MUSIC REVIEW : Trio Dares to Be Subtle at Ford Concert

As seems a given with any outdoor concert these days, the repertory chosen was ultra-familiar.

In such instances, all one can ask for--besides more daring repertory, of course--is uncommon music making. This was plentifully supplied Monday night by the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre.

In Beethoven’s “Archduke” Trio, the ensemble--pianist Joseph Kalichstein, violinist Jaime Laredo and cellist Sharon Robinson, together since 1977--balanced relaxed tempos with a strong projection of the long line.

Unflagging attention to the minutiae of phrasing, such as subtle variation of colors in seemingly inconsequential sequences, and the players’ unity of expression, warm yet poised, exemplified this concentrated reading.

The two middle movements were particularly memorable: a daringly slow, yet lilting, Scherzo, its Trio by turns moody and grandly Chopinesque; and a leisurely Andante in which the perfectly matched nuances of Laredo and Robinson brought out the profundity in the simplest of themes.

Yet this approach didn’t work everywhere. It seemed a bit too fussy for Dvorak’s “Dumky” Trio, which hovered, at times, near inaudibility (there was no miking on Monday) and courted immobility.

Also, the outdoor acoustic robbed the music of much of its essential sonorousness (Kalichstein’s bass notes especially lacked depth). The players’ glowing accounts of the folklike melodies made up for much of this, however, in a far from negligible performance.

The obligatory Mozart, the Trio, K. 502, hardly seemed so on this occasion, given the ensemble’s projection of grace and intimacy through singing lines, subtle tempo fluctuations and firm articulation. An elegant but never stuffy reading.

Aircraft tally: three planes, at least three helicopters--all at what seemed the most inopportune moments. A conspiracy?