Concert review: Linos Piano Trio

The Linos Piano Trio opened the London Chamber Music Society’s first concert of the new year à deux, with cellist and pianist playing three of Mendelssohn’s Songs without Words, including op.109 (originally for cello and piano, the other two being arrangements of the solo piano pieces).

Cellist Vladimir Waltham’s tone was not resplendent, perhaps due to his instrument, but his playing was by turns songful and impassioned. Pianist Prach Boondiskulchok came into prominence in Fanny Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in D minor, driving the collective turbulence of the first movement with a vivid, gothic-like quality.

Boondiskulchok’s own Piano Trio no. 2 received its London premiere. Subtitled ‘Song without Words’, it takes cues from his Thai heritage. The first movement features the microtonal chants of Northern Thai monks heard at a retreat, the second a staccato recitative on the piano, the third the resonant sounds of gamelan and some violin/cello hocketing and cello percussion. This final movement seemed more sprawling, but the sounds overall were often ravishing.

The bold first movement of Beethoven’s ‘Ghost’ Trio prompted spontaneous applause and in the second movement the piano gently shone through the fragile, subdued strings.

The encore was another ‘song without words’ – Schubert’s ‘Ständchen’, with the novelty of all three players taking turns at the keyboard.

EDWARD BHESANIA

Photo: courtesy Linos Piano Trio