East Neuk Festival: Dvořák Piano Trios

Crail Church - 01/07/22

The forenoon of Friday 1st July at Crail Church saw married couple Veronika Jarúšková (violin) and Peter Jarúšek (cello) of the Pavel Haas Quartet joined by pianist Boris Giltburg to perform two piano trios by Dvořák, No. 2 in G-minor, Op. 26 and the more well-known No. 4 in E-minor, Op. 90 ‘Dumky’.  These are very different works, but both found sympathetic interpretative readings from these three gifted musicians. 

From the start of the G-minor, Dvořák’s glorious melodies were allowed to soar.  This was great chamber-playing, with huge dynamic range yet always with careful attention to dynamic balance, allowing full rein to Dvořák’s appreciation of the individual character of the instruments, yet keeping the ensemble sound perfectly integrated.  The Largo presented a lyrical cantabile, very Brahmsian in feel, yet unmistakably Czech.  The rhapsodic playing allowed the shifting keys to paint a canvas of colours and moods.  The scampering scherzo, still in the minor and equally Brahmsian, received agile and virtuosic playing, while the brief slower melancholy interlude was expressively pointed.  The trio section in the major key felt more relaxed with generous use of rubato, though the underlying metre was actually unchanged.  After a call to attention, the dancelike finale alternated episodes of “tiptoe” with “romp & stomp” stylised Czech dance, though not actually remotely danceable!  This work is undoubtedly a masterpiece and it was played with great conviction and patent affection. 

The G-minor shows us Dvořák, recognisably Czech but still very influenced by Brahms with what I shall euphemistically refer to as “very full” scoring.  Not to necessarily suggest it is heavy, but Mendelssohnian it ain’t!  The Dumky Trio, by contrast, displays a more mature Dvořák, more secure in celebration of his heritage and more aware of his place in the development of a national style.  Gone is the dense scoring and any compulsion to adhere to Austro-German forms.  The Dumka, originally a Ukrainian ballad with a melancholy introduction leading to a more carefree celebration of life, held an immediate appeal for him and he set about adapting its already Slavic character to a more recognisably Czech sound world and his own artistic sensibilities. 

The first dumka opens with a rhythmic declamatory announcement from all three players, followed by a cri-de-coeur from the cello, sympathetically answered by the violin.  The piano is silent for much of the slow section.  The dance theme is in the major, but the slow theme interrupts before the dance resumes.  Even from the start, Dvořák plays with the form, stretching its expressive possibilities.  There are 6 dumky in total.  They of course display Dvořák’s legendary almost Schubertian capacity for melodic invention, but also a newfound skill in achieving greater expressive clarity with more sparing use of resources.  In the hands of a trio of skilled and sympathetic performers, the effect can be magical, and it was. 

I close with some thoughts on music with piano and strings.  From the sheer volume of music for piano trios, quartets and quintets produced in the 19th and 20th centuries, one might imagine that there is nothing problematic about assembling an ensemble with string players and a piano.  After all, look at the wealth of successful recordings of this repertoire that are available.  But these are the success stories.  In the folklore of chamber music players, an ad hoc coupling of a pianist with an established string duo, trio or quartet is an ill-advised marriage likely to lead to fractured relationships.  Why so?  Because an established string group has a foundation of shared experience and mutual understanding that can seem opaque to a pianist.  This is not merely a question of establishing dynamic balance.  Even the temperament of the tuning of a piano is at odds with the lore of string playing, where D-sharp is not the same as E-flat.  So, when a string group establishes a rapport with a pianist that leads to fruitful and mutually satisfying collaboration, that is something special worth celebrating.  This concert confirmed that the association of the Pavel Haas Quartet with Boris Giltburg is indeed such a fortunate collaboration, and my hopes were consequently high for the quintet concert to come the following evening. 

But that is another review.