Turnovsky Trio at Hopetoun Alpha

By TARA WERNER

The close relationship between Brahms and the pianist Clara Schumann has always fired a great deal of speculation.

Their lifelong friendship was recognised by everyone who knew them, one sustained despite jealousies, reproaches and frequent tiffs.

She was his confidante and supporter - all his successes and failures were reported to her first. So when Clara wrote in her diary how moved she felt about Brahms' Piano Trio in C Major, saying that no previous work had so completely overwhelmed her, then it's clear that this music must contain a great deal of emotional depth.

It was this expressive quality that the Turnovsky Trio so impassionedly communicated on Tuesday night.

The Op 87 Trio features a remarkable slow movement, very much in a soulful Hungarian flavour. The violin and cello start in unison and then the subsequent variations with their "scotch snap" rhythm have a strong echo in some of Bartok's slow movements.

Violinist Justine Cormack, cellist Ashley Brown and pianist Catherine McKay achieved an intense rapport, which continued eloquently throughout the work.

The rather hard acoustics in Hopetoun Alpha did expose some inequalities in the Mozart, however.

The Piano Trio in C major K548 sounded more like a violin and piano sonata with the cello added in as an afterthought.

Here McKay did not seem assured, and the three took time to settle into the opening allegro, with an astringent quality sometimes emerging.

Finally, Shostakovich's Piano Trio No 1 Op 8 turned out to be the real oddity of the programme.

Written when the composer was only 17 and earning money accompanying silent films on piano, the music changes mood and tempo in a flash, giving a strange roller-coaster effect.

Nonetheless it was given a lyrical and understanding performance, with the impassioned coda sounding reminiscent of the Trio's insightful interpretation of Brahms.