There was great excitement when ¡Viva! la Musica announced that it was bringing back the popular Catarsis Trio to Ajijic for an evening of Schubert, Rachmaninoff and Rechtman at the Auditorio de la Ribera on Thursday, February 5.
The trio features three exceptionally dedicated musicians: pianist Azalea Beltrán, cellist Yalissa Cruz and violinist Diego Rojas. Their program opened with the “Piano Trio No. 1 in B flat major Opus 99, D. 898” by Franz Schubert.
The first movement, allegro moderato, is a beautiful, lively melody from the violin and cello, which is repeated on the piano, before being followed by a second, mellow melody from the cello. Multiple changes of mood, from sad to light, were very expressively played.
Andante un poco mosso followed very slowly through an elegant, smooth and tranquil movement, then into a somewhat meditative, dark melody from the violin and cello in harmony, before returning to the initial theme.
The piano took the lead in a spirited scherzo allegro. Lively and fun, it came to an impressive end. The violin led the first melody of the closing rondo allegro vivace and, as expected, was vibrant and fast, giving way to a disruptive interlude half way through, before the rapid descent to the end.
A relatively long work, the lack of spotlights on the trio meant that they were very hard to distinguish on stage. This was remedied during the second half which was a great improvement. Regardless, at intermission the audience reaction made its appreciation of the music very clear.
The trio played Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Trio No. 1 in G minor Elegiac.” Although comprised of a single, multi-colored movement, the mood is gentle, then ever changing as each instrument develops its theme, culminating together in a very sombre, funereal ending. Exceptionally well played, it was extremely moving.
Donning colorful fedora hats, the trio played three of Israeli-born pianist and composer Ilan Rechtman’s “Jazzicals” – numbers 8, 10 and 13, for Piano Trio.
This was a very brave choice as the first piece is extremely repetitive and overladen with disharmony. Its inherent dissonance appeared all the more disconcerting and pronounced, given the preceding, more conventional works.
Number 10 was more melodic while losing none of its shock value and interest, but the final work, number 13, was cheerful and fun, with the cello following where the violin led while the piano kept up a vigorous tempo right to the end.
There is no doubt that the Catarsis Trio provided its fans with a most enjoyable evening’s entertainment, as the long ovation, immediately following the last note, testified.