Merz Trio
Southern Theatre
Columbus, OH
May 6, 2023

Hu: An Eternal Hope
Rachmaninov: Trio élégiaque No. 1 in G minor
Al-Zand: Lines in Motion
Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 1 in C minor, Op. 8
Schumann: Piano Trio No. 2 in F major, Op. 80

Encore:
Piaf: La Vie en rose

Chamber Music Columbus’ 75th season has now come to a close, and what a celebration it has been. Seven momentous concerts, each featuring a newly commissioned work, and the season finale from the Merz Trio certainly closed matters on a high note. A particularly lush program, leaning heavily into the Romantic repertoire, it was an evening of energetic and virtuosic performance.

Ching-Chu Hu is certainly a familiar presence at the Southern Theatre by now, and the Merz Trio presented the final piece of his season-long fanfare, titled An Eternal Hope. In his spoken remarks, Hu noted the work conveys a hope for growth, beautifully timed with the advent of spring here in early May. A busy piano part made this rather more extrovert than some of the previous installments. It evoked a certain radiance and built to a bold finish. The trio has recently undergone a changing of the guard with a new pianist; one would never have guessed she was new to ensemble given how seamlessly she gelled with her string colleagues.

Rachmaninov’s first Trio élégiaque opened with a soft, undulating gesture in the strings, setting up a distinctly Russian melody in the piano. Though the composer was a mere 18 year old when writing the work, its sumptuous melody and surging passions left little doubt as to who the composer was, with the work fulfilling the promise of its title in leading to a somber, funereal close. Another early work from a major Russian composer followed in a C minor trio from the pen of a 16 year old Shostakovich. Though there were hints of his idiosyncratic wit and sarcasm, it was largely a Romantic work, with meditative beginnings and particularly lovely passage in thirds on the piano.

Sandwiched between the Russian works was Lines in Motion, a commission from Karim Al-Zand, first performed this past January at Chamber Music Houston, where the composer is based. A he discussed in our interview, Al-Zand has a particular affinity for extramusical inspirations. Lines in Motion was no exception, with the composer pointing to selected black and white woodcut illustrations (helpfully reproduced in the program books), corresponding to each of the three movements. As the title suggests, each of prints in question striking use geometric lines to convey a sense of motion on the printed page.

The opening On the Big Sea took inspiration from René Quillivic’s En pleine mar. Roiling piano figurations were answered by calming lines in the strings, and I heard shades of French Impressionism which often used water and the sea as subject material. Angular gestures and bright, brilliant textures dominated In the Big City, capturing the busy skyscraper scene of Frans Masereel’s America. At the Spirit Dance (a nod to Rhythms by Wharton Esherick) was of energetic, driving dance rhythms for a rollicking close. This is a work I certainly look forward to hearing again.

The latter half was devoted to Schumann’s F major piano trio, a work uncharacteristically cheery and optimistic for the often depressive composer. The ensemble purveyed an attractive, singing tone in articulating the bounty of beautiful melody the composer provided. Sophisticated contrapuntal passages provided some textural contrast, delivered with nuanced clarity. The second movement bears the marking Mit innigem Ausdruck (“with innermost expression”), and it was indeed a look inward, lovingly conveyed.

The following movement was marked by a loose suggestion of a waltz figure, while the finale excited in its further use of counterpoint, giving each individual voice of the trio the space to shine. An well-deserved encore was offered, namely, an arrangement of Edith Piaf’s song La Vie en rose, wistful and nostaglic. A memorable close to a memorable season!