Isabelle Faust
Review: Trio’s all-Beethoven program a masterly offering of a master’s works
By Michael Broder
The Society of the Four Arts’ all-Beethoven program commemorated the 250th birthday of the German musical titan.
Isabelle Faust (violin), Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello), and Alexander Melnikov (piano) mesmerized at The Society of the Four Arts on Sunday afternoon with riveting performances of music for piano trio by Ludwig van Beethoven.
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The ensemble’s performance was downright spellbinding. Throughout the afternoon, the trio played with exquisite sensitivity and power, capitalizing on every sudden dynamic change, every raw and biting accent, every sweetly debonair melodic turn in the two-hour program. [They] missed no opportunity to sell any of Beethoven’s numerous surprises. Likewise, the performers’ zeal, as well as their technical execution, was as uncompromising in its artistic vision and attention to detail as the composer’s.
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…the ensemble held nothing back in their renditions of the “Variations” and the “Ghost” trio, continuing to showcase their supreme interpretive talent. As before, the trio not only played with superbly meaningful nuance and power but also executed each creative decision with inspiring precision and joyful ease.