Famous piano trio tunes it up

Author: Ariela Yomtovian

Classical music danced through the hills of Vermont this past Friday night. On March 14, the music of the Florestan Trio swam right through an almost full house.

At the Mahaney Center for the Arts (MCFA), students, faculty and residents of Middlebury came to enjoy the talent of the famed Florestan Trio.

The hour and a half concert consisted of works by Haydn, Ives and Brahms.

It was an ideal way to end a long week full of exams and papers, or it was the perfect study break for those still preparing for their laborious exams. Salame Kachaveli '10 commented that the she felt "a real sense of calm" after hearing the trio's performance.

Judging by the looks on people's faces after the concert, she was not the only one who felt at peace after the show.

The audience sat mesmerized as pianist Susan Tomes, violinist Anthony Marwood and cellist Richard Lester tangoed gracefully with their instruments. It was not your usual Friday night for many students, but the three musicians inspired the audience with each passionately rendered note.

For about 12 years, these three musicians have been touring all around the world, from the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam to the Brussels Conservatoire to the MCFA

This was not the first time that the trio graced Middlebury's stage. They were a great success when they performed on campus in October of 2006.

Before diving into Ives, musician and writer Tomes compared the American composer's masterpiece to the attitude she feels Vermont embodies - saying that Vermont is an "Ivesian mixture of sober idealism and is slightly crazy." The audience, nodding their heads and laughing, seemed to agree with this statement.

Tomes went on to say that not only is Vermont a great place to play the Ives piece, but Middlebury College is the ideal place. Since the song was written when Ives was at Yale, Tomes was "delighted to play at a university."

Although Tomes explained to the audience that to Ives "beauty was not important," the work, composed by Ives in 1911, was absolutely beautiful.

The Brahms piece began with a lovely piano melody that flowed into a more mysterious and suspenseful section, and then finally closed with a lively dialogue between the instruments where each one had its own unique voice. The audience, hungry for more, expressed their recognition with a standing ovation.

The idealism of Ives, the ode to friendship that the Hayden piece embodies and finally the romance of Brahms made for an excellent and satisfying evening.