Chamber music concert for a great start to the season

For the opening of the official concert season at the Palau de la Música, the institution has opted not for a large-format session (that is to say, with a large orchestra) but for an intimate chamber evening, led by three absolute aces, of indisputable first division: two veterans like the German violinist Anne-Sophi Bronfman and the young Spanish cellist Pablo Ferrández.

The program was structured in two ambitious parts: the Trio 'Archduke' (op. 97) Beethoven and the Piano Trio in A minor (op. 50) by Tchaikovsky. And it must be said that neither piece sounded like it was being performed by the same team. While the Beethoven trio seemed to possess an immaculate technique in its attacks, phrasing, and the dialogue between violin and cello, it appeared to ignore the presence of a piano that was reduced to mere accompaniment. Things improved in the more deliberate phrasing of theandante cantabileBut a feeling of superficiality loomed over the end of the first part.

The second, however, was something else entirely. The elegiac pathos of the beginning of elegiac piece It seemed like a declaration of principles: the romantic subjectivity of a musician (Tchaikovsky) devastated by the death of his friend Nikolai Rubinstein was being heavily emphasized. The understanding between the musicians, beyond their undeniable virtuosity, appeared complete. The dialogue between Pablo Ferrández's expansive cello and Yefim Bronfman's piano gave rise to a play of tension and release, serving the dramatic expression and the underlying emotion of the work. And Anne-Sophie Mutter's violin contributed to the three-part lament (four, if we include the sinuous left hand on the keyboard).

The apparent humor of the variations in the second and third movements did not make us forget the drama of the material presented earlier. And the overall result was an intensity that overwhelmed all resistance. This was demonstrated by the audience, both those who were there out of obligation and those who attended out of loyalty to the music. Undoubtedly, a good start to the season.