The music was by three giants. All giants in their respective field. Performed by three very fine musicians who made a welcome return to the VIAF of which they have become welcome habitués. They performed within a very suitable ambience provided by the beautiful church founded in 1675, all of 350 years ago.

J.S.Bach (1685-1750) born a mere ten tears after the church was built is revered by many as THE giant of all. One of his most famous, intriguing and engaging of many monumental masterpieces he left are the Goldberg Variations BWV 988 dating to 1741. They were meant to lull into sleep a notoriously very insomniac nobleman. They were commissioned so that his own private harpsichordist could perform the work for him.

The work turns out to be so beautiful and intricate that I think the end result could have had the opposite effect and kept him awake and in all. I am only guessing but it is not so improbable.

The Pro Arte Trio performed an unspecified selection of the thirty variations. First came that serene ethereal Aria followed by ten of the variations. I listened engrossed and patiently realised that ten variations were performed. The 7th was for only the ladies (violin and violoncello). The conclusion with the return of that gorgeous Aria.

A close friend of mine well-known for his OBSESSION with the Goldbergs which he knows inside out, clarified things that the first eight variations were performed in the original order with the last two being the 29th and final 30th. After the returning Aria conclude this engrossing selection the church resounded with great very well-merited applause.

Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967) was also a renowned ethno-misicologogist of international repute and founder of the method of musical education which bears his name. Pro Arte Trio performed the Intermezzo from the Háry János Suite Op. 35a (1926-27). Kodály put together the six-movement suite from music from his very successful opera Háry János, Op.35.

The opera is based on a folk character, a habitual boaster who tells the talkestbifvtales.The Intermezzo is the 5th movement of the Suite and had a tinge of very sweet serenity and also hinting at dancing in Dvořák’s.

The third giant often linked as one if the three great B’s of classical.music is Beethoven (1770-1827). J.S.B., and Brahms are the other two.

When Beethoven composed his trio of Three String Trios, Op. 9 in 1797-98 he was almost thirty years old and in the threshold of composing his first symphony. The last trip of Op.9 is in C minor. This is a rather “ominous” key in the composer’s output. Other well-known examples are his Fifth Symphony the fifth Piano Sonata Op. 10 n.1. The approach is rather cautious at first but the initial Allegro con spirito developed into a decisive statement well-projected by the performers. It was followed by the Adagio con espressione of the second movement. It is in a rather dark mood with hints of a struggling uncertainty. The movements two themes return in due course leading to a quiet conclusion.

Compared to later treatment of scherzos in future works the one in Op.9 n.3 is marked by some uncertainty and a let’s-get-it-over-with attitude. He had every right to express himself in this manner if that is how he felt. The trio section was lighter and rather relaxed. Although a brilliant coda appears in the conclusion of the movement, the music fades away unceremoniously.

In the concluding Rondo-Presto there was a lot of energy and drive from the performers who plugged at the variously differing and contrasting moods. Close to the end the coda was brilliantly worked out, ending in a beautiful pianissimo.

It was a revealing look at the continuously developing mind and character of a great composer.

Albert George Storace