Guadagnini. Guadagnini. Guadagnini. It’s a fun word to say, but it’s even more fun to see and hear – in the form of the 1771 J.B. Guadagnini played by violinist Wolfgang Redik of the Vienna Piano Trio. The violin is on loan from the Austrian National Bank. The trio, also from Austria, is on tour in the United States, with about a dozen stops this month, including a final concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 29, in Minsky Recital Hall at the University of Maine in Orono.
When the threesome performed in New York City earlier this year, a reviewer feared that after more than 15 years together, the internationally acclaimed combo might reveal a middle-age slump.
Not so for these Vienna boys. They played with the “energy of a college ensemble,” he wrote. Apparently, there’s no sturm und drang among this string set – unless it’s there for effect, of course. A week ago, a Houston critic reported that the musicians were so infused with excitement and anticipation that they “could have been encountering the music for the first time.”
It’s not such a bad idea to think of the concert as a first time, too – a kind of blind date that your friends have told you is ravishing, stunning, shimmering, elusive. You can assume the tall-dark-and-handsome factor is also at play, in an Austrian kind of way.
Whatever gets your imagination fired when it comes to chamber groups, however, will only be stoked by the VPT. Redik founded the group in 1998 with pianist Stefan Mendl. Cellist Matthias Gredler joined in 2001.
The program for Sunday reflects only a portion of their repertoire: Schubert’s Piano Trio in B-flat Major, Haydn’s Piano Trio C Major, and Ravel’s 1914 Piano Trio. For the rest, you’ll have to go to their dozen acclaimed recordings. But get it live first. Minsky’s acoustics are perfect for this type of intimate concert. You’ll be close enough to both hear and see every note.
For tickets, contact the Maine Center for the Arts at 581-1755, or visit www.mainecenterforthearts.org.
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