Ensemble plays with zest, grace

I admit it. I was late. By the time I ran up Park Street and got inside the Unitarian Universalist Church in Bangor Monday night, The Azure Ensemble had already begun to play. And so, not being able to enter in the middle of a piece, I had to hear the Haydn Trio in G Major, Hob. XV:15 from just outside the hall.

What I heard was Haydn at its best. This is reasonable music, more expository than poetic. Its appeal lies in its lightness, wit and sprightliness. This ensemble expressed those qualities, playing with precision and zest. While perhaps any ensemble with a flute might automatically seem light and sprightly, it was the combined musicianship of cellist Tahirah Whittington, pianist Miko Kominami and flutist Susan Glaser, that brought the music of Haydn to life.

The Haydn trio was beautifully performed throughout, but two things stood out. In an unintentionally hesitant passage in the third movement, the piano seems to falter, come to a complete stop and then start again. This kind of thing can seem stilted. Here, it was simply eloquent. And then there was the sound. These three musicians blended the individual sounds of their instruments into what at times sounded like a single indefinable instrument, rather than three separate and familiar ones.

At this point, I was allowed to enter the church, and for the next hour and a half, the music sounded even better.

Azure next played Trio in F Major by 20th century composer Bohuslav Martinu, a rippling, largely melodic piece, with slight dissonances. There are elements of the fugue in this piece, sometimes whole phrases being repeated and passed among the three instruments. Other times, only a single note repeated, playfully sounding like something on stocking feet, tiptoeing just behind the main melody.

During the intermission, the audience was treated to a performance by one of last year’s Arcady Youth Competition winners, Kelsey Hudson. A sixth-grader at Blue Hill Consolidated School, she is a remarkably talented young woman, who plays with excellent technique, and a sense of joy. The piece, “Mazurka, Op. 7” by Mlynarski, was a good choice, enabling Hudson to show off a number of techniques.

In an addition to the program, cellist Whittington and pianist Kominami next performed Manuel De Falla’s “Suite Espagnol,” exploiting the ability of the cello to be strummed, plucked and bowed. Especially beautiful was a lullaby so hauntingly sad it would make me cry myself to sleep.

The final piece was Trio in G Minor, Op.63 by Carl Maria von Weber. In his lifetime, Weber was renowned for his memorable and satisfying melodies, and this piece is filled with them, some sweetly lyrical, others more vigorous. Glaser’s flute came to the fore during the third movement, the “Shepherd’s Lament,” allowing her once again to show off her clear brilliance of tone and lovely phrasing.

The Azure Ensemble are wonderful musicians, with a sensitivity to the music and to the needs of the audience. This was a beautiful program of music, performed with grace and verve.

The Azure Ensemble performs 7 p.m. today at the Federated Church in Skowhegan and at 7 p.m. Thursday at Stearns High School in Millinocket. The ensemble’s members will serve as judges at this year’s Arcady Youth Competition 1-3 p.m. Saturday at Minsky Recital Hall at the University of Maine in Orono. Admission is free.