CONCERT REVIEW

Concerts in the West

Perks Ensemble

Bridport Arts Centre

COMPARED with the plethora of string quartets in existence, examples of the string trio are comparatively rare.

Beethoven wrote several early on, and then no more.

Mozart's single example, his Divertimento in E flat, stretches a full 45 minutes and is one the pinnacles (and miracles) of his entire output.

The work is brimming with melodic invention, and one of the joys of the writing is the way in which Mozart spreads the responsibility of sharing the bass line between viola and cello, and between violin and viola.

When this occurred the resulting change of timbre for each instrument heightened the attraction of the performance.

In Beethoven's String Trio in C minor, The Perks Ensemble took a strongly rhythmic approach befitting the work of a composer in his 20's, bursting with invention and bold harmonies.

The players fully realised the composer's expressiveness in a key that already stood out as a symbol of challenge, and later, most noticeably, in the Fifth Symphony.

New to probably every member of the audience was the central work, the String Trio by Jean Françaix.

Essentially French in its wit and still daring, even for 1933, this piece provided the Ensemble with challenges which they revelled in meeting.

Each of the three works in The Perk's Ensemble's programme was essentially entertainment music - and the players never lost sight of this.

They combined rigour with warmth, a secure knowledge of each other's musicianship and an awareness of their appreciative audiences. That was their great appeal.

ANTHONY PITHER