Argyle Trio - Matthias Balza (cello), Wilma Smith (vioin), Laurence Matheson (piano) Photo: AgathaYim
This Wellington Chamber Music concert, recorded at St Andrew’s on the Terrace in Wellington, features the Argyle Trio.
The Trio is made up of Fijian-born, Auckland-raised violinist Wilma Smith; her frequent collaborator, Australian pianist Laurence Matheson; and cellist Matthias Balzat who travelled all the way from Düsseldorf, Germany especially. The Argyle Trio is named after Argyle Street, where these three performers played their first ever concert together at the Hobart Town Hall in Australia. The trio’s chemistry was – in their words – ‘pure gold’ so they decided to play more concerts together
In this concert, they perform major piano trios by three composers - Smetana, Beethoven and Dvorak.
Piano Trio in G minor Op 15 was one of only four chamber works Czech composer Bedřich Smetana composed in his lifetime. It draws inspiration from a very personal and sad source – the death of his 4-year old daughter. Smetana dedicated the work to her, writing: “in memory of our eldest child Bedřiška, whose rare musical talent gave us such delight’. Pathos permeates all three movements - all in G minor, dominated by weeping, falling intervals.
Piano Trio in C minor Op 1 No 3 was the third and final piece in Beethoven’s very first opus. It reveals how the young composer wanted to represent himself as a bold and distinctive talent to the Viennese audience. Haydn ordered the first two works of Beethoven’s Opus 1 to be published, but when he heard this third one performed, he decided to play it safe and hold off on that one, thinking Beethoven’s musical language was too original and complex for the public to understand.
In Piano Trio in C minor Op 1 No 3, Beethoven explores turbulant contrasts, sforzando accents, and unexpected modulations that would become hallmarks of his later works.
In the 1890s, Czech composer Antonin Dvorak gave an extensive tour of Bohemia before moving to the USA because he suspected the move might be permanent. The centrepiece of this tour was his Piano Trio No 4 in E minor Op 90, because Dvorak thought it best represented his love for the homeland.
This piano trio is subtitled, Dumky, a word derived from the Slavic word duma - epic folk songs about events of the coassack era, including captivity, heroic death and liberation performed mainly by blind traveling minstrels. In the 19th century, when composers from other Slavic nations were also incorporating these into their music, ‘dumka’ came to indicate a sorrowful instrumental work interspersed with joyful expressions such as folk dances.
Dvorak’s Piano Trio No 4 in E minor Op 90 consists of six ‘dumky’ all in different keys and with different characteristics.
Producer & Sound Engineer: Darryl Stack. Technical Assistant: Jordan Edwards
Recorded 10 September 2023 at St Andew's on the Terrace, Wellington by RNZ Concert.
