Felici Trio in “Royal Flush”
Chamber Music Unbound presents its 2nd program of the winter season, “Royal Flush,” performed by the resident Felici Piano Trio. The program features three unique works of the piano trio literature.
Joseph Haydn’s trio showcases the self-regard of an accomplished craftsman. It summarizes the artistic achievements of more than three decades of steady growth since the “birth” of the genre, reflects the societal changes and also takes advantage of developments in instrument making with regards to the new “fortepiano.” Haydn is deeply truthful to the classical principles of form and balance, and his creation projects a timeless beauty.
Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Archduke”, less than two decades younger, is, in contrast, a revolutionary work in terms of its scope and depth. Having mastered the technical premises of the classical style (and rocked Haydn’s boat…) in his Piano Trios opus 1, published in the same year as Haydn’s Hob.XV:18, Beethoven breaks new aesthetic ground in his opus 97. Even for a musician, it is difficult to not get emotionally lost in the expressive depth of this work, which continues to mystify generation after generation. Listening to sounds and harmonies that seem as novel today as they were 200 years ago, we intuitively partake in truths greater than ourselves.
Dmitri Shostakovich lived in a political environment in which it was actually dangerous to speak one’s mind. In addition, the truths that had to be shared in the wake of WWII where anything but beautiful. Chamber and symphonic music, which make do without words, were Shostakovich’s main emotional outlets and saved his integrity as an artist. The remarkably universal appeal of his works is only explicable with Shostakovich’s musical eloquence and the evocative nature of his musical vocabulary which suggests that we shall find beauty in truth.
The concert takes place on Saturday, Nov. 2 at Cerro Coso College in Mammoth, at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are available online at www.ChamberMusicUnbound.org, at the Booky Joint, The Inyo Council for the Arts or at the door on concert nights after 6:45 for $20/adult, $15/senior and $7/student.
