Fountainhall at the Cross Church
Monday 29th January 2024
GOLDSCHEIDER HORN TRIO:
BEN GOLDSCHEIDER: Horn
BEN BAKER: Violin
HUW WATKINS: Piano
PROGRAMME:
Mozart (1756 – 1791)
Horn Trio in E flat K407 arranged by Ernst Naumann (1832 – 1910) as a trio from Mozart’s Horn Quintet K407
Huw Watkins (b. 1976)
Horn Trio
Clara Schumann (1819 – 1896)
Three Romances for Violin and Piano
Romance Number One followed by:
Felix Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847)
Lieder ohne Worte, Op. 62 No. 1 (Piano solo)
Romance Number Two followed by:
Johannes Brahms (1883 – 1897)
Intermezzo in E flat, Op. 117 (Piano solo)
Romance No. 3
Johannes Brahms
Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano in E flat Op. 40
REVIEW:
Aberdeen Chamber Music Concerts have presented four superb concerts leading up to the end of 2023. Today’s performance by the Goldscheider Horn Trio, the first in 2024 was, dare I say, the best by some distance this season. All three performers were almost unbelievably outstanding. I remembered Ben Goldscheider from when he came to Aberdeen in 2020 to give a performance for the SOUND Festival on Horn and Electronics that was broadcast on BBC Radio 3. I was truly impressed and had not forgotten him, so I was delighted that he was coming with his Trio to perform for Aberdeen Chamber Music Concerts. Would he be as good? Well no! He was even better! Violinist Ben Baker was equally fantastic. The horn shone bright, but in the Mozart, the Watkins and the Brahms, Ben Baker both blended with and matched the horn superbly in instrumental conversation. Pianist Huw Watkins, also the composer of the second Trio work was a stunning piano virtuoso, in so many different styles too, and in everything he played.
Let me start with Mozart’s Horn Trio in E flat K407. This was an arrangement of Mozart’s original composition a Horn Quintet in E flat Major reset for Horn Trio by Ernst Naumann. The Goldscheider Trio gave a refined and delicately balanced performance with delicious fluency of line and dazzling brightness. I loved the way horn and violin spoke to one another in the opening movement. Mozart has given the horn complex outpourings of notes, not easy to play with clarity and definition on horn, but Ben Goldscheider delivered every note with perfect precision matching the violin in well thought out phrasing and control of dynamics.
In the second movement, Andante, violin and horn duetted beautifully with the piano fulfilling the role of orchestral accompaniment. The finale, Rondo Allegro was suitably bright and jolly with the horn giving a performance every bit as beguiling as in any of the horn concertos.
Ben Goldscheider introduced the next piece which was the Horn Trio by Huw Watkins. There were two basic musical ideas in the piece. One was fast and furious, the other slower and though unashamedly modern, with more than a touch of poetry and even romance in it. In the faster sections, the horn and violin seemed to dance together with great vigour and enthusiasm while the piano had crashing runs and furious chords suggesting crystalline shards of smashed glass glittering in the light. In the slower sections, the horn had long held notes, pure and clear that rang out reminding me of the words of a French poem by Alfred de Vigny, J’aime le son du cor, le soir, au fond des bois. (I love the sound of the horn, at eventide, from deep within the woods). The poet goes on to describe the entrancing power created by the sounds of the horn. That is precisely what we got from Ben Goldscheider in Monday’s performance. Energy, excitement and a sense of mystery were all bound up together within this fascinating Trio.
After the interval Ben Goldscheider took a rest while Ben Baker and Huw Watkins gave us a gorgeous bouquet of lavish romantic music. There were Three Romances for Violin and Piano by Clara Schumann, and punctuating these were two works for piano solo, the first, a Lieder ohne Worte, Op. 62, No. 1 by Mendelssohn, the second the Intermezzo in E flat, Op. 117 by Brahms. The first of the Romances by Clara Schumann was sumptuous in fully romantic style for both violin and piano. The second Romance suggested joyous birdsong while in the third both violin and piano gave exactly what Clara Schumann asked for in her German instruction Leidenschaftlich (passionately). There was more than a touch of that in the two solo piano pieces played by Huw Watkins. After the ferocious virtuosity of his playing in his own Trio, it was both amazing and delightful to hear him capture all the romance and gentleness of these full colour piano works,
Of course this is precisely what he would need for the final piece in the concert the Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano in E flat Op. 40 by Brahms.
The opening movement, Andante – Poco piu animato, begins with piano and violin then the horn picks up on the theme. Often the violin led with the horn following on magnificently. The romantic playing of the piano added a special richness to the blend of sound. As the pace picked up, it was the horn which led, singing out so beautifully and so perfectly well controlled.
The Scherzo fairly sparkled with fiery energy, all three players giving of their unmatchable best. The slower trio section shone gloriously and then it was back into the jollity of the dance.
The Adagio mesto started pensively but soon picked up with exquisitely delicious playing from the entire trio but in this movement it was the passionate crescendos that were really glorious.
The Finale Allegro con brio certainly lived up to its title. I was not the only one in the audience that seemed to be so familiar with this movement. Was this just because it is a brilliant movement which is what we remembered from previous performances? Well, I will certainly remember Monday evenings performance by the Goldscheider Trio. Their rip-roaring playing of this movement went way beyond brilliant!
ALAN COOPER