Master stroke!

Trio Imàge will recreate the magic of Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms

November 10, 2010 08:10 pm | Updated October 22, 2016 12:08 pm IST

Date: November 18

Venue: Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall

Time: 7.15 p.m.

The music of Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms has always said more than we can hear, stated more than it has suggested — subverting cadences and implying alternative points of view. The chamber music written by these Masters is a medium that is rich in intimacy, and poignant in expression.

Sharing this relationship with the Chennai audience at The Hindu Friday Review November Fest will be the Berlin-based Trio Imàge comprising dynamic, young musicians, Gergana Gergova on the violin, Thomas Kaufmann on the cello and Pavlin Nechev on the piano.

The trio has performed together since 2007 and its members are, at present, students of the Hanns Eisler Hochschule in Berlin studying under Prof. Eberhard Feltz. They have been invited to perform at festivals as renowned as the Gidon Kremer's Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, Verbier Festival and Academy, International Music Festival Varna Summer, International Week Graz, Schubertiade Austria, Konzerthaus Berlin and elsewhere in Europe and in South America.

They have also been prize winners at the 6th International Competition ‘Schubert and the Music of Modern Times' Graz, the 5th International Chamber Music Competition ‘Joseph Joachim' in Weimar and the International Chamber Music Competition ‘Boris Pergamenschikow' in Berlin.

The trio has recorded for a number of broadcasting corporations and for Dennis Todorovic's feature film “Sasha”.

Although Trio Imàge's repertoire encompasses music from Haydn to Ravel and Shostakovich to Dvorak, for the Chennai concert, the trio will perform Mozart's ‘Piano Trio in C Major', Beethoven's ‘Piano Trio in E Flat Major' and Brahms' ‘Piano Trio in C Major'.

Classical touch

Known for playing with individual precision and mutuality of gesture, the trio will begin all three pieces with an expansive opening movement set in allegro and end in a theme-and-variations finale. The trio is well-known for playing beautifully balanced, warm, tonal music rich in romance and technique with the promise of unalloyed pleasure. And, it has a reputation for bringing alive magical Mozart, boisterous Beethoven and brooding Brahms.

This concert is brought to you with the support of Goethe-Institut, Max Mueller Bhavan, Chennai.

Q and A

Who do you think has influenced you most as a trio?

Our teachers, we would say.

How do you select the music on your repertoire? Do you have any favourite composers?

We are open to any repertoire and serious music. Favourite composers? Hard to say, but we love Viennese classic, Schubert, Ravel. Basically, if it's good music, we love it.

How does chamber music translate to a larger audience? Do you need to re-adapt the music for this?

Probably yes. But, then, don't we always react to the room we perform and play in?

Any plans to make classical music more mainstream?

No, not in a superficial way, but, at the moment, we are developing a programme of East European folksongs and dances, adapted for the piano trio.

Is this your first trip to India? Are you looking forward to playing for an Indian audience?

It's the first trip for Pavlin and Gergana, but, I was there in 2005 as a musician on a cruise ship travelling along the east coast of India.

And yes, we do hope to meet interesting people and touch base with Indian music during the tour.

Music is a hobby for many, but since you are all into music, what are your other interests and hobbies?

Actually many. But, the three of us are so different that it's impossible for us to list them out as those of the trio.

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