Concert Review | Hermitage Piano Trio: A Powerhouse Ensemble With Supple Intensity

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As a quiet snowstorm brought Montreal into a winter fairytale for the first time this season, the Hermitage Piano Trio delivered a lush, fiery, deeply felt and utterly breathtaking performance for their Ladies’ Morning Musical Club debut.

Consisting of prize-winning, international soloists Misha Keylin (violin), Sergey Antonov (cello), and Ilya Kazantsev (piano), the trio played with the seamlessness and ease of a long-standing chamber ensemble. Riding on the cachet of a legendary name, the trio surpassed the public’s expectations in terms of what the Russian musical lineage, tradition, and mystique conjure in the common imagination. What we heard in a nearly full Pollack Hall last Sunday was music making from the deepest core of the soul, heartfelt yet powerful, fiery yet controlled, effortlessly majestic, precise, generous, intense, yet supple and free. An immense privilege even for a city with an already rich and flourishing musical life.

The trio’s complicity was evident from the very first movement of Amy Beach’s richly post-romantic Trio, Op.150. A rarely heard work deserving more attention, its naturally flowing lines, reminiscent of César Franck, were delivered in a unified and balanced sound shaped by the ensemble. After a lyrical second movement played with taste, measure, and sensitivity, the piece closed in sprightly and bright fashion. A great work for any trio, merely an appetizer for the Russian New-York-based group.

Hermitage Piano Trio (Photo by Tao Ho/Aspect Chamber Music)

The real treat came as Sergey Antonov delivered a spellbinding solo at the opening of Brahms’s first Piano Trio, Op 8. The exquisite lyrical theme was played with luscious ease, fervent musicality, impeccable timing, and taste. Beautifully supported by Kazantsev at the piano, Antonov drew the listeners in with his bold, full, singing tone. One of the concert’s focal points in terms of individual brilliance. The extraordinary skill of the pianist, Ilya Kazantsev, came into full view throughout the Brahms: an attentive chamber musician providing the foundation for his colleagues’ sparkle, he possesses all the qualities of a superb soloist whenever the music shone upon the piano—which was often in this demanding piano part. Throughout the Brahms, the duo captivated the audience, perhaps at the expense of a more restrained violin presence.

After intermission, Misha Keylin addressed the audience by announcing that the forthcoming performance would be the last time the trio would play Rachmaninov’s Elegiac trio No.2 Op.9 during the 150th anniversary year of the composer’s birth (1873). Settling into the somber mood of the young composer’s mourning of the recently departed Tchaikovsky (1893), the Hermitage Piano Trio delivered a grand performance of the colossal work. All three players came together in a memorable and impressive chamber music performance. At the center of it: Ilya Kazantsev, herculean, prodigious. While the strings were fully engaged, the score is naturally skewed towards a towering piano part, which requires an exceptional level of expertise. Ilya Kazantsev was a selfless star, gifting his peers and his public a wildly inspired performance.

A much-deserved credit to the LMMC’s choice in this season’s guest artists, Montreal should hope to hear this phenomenal ensemble back in our enchanting wintry city in the years to come.