IT'S about a year since the Rachmaninov Trio last played on their native heath - which sounds a bit Irish, given that the group is comprised of two Russians, one American, and their native heath is Glasgow.
Anyway, following the temporary indisposition of cellist Sasha Volpov, the group are now reunited,
and will hopefully get themselves back into top form and have a greater and more frequent presence on the scene - they have an important week-long residency in Arran coming up over the summer.
It's probably true to say that, in their performance of Beethoven's Ghost Trio yesterday, given as the last of the University of Strathclyde's current lunchtime series, they were not absolutely at their best.
Sure, the elements were all there: the unmistakable Rachmaninov Trio sound, rich in depth, and excelling particularly in the dark colours of the spectrum, with a combination of taut delivery and marvellous breadth.
The rustiness showed in small things: overall, a feeling of the music being less well-structured, with a slight tarnish on the usual polished co-ordination, a few moments of hesitancy (notably at the outset of the finale), a marginal unease in the balance of the three instruments (piano, violin, and cello), and with the interplay of the three instruments less fluid than the usual standard attained by this group.
But the basics are all still there, and though, in the intervening months, we have had plenty opportunities to hear violinist Lev Atlas perform in recital, it was a special delight to hear cellist Volpov again, in tremendous form - with a glorious, mellow sound, deep-throated, poised, and endlessly lyrical -for the opening performance of Beethoven's great opus 102 C major Cello Sonata.
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