The Sitkovetsky Trio demonstrated outstanding ensemble playing: three female composers and one anniversary in an exceptionally inspiring chamber music evening.
The performers we are talking about have fully complied with the guidelines set by this year’s Games. And that is women as the focus of the program, both as composers and in the titles and content of the works. However, even on this evening, the Games did not fulfill their task, which is to ensure at least a reasonable number of audience members. Even the front row, where the performers inevitably look the whole time, was half empty. To illustrate: of the eight seats, the members of Trija looked at five empty ones. Such a shameful scene does not deserve anyone’s appearance before the audience. And certainly not Trija Sitkovetsky!
The Dubrovnik audience remembers violinist Aleksandar Sitkovetsky from one of the evenings of the Rachlin Festival 16 years ago. The other members of the trio are pianist Wu Qian and cellist Isang Enders.
The first three pieces on the program were composed by three female composers. The third movement, Andante, from Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 17, opened the concert. This was followed by Cécile Louise Chaminade’s Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 34. And the piece Zvijezdama pokazivačima, which the trio commissioned and premiered in May this year. It was written by Mahdis Golzar Kashani, a renowned Iranian composer and pianist who, as a refugee, has been living in London for three years. The work is dedicated to “the memory of those who sacrificed themselves for defending freedom of thought and inspired by the struggle for that freedom.” From the very first moment, the members of the Trio convinced us that they are a precisely and meticulously coordinated chamber ensemble. In each component, they achieve an excellent balance between the instruments. From this female part of the program, it was perhaps Clara Schumann’s music that touched us most emotionally.
A special highlight was the performance of Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67, which marked the fiftieth anniversary of the death of this giant of the twentieth century. The trio was composed in 1944 on the occasion of the death of the composer’s friend, but also under the impression of the horrors of war. All the different moods woven into this stirring work were performed by the Sitkovetsky Trio in the manner of a superb chamber ensemble and experience. To the delight of the audience, the trio added the second movement of Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in D minor, which Sitkovetsky announced with the words, “We would like to end the concert on a more optimistic note.” Truly an exceptional evening.
Sanja Dražić
