Devizes Festival: Rhodes Piano Trio (From This Is Wiltshire)

ON Thursday evening the Festival audience was treated to a well designed programme from the Rhodes Piano Trio, Michael Gurevich, David Edmonds and Robert Thompson, which illustrated the development of works for the piano trio from Haydn through Brahms to Ravel.

In the Haydn sonata the piano takes the major role and the Rhodes had exactly the right balance between instruments which the work demands.

The Brahms is a much richer work with thematic developments and complex rhythms, all of which were played with great sensitivity and accuracy. The final movement was a triumph of tone and timing.

For me, as for many of the audience, the highlight was the Ravel trio – a monumental work full of colour and uneven rhythms. Each player showed remarkable technical skill and sympathy with the music and to the parts played by the other trio members. Some passages were sublime.

Throughout, the recital the rapport between the players was a delight to watch as well as to hear. A performance to remember.

Leslie Taylor