January 31, 2013
To have a chance to hear the Merling Trio is something to be excited about.
The Merling Trio has been together for 23 years, with all of their original members. This makes them one of the longest lasting groups.
Although the turnout was meager, they played with vivacity until the very end. The small sound of them tuning and warming up their instruments was beautiful to hear.
The Merling Trio hosted a theme of Dance at their performance Monday night. They featured Gypsy pieces from Haydn and Tangos from Piazzolla as well as two Hungarian pieces from Brahms.
From beginning to end, they exhibited unity and passion in their playing. The Trio exhibited a mastery of their instruments that could only come with years of training.
The Trio consistently stayed on the same pace for the entire concert. They managed to keep up with the fast tempo the pianist, Susan Wiersma Uchimura, set for the tangos.
They possessed gorgeous dynamics while they worked through their music. Music can be that much more passionate with these volume changes.
These dynamic changes were not sudden, however. They were played with a finesse that allowed for fluidity between the shifts in volume.
Passion is not something they lacked, either. Their body movements portrayed emphasis with the accents in the pieces.
Even subtle movements of the foot or nod of the head could express the passion of the tangos they performed.
Before most of their pieces, a member of the Trio would explain where the music was to take the listener. In Invierno Portena by Piazzolla, which literally translates to “Winter City,” they explain that the lilting trickle of the instruments was the snowflakes falling on a winter night.
Their performance took the audience to a different place. The passionate violin took the listener to a night of wild abandon with the gypsies, or a night dancing the tango with a mysterious partner.
The Merling Trio is an astounding group of musicians and they truly were worth seeing.
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