MUSIC REVIEW : The Arista Trio Dazzles : Fullerton Friends of Music heard Mozart, Arensky and Beethoven at their best.

The Fullerton Friends of Music hosted one of the season’s most auspicious debuts Sunday afternoon at Sunny Hills High School when the Arista Trio followed exceptional Mozart and Arensky with a knock-out performance of Beethoven’s “Archduke” Trio.

Formed in 1987, when Korean pianist Sang-Mi Chung, Austrian violinist Daniel Froschauer and American cellist Michael Mermagen were at the Juilliard School, the Trio used their world-class technique and ensemble as a platform for richly enjoyable music making.

In Mozart’s Trio K. 548, which opened the program, the two string players flashed some silky sound while pianist Chung invested Mozart’s delectable runs and legato sighings with generous helpings of color (if overly restrained expression).

The ensemble took a more whiplash approach to Anton Arensky’s ultra-romantic Trio Opus 32, Chung asserting herself with magnificent virtuoso flourishes while Froschauer and Mermagen explored the virtues of rock-solid intonation allied to almost indecently sensuous phrasing. More than just following the printed parts, the players seemed to be participating in the music’s creation.

Lacking only the first-movement repeat to make it unforgettable, Beethoven’s great “Archduke” Trio was the concert’s highlight.

Combining deeply moving timbres, sweeping phrasing, superb transitional joins and breathtaking clarity, this was a performance that explored every facet of the music’s beauty and power. Over and over, illustrated best by the first movement’s final surge, the Aristas understood and brought out the music’s genius.

And that despite some drawbacks: The piano had a squeaky pedal, the air-conditioning was obtrusive and Froschauer’s head cold caused him to miss several important entrances as the Beethoven wore on.

In all other respects, however, the Arista Trio came and showed themselves to be a power on the piano-trio scene.