Mel­bourne Piano Trio
Salon, Mel­bourne Recital Centre
May 15

4.5 Stars

THERE were many splashes of pink in the audi­ence at this Mother’s Day con­cert by Mel­bourne Piano Trio in sup­port of the work of Breast Can­cer Net­work Aus­tralia. Cel­eb­rat­ing their first anniversary as an ensemble, the trio treated moth­ers to staples of the piano trio rep­er­toire includ­ing works by Ravel, Moz­art, Brahms and Dvorak.

Like much of Ravel’s rel­at­ively small out­put of cham­ber music his Piano Trio in A Minor extends the tra­di­tional con­straints, employ­ing new tech­niques and har­monic lan­guage. The trio gave a pas­sion­ate read­ing with many fine moments through­out, includ­ing Howlett’s solos in the Pas­sa­caille and the vir­tu­osic oppor­tun­it­ies of the finale.

Mozart’s Piano Trio in G Major, K496 was a change of pace giv­ing the play­ers the oppor­tun­ity to enjoy some lighter moments.

Brahms’ Piano Trio in B Major, Op. 8 was given full weight with its dra­matic moments force­ably brought to bear ahead of its thrill­ing finale. The dynamic range through­out was impress­ive. The poten­tial of this ensemble was fur­ther evid­ent with the encore of the slow move­ment of Dvorak’s Piano Trio in F Minor, Op. 65