Leah Hollingsworth visits the Parker Concert Hall in Brevard, North Carolina, 30 June 2025 for the performance of Brahms, Milhaud, Cindy McTee and Shostakovich
Nestled in the mountains of Western North Carolina, Brevard Music Center hosts over 80 performances each summer given by students, faculty members and visiting guest artists. The standout of this evening’s artist faculty performance was the last work – Brahms’s C major Piano Trio performed by the CEO of BMC, violinist Jason Posnock, the festival’s senior director of artistic planning, cellist Nicholas Tzavaras, and long-time artist faculty member Norman Krieger at the piano.
The programme began with Milhaud’s Suite for clarinet, violin and piano, and violinist Karen Strittmatter Galvin played with vivacity and clarity in the opening movement and great character and rhythmic attention in the finale. Cindy McTee’s Stepping Out for flute and percussion prompted some remarkable flute playing, and Shostakovich’s String Quartet no.7 closed the first half. Each instrumentalist played well in the Shostakovich but the lower strings lacked the requisite density of sound. There were some impressive moments though, not least the semiquaver passages in the finale, which had great articulation and energy.
The Brahms Trio performance demonstrated a deep understanding of the score, and the threesome were particularly effective in the Andante. The opening of the Scherzo was also electrifying, and the finale had power and a real sense of collaboration. The audience was suitably appreciative.
LEAH HOLLINGSWORTH
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