Lammermuir Festival: Van Baerle Trio 1
Holy Trinity Church, Haddington, 4/9/2025
Hannes Minaar (piano), Maria Milstein (violin), Gideon den Herder (cello)
Weblink: https://www.lammermuirfestival.co.uk/event/coffee-concert-i-van-baerle-trio/
This year’s Lammermuir Festival kicked off on the forenoon of 4th September in the Holy Trinity Church, Haddington with the Van Baerle Trio in works by Schumann and Brahms. The original 1854 version of Brahms’ Piano Trio No 1 in B major Op 8 was the main work of the program. It was preceded by an arrangement for piano trio of Schumann’s 6 Canonic Studies Op 56 (originally for pedal piano or organ) by the composer’s friend and former pupil Theodor Kirchner.
The first of the Schumann studies was as overt a homage to Bach as might be imagined, recalling many an organ prelude by the master. The arrangement for trio was very attractive and afforded an opportunity for responsive contrapuntal chamber playing which was fully exploited with a rich ensemble sound, supported by the venue’s excellent acoustic. The second hinted at a Schubert Lied, but was undeniably romantic Schumann. Lovely cantabile phrasing and tone from Gideon den Herder’s cello was answered in kind rhapsodically by Maria Milstein’s violin (there’s an illustrious surname in the history of violin playing). The third and fourth were both love song duets between the strings, the former quite light-hearted, the latter with the character of ‘Widmung’, but including an episode evocative of the anxiety of separation, Hannes Minaar’s piano phrasing making it very real. Easily my favourite. The fifth was a mischievous dancelike scherzo and a delight. The final anticipated Brahms with a hymn-like air of devotion that could be divine or romantic. The rich husky cadence was no less Brahms like. A persuasive outing for a fine work in a first hearing for this reviewer.
There are similarities and differences between the first version of the Brahms trio and the more familiar (and relatively concise) 1891 revision. The Scherzo second movement is almost identical, apart from a different coda. The other three movements begin with a familiar first theme, but the bridge passages and the second themes are quite different. The developments are more expansive with lots of additional unrelated material and the scoring is often uncharacteristically (for Brahms) less dense. Since my teens, I have been in thrall to Brahms’ chamber music, with the piano trios near the top of the list for at least 30 years (due to a CD box set by the Beaux Arts Trio). Notwithstanding the diminished cogence of the musical arguments, the youthful version of the First Trio is still pure Brahms and still gorgeous. The richly-scored opening always lifts my spirits and did again. The exposition is much longer than in the revision and (quite rightly), the exposition repeat was honoured. The rambling development was still absorbing, as I felt I was exploring unknown territory in the company of Brahms himself. The playing was superbly engaging – the Van Baerle Trio have nothing to fear from comparison with the Beaux Arts legacy. The demonic dancing scherzo, with its rhapsodic singing trio, was refreshingly familiar and delightful. The slow movement’s opening idyll was the familiar theme, though the rest of the movement diverged significantly, with more solo reverie and less intense harmonically rich expression. The familiar chromatic anxious mood of the finale’s opening theme led to more unfamiliar exploration, but the implacable drive to the triumph of fate in an assertion of minor-key dominance was, if anything, more dramatic than in the revision. I expect I’ll always prefer the revised version, but the original received a top-drawer and very persuasive outing.
The good news is that the Van Baerle Trio is performing all 3 Brahms Piano Trios in this year’s festival.