Smetana Trio brings world class to Lewes
A weekend of wet and soggy days needed something sparkling to give it a lift. For those in the full house for the Coastal Concerts presentation recently, the world famous Smetana Trio delivered.
Pianist Jitka Cechova, violinist Jiri Vodicka, and cellist Jan Palenicek, accomplished Czech soloists in their own right, displayed the orchestral alchemy of their instrumental combination. The rich sound of the ensemble filled every corner of the cavernous yet acoustically balanced fellowship hall of Bethel United Methodist Church in Lewes. They gave masterful, sensitive and artistic voice to the genius of composers Alexander Zemlinsky, Dmitri Shostakovich and Felix Mendelssohn.
Watching the technically flawless and pure physical union between the musicians and their instruments, knowing the discipline and life’s days filled with practicing, and listening to the enrapturing result made audience members even more grateful for their ears and ability to appreciate.
“It’s transcendental for us,” said pianist Cechova following the concert. “We are in the middle, between the composers and the audience, and the trio format offers a marvelous treasure of possibilities. We are all soloists, but this trio allows us to play together. It’s not work for us. It’s joyous. We love it.”
That energy and enthusiasm charged all three pieces they played. Press photos of the group show a lot of swagger - the kind of swagger that comes from the self-confidence required of solo performers. But while sections in the different pieces, sounding concerto-like, gave them the opportunity to display their virtuosity, the nonverbal language among the three of occasional glances, nods and shoulder lifts left no doubt that the ensemble quality of their performances was of paramount importance.
Opening piece set the stage
The opening piece by Zemlinsky set the stage for the breadth of the performances, with lengthy passages of full, late-romantic style and play between the instruments. Occasional stretches of modernist dissonance further showcased the more melodic sections. The piece also established the technical mastery of the ensemble.
The musicians were fully transported when they launched into the program’s second piece, a single-movement trio in C minor by Shostakovich.
“He was 17 when he wrote the piece,” said Cechova afterward. “He was in love but was being spurned, and all of that shows up in the music.”
The piece is technically demanding, with fingers on the keyboard, violin and cello at times flying at the speed of light from high register to low register: ecstasy and sorrow. And then there were celestial passages, when the flowing strings blended with twinkling stars at the upper end of the keyboard. The trio made the audience feel the sublime nature of the love, born of the heavens, and evinced by the passionate composer in his music.
The four-movement D minor Opus 49 by Mendelssohn, after the intermission, brought the full orchestral potential of the trio to the fore. Following a broad and lyrical opening movement, the trio settled into a quiet, melodical song-like second movement that mesmerized the audience. A video camera trained on the piano keyboard and Cechova’s supple hands allowed the audience to watch, on an overhead screen, the delicacy and elegance of her fingers as she released the music from the instrument.
A quick and frenetic third movement jolted the audience out of the sweetness of the second, and set up the final movement with sections that once again spotlighted the virtuosity of all three players.
The depth of Palenicek’s cello, the singing of Vodicka’s violin, and the dynamism of Cechova’s piano, heading off in their own directions and, like jazz, then following and blending the music back to its beginnings for an accelerated and crescendoing finale, once again reminded the audience of the power of the trio.
The finale brought the audience to its feet. The applause brought the musicians back for an encore.
Glowing and glistening from their Mendelssohn success, the Smetana Trio responded with a classic Czech dance, the third movement of Roman Haas’ multicultural suite. It started without shyness, skipped the lower gears, ramped up quickly to a head-shaking speed, sustained that in overdrive, and then, like Sambo’s tiger whirling around the tree and eventually melting into butter, it became a fusion of sound that rang through the enthusiastic applause and against the hall’s walls, long after the musicians let their quivering hands drop from their instruments.
The overall excellent concert brought sunshine to a cloudy day.
