The London Bridge Trio are no strangers to the Highlands, and their latest programme for Music Nairn continued their advocacy of the music of Frank Bridge as well as presenting two staples of the piano trio repertoire.  Beethoven established his reputation as a pianist and composer in Vienna with piano trios, and his pair of op 70 trios finds him at the height of his powers, composing his fifth and sixth symphonies.  It was also a time when the deafness, which would cloud his later years was becoming an increasing problem, and there is something ominous about particularly the slow movement of the first of these trios, which earned the piece the soubriquet 'Ghost'.  The unsettling harmonic progressions in this Largo movement prefigure the exploratory harmonic daring of the late quartets, and it is easy to see why his publisher and early audiences detected elements of the uncanny.  Daniel Tong's wonderfully subtle touch on the Music Nairn Steinway, ranging from rippling elegant passages to impressively emphatic textures, was perfectly complemented by the engagingly expressive playing of violinist Ben Hancox and cellist Cara Berridge.  The opening movement was truly con brio in this performance, while the concluding Presto technically assured with an impressive musicality.

The London Bridge Trio have done more to bring the chamber music of Frank Bridge to a wider audience than perhaps any other ensemble, and their wonderfully persuasive account of his C-minor Phantasy Piano Trio spoke of a confident intimacy with his output.  One of a number of overlooked Edwardian composers, Bridge belongs to the tradition of Vaughan-Williams, Stanford and Elgar but has a distinctive voice which deserves to be heard.  Dating from 1907, before the shattering experience of the First World War introduced a new disturbing dissonance into his music, this single movement work takes related musical material through a succession of episodes, including a ravishing recurrent Andante, before a sparkling con anima episode brings it to a triumphant conclusion.  This over-arching structure adds a further metaphorical layer, delightfully playing on the composer's and the group’s name! 

The second half of the concert brought us back to Vienna in the year of Beethoven's death 1827, when his younger contemporary Schubert composed his sublime Bb Piano Trio D898 in what turned out to be the year before his own untimely death.  Unlike the later Eb Trio D929 with its unsettling intimations of death, this earlier trio is unfailingly optimistic, bubbling with beautifully crafted Schubertian melodies and textures.  The London Bridge Trio found the perfect balance of virtuosity and lyricism in a wonderfully convincing performance of this substantial piece.  While the slow movement was particularly engaging and moving, this was a powerful reading of this whole masterpiece, thoroughly enjoyed by a large and enthusiastic Music Nairn audience.