VIENNA PIANO TRIO, Libby Gardner Concert Hall, University of Utah, Thursday
It's a smart group that plays to its members' strengths, and the Vienna Piano Trio knows what to offer in a concert.
The trio emphasizes a highly developed sense of unity, combined with an extremely refined, polished sound. They seem to know that the slow movements are particularly "where it's at" for them. So picking a Beethoven trio nicknamed for its slow movement, Schoenberg's "Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night)," and a slow movement for an encore seems to signal that this group is musically savvy.
Thursday's program began with Beethoven's Trio in D Major, Op. 70, No. 1 "Ghost," so named because of its spooky-sounding second movement. The Vienna Piano Trio has a fluid, organic sound together, with the lines flowing — almost growing out of each other. The players' ability to create a sheer, lyric beauty was at its peak during the slow movement, where the transparency of the music allowed them to showcase their refined, finely tuned sound.
During the rest of the movements, this strength worked against them somewhat; sounding so well-mannered, well-behaved and neatly contained took away from a sense of spontaneity and freshness.
They sounded less reserved on "Verklarte Nacht," the highlight of the program. Here, the music was particularly well-suited to their delicate subtleties — but when it jumped with more vigor, so did they.
Of course, this particular piece is featured on their most recent CD, which begs a chicken-and-egg question: Was it the best because they just recorded it, or did they record it because they play it so well? (The answer is probably a little of both.)
The program finished with Schuman's Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor; their performance being a more expansive, romantic variation of the well-behaved but highly refined variety (except for the last few measures, where they really let go).
E-mail: rcline@desnews.com