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CHAMBER REVIEW
Redwood Arts Council / Saturday, March 14, 2015
Lysander Piano Trio:
Itamar Zorman, violin; Michael Katz, cello; Liza Stepanova, piano

Lysander Trio in Occidental March 14 (N. Bell Photo)

TCHAIKOVSKY'S BIG TRIO WAS FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE

by Nicki Bell
Saturday, March 14, 2015

Grief and love are the catalytic converters of great art. On March 14 an almost full house in the Occidental Performing Arts Center was treated to a passionate evening of grief and love in musical outpouring from a terrific (yes, hot) award-winning ensemble. The Lysander Trio’s (named for a character in Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night's Dream) youthful players had passion, rich sound, incredible ensemble, nuances and imagination to burn, and they set the small hall on musical fire.

The "Russian Elegy" program explored the elements of grief and love in trios by Suk, Haydn, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky. Suk's 1902 Elegy (Op.23) set the tone with a violin aria, joined by cello, then piano, building into an intense cry, and melted into the recapitulation. Suk was a violinist and here violinist Itamar Zorman, Michael Katz (cello) and pianist Lisa Stepanova from the first notes brought an intensity and warmth to what was clearly music of the heart. This opening treasure of a piece is music that brings a tear at the poignancy of life, the sadness and joy that drives us all.

Haydn’s E Major Trio in E (XV: 28), one of his last, held surprises, drama, unsettling darkness, playfulness, humor and featured a beautiful piano solo. The musical exploration of the four movements covered a broad spectrum of moods, tempos, and character. Throughout the three musicians were in close communication in body movements, eye contact, raised eyebrows, grimaces and smiles.

With Shostakovich’s C Minor Trio, Op. 8, the program moved from Ottoman to the Russian empire. This is early Shostakovich, the piece written when he was 17. It was first heard in a silent movie theater and is surely a cinematic composition, the first movement alone having 16 tempo changes. Each of the Lysander was eloquently expressive, a complete drama played out: a beautiful cello solo and the bells in the treble of the piano were achingly picked up by Mr. Zorman.

After an intermission that featured wine and local baked goods the monumental Tchaikovsky A Minor Trio, Op.50 was heard, and it is more symphonic than chamber in scope. Written for the pianist Nikolai Rubenstein the work demonstrates that Tchaikovsky could effectively blend the disparate sonorities of strings and piano. In two movements, the first movement opens with an "elegiac" melody with a four-note lament from Mr. Katz. This four-note motto is the heart of the trio and goes through transformations in each instrument that culminate in a funeral march. The second movement is a theme and variations that runs the gamut of styles and the coda returns to the four-note motive.

Ms. Stepanova got a rich sound from the less-than-professional house piano that with mixed well with her colleague's instruments in Tchaikovsky’s big sonorities and potent climaxes.

Passionate, fierce and heroic, the energy and expressive power of this group were palpable, and the full-on emotion we love in chamber music was here to see as well as hear, in cadence, modulation or thematic variations. The most charismatic playing all evening came from Mr. Zorman, who carried the lyric and dramatic pace throughout the evening.

There was one encore, Astor Piazzolla's "Spring" from his “Four Seasons in Buenos Aires.” A perfect dessert.