense and complex and Wu Qian successfully conveyed the dramatic power of the piece while at the same time keeping the textures clear and light so as not to drown out the string players. All three players managed to convey the symphonic breadth of the opening but I wondered if the string players could have made a little more of the expressive warmth and rich harmonies in the second subject. The second movement’s presto non assai marking was scrupulously observed and there was excellent interplay between the strings. The Sitkovetskys evoked a warm Autumnal glow from the intermezzo third movement with Wu Qian giving us some exquisitely phrased and expressive playing. The fourth movement starts with a hunting rondo-type theme and it was played with gusto and rhythmic incisiveness by all three players before the arresting conclusion. For those musicians who regard Mendelssohn’s music as superficial, can I please ask you to listen to the second piano trio? It was written when the composer was at the height of his powers, a year after the great Violin Concerto and the year before Elijah. It is a passionate and highly intense work that is full of original and highly engaging musical ideas. The performance from the Sitkovetsky Trio seemed to go up a notch with this piece, which started in a state of subdued but feverish excitement. The string players moulded Mendelssohn’s lyrical romantic phrases beautifully while Wu Qian played the intricate piano figurations with brilliance and refinement. In the Andante espressivo there was some sweet and sensuous playing from the strings with both players weaving elegant threads and traceries of sound, and using subtle rubato to underscore the gorgeous harmonic shifts. The gossamer scherzo was played very fast indeed and had the requisite lightness with all three players showing astonishing digital dexterity. I wondered if they might achieve an even greater degree of delicacy and refinement if they were to slow it down a little. In the finale the Sitkovetskys brought out the romantic ardour of the piece and there was very well executed interplay between all three players, while the coda was a blistering tour de force, bringing the first half of the concert to a thrilling conclusion. Schubert’s late chamber works are among the most sublime pieces of music ever written and they demand the highest standards of musicianship. I am always slightly apprehensive when younger players tackle a work like Schubert’s Trio in E flat. However, I am pleased to report that the Sitkovetsky Trio confounded my expectations and gave an absolutely riveting account of this pinnacle of the chamber music repertoire. The opening Allegro was full of elegant Viennese charm with the two string players allowing Schubert’s immortal melodies to sing out. There was scrupulous attention to the composer’s dynamic markings while Schubert’s reflective, poetic voice was given space to breathe. The Andante con moto is a profoundly moving work – it was introduced to a wide mainstream audience in Stanley Kubrick’s film Barry Lyndon where it features prominently. The dialogue between Alexander Sitkovetsky and Leonard Elschenbroich in the middle of the movement was absolutely gorgeous, while the fortissimo outbursts allowed the composer’s tempestuous emotions to spill out. I wondered if they might make a little more of the sense of poignancy and heartbreak in the coda – this music is really very special. The third movement canon was light and deft with the Sitkovetskys playing with an impressive degree of clarity. Schumann referred to the “heavenly lengths” of Schubert’s great C major Symphony but the same phrase could equally apply to the finale of the E flat Trio which is conceived on a vast scale. The opening theme was allowed to dance along archly while Qu Wian’s played the swirling and complex passagework with incredible dexterity and lightness of touch. The Sitkovetskys allowed the composer’s infectious high spirits to shine through banishing all the feelings of self-doubt before driving the work to its conclusion. Great playing from the Sitkovetskys – they are clearly chamber music stars of the future." - Robert Beattie, 21 Sep 2013 Crescendi Artists [email protected] | www.crescendiartists.com Coffee Classics concert, St. George's, April 2013 "For their second Coffee Classics concert at St. George's, the young award winning Sitkovetsky Trio picked one of the masterworks for this combination of violin, cello and piano, Brahms's Piano Trio no. 1 in B, a big challenge. For this is a work of huge scope and vision. It opens with a surging long melodic line announced by the piano then the cello and finally the violin, to create a rich warm texture and it takes enormous energy and drive to keep the tension up in a long and romantic exploration of his ideas about chamber music – this the first chamber work he wrote. The piano part, played superbly by Wu Qian, is particularly important – Brahms wanted to impress his lifetime love, Clara Schumann – and anchors the work throughout, especially in the profound Adagio, where cellist Leonard Elschenbroich rightly scaled down his big tone to match. The final Allegro powered along with the same attack and pace as we heard in the opening. This was exciting playing. Yet even more energy was unleashed when viola player Lawrence Power joined them to play Dvorak's ebullient Piano Quartet no.1 in E flat, a work full of frantic energy, syncopated dance themes, and packed with colour and inventiveness. There may be a bit too much repetition of ideas but performed like this with maximum warmth and commitment, it sounded like a masterwork." - thisissomerset.co.uk, April 2013 Concert, The Earl Cameron Theatre at City Hall, February 2013 "This piano, violin and cello concert took the audience along a road upon which much of western classical music has travelled. There were performances of works which are representative of their period, and a look over the horizon to what was coming next. The international prize-winning Sitkovetsky Trio is Alexander Sitkovetsky on the violin, Wu Qian playing the piano and cellist Leonard Elschenbroich. Their concert on Wednesday evening at the Earl Cameron Theatre at City Hall opened with ‘Piano Trio No 39 in G Major’, ‘Gypsy’ by Joseph Haydn, who lived between 1732 and 1809. In three movements, the exotic and exciting presto is the one that many people know, and it is the reason the piece is called ‘Gypsy’. It is a terrific piece of music that delighted the audience. The andante and poco adagio were not by any means cast into the shade the first movement should be the very last word in elegance, and it certainly was. The trio also found all the beauty in the melodic line. The sonorous slow movement is gorgeously melodic as well, and the piano created a particularly bright backdrop for the strings that were carrying those melodies. ‘No 2 Op 87 in C Major’ by Johannes Brahms brought us to the end of the 19th century, and it is indeed a much more modern-sounding piece of music which, typically of the composer, is complex and intriguing. The tempo’s sense of constancy in the first movement, the allegro moderato, provided an anchor for the dynamic solemnity which really marked it, while the trio’s interpretation of the andante con moto was moodily evocative. The two first movements provided a direct contrast to the third. Fast-paced and bordering on real modernity, it was especially interesting with some extreme diametrics between the instruments. Impressionism at its most accessible made the fourth movement an easy pleasure to which to listen, although it was still interesting to listen for each instrument’s contrasting parts. The second half of the concert was devoted to a performance of Antonin Dvoák’s ‘Piano Trio No 3 in F Minor’, which was written in the aftermath of the composer’s mother’s death, a loss which clearly was extremely difficult for him as the piece describes the deepest mourning. Of the three pieces, the Sitkovetsky Piano Trio seemed to have a special affection for this one. Their interpretation was especially heart-felt and thoughtful, and it was beautifully executed. The floods of grief described here were interspersed by the happiest of memories; sunny moments peeking through the darkest of clouds. The emotional journey concludes with the finale: allegro con brio, which the trio infused with plenty of dynamic complexity that really did engage the audience, and the movement ultimately concluded with a sense of courage and cohesion and perhaps of healing. Following on the heels of the Palestinian-Israeli piano duo Duo Amal, the week has been one of truly superlative music, and the Sitkovetsky Piano Trio provided another exceptional evening which was appreciated by an enthusiastic audience." - Royal Gazette Bermuda, Feb 2013 Crescendi Artists [email protected] | www.crescendiartists.com