Music Reviews : Buswell-Parnas-Luvisi Trio at Caltech

The New York-based trio comprising violinist James Buswell, cellist Leslie Parnas and pianist Lee Luvisi displayed highly cultivated ensemble work at Caltech’s Beckman Auditorium on Sunday afternoon at the second of this season’s Coleman chamber concerts.

Beethoven’s gracious and, in its finale, rollickingly clever Trio in G, Opus 1, No. 2, opened the program smartly, with playing of crackling vitality.

The Trio (1954) by Leon Kirchner provides the pianist a terrific workout while leaving at least one auditor puzzled as to what the American composer was after in his curious mixture of Blochian modality, Hindemithian busywork and evocations of Bartokian night music eeriness. If there’s an original, cogent voice lurking in the 15-minute-long piece, it is well hidden.

Finally, German horn virtuoso Hermann Baumann joined Buswell and Luvisi in--what else?--the Brahms Trio in E-flat, Opus 40. It proved to be an interesting, somewhat unusual reading for acknowledging that while the work’s distinctive coloration is provided by the horn, its effusive passions emanate from the violin and piano.

Buswell and Luvisi delivered their parts with soaring expansiveness, while Baumann’s technically strong playing was thoughtful and controlled: an ensemble contribution rather than a star turn.