"After this excellent rendition of two of the monuments of the piano trio repertoire, the encore featured a third. The musicians offered an introspective performance of the slow movement from Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 1, a poignant “song without words” in wistful B-flat major to round out an exceptionally strong concert."
Excerpted from review By Charles T Downey
"When the Sitkovetsky Trio made their Wolf Trap debut in 2019, cellist Isang Enders had been with the group for only about two years. In their return visit in the Barns Sunday afternoon, the musicians sounded more seasoned as an ensemble in a program of music by Sam Perkin, Ravel, and Beethoven."
"The group opened with Freakshow, a 2016 suite of seven miniatures by Sam Perkin. ...The performers gave each of these slender movements individual colors and rhythmic verve, never allowing musical interest to flag."
"This trio struck just the right moderate tempo [in Ravel's Piano Trio in A Minor], not too fast but with stretching rubato. Sitkovetsky played the violin part with expert intonation, more assertive than Enders’ cello part, which was strong on musicality and beauty of tone. Wu Qian added fire to the accelerando section in the first movement. The second movement, a scherzo titled “Pantoum,” felt playful, again at a more relaxed tempo, with Wu Qian gliding serenely in the Trio, where the piano switches to a different meter than the other instruments."
"....the concert concluded with Beethoven’s Piano Trio No. 7 (“Archduke”), in an interpretation marked by magnificent subtlety and humor... The recapitulation section proved especially effective, with delicate string pizzicati and sensitive playing from the pianist."
"The second movement hit the mark from the opening with a playful pacing of the Scherzo theme. Lugubrious sounds, as if played with furrowed brow, made the Trio section a comic delight...."
"The theme and variations of the third movement radiated happiness, again striking an ideal tempo, giving emotional significance through a variety of texture and dynamics rather than slowing down."
Read WCR review in full here.