Last night saw the first concert of the Toronto Summer Music festival which runs at a variety of venues until August 3rd.  The theme for the festival is Paris La Belle Époque and this was reflected in last night’s opening concert being given by the distinguished French trio Trio Pennetier Pasquier Pidoux.  One might question though to what extent works written in 1914 and 1923 can be said to belong to the themed era.  It didn’t seem to bother a packed Koerner Hall.  The reception to all three pieces given was raucous.

Trio Pennetier Pasquier Pidoux (From left to right:
Roland Pidoux, cello; Régis Pasquier, violin; and Jean-Claude
Photo credit: Guy Vivien

The first half of the night was made up of Fauré’s Piano Trio in D Minor, Op 120 and Ravel’s Piano Trio in A minor.  I liked the first piece quite a lot though I felt it lacked the integrative qualities of my favourite chamber works (Beethoven and Shostakovich quartets for the record.  It had  a quite tense, relentless first movement followed by a dreamily meditative Andantino and a much more exciting Allegro vivo final movement.  The Ravel was more obviously virtuosic with an especially lively second movement and a Passacaglia with an almost Oriental quality.  Both works were beautifully played and must have been a treat for fans of this music.  One thing that was striking is how good the acoustics of Koerner Hall are for this kind of music.  It’s certainly better for chamber music than for opera.

After the interval we got Rachmaninoff’s Elegiac Troi in D Minor, Op 9.  The programme notes describe this as “sprawling” and I would have to agree.  It’s very long and seems about twice as long as the musical ideas in it can reasonably support.  It’s interesting in some ways though.  While Rachmaninoff doesn’t neglect to provide the piano part with maniacally virtuosic passages at other times it’s almost more like a ground bass, repeating the same figure over and over.  No complaints about the performance which displayed the virtuosic talents of all three Ps.  The mandatory Toronto standing ovation did call forth an encore; the finale to one of Beethoven’s trios.  The lighter textures were welcome rather like an astringent sorbet after a ten course meal at Maxim’s.