MUSIC REVIEW : Raphael Trio Takes the Safe Route in Concert

Maybe the Music Guild isn’t the first place we would go in search of musical fireworks, but even so, the presenter’s Wednesday night offering at the Wilshire-Ebell Theatre, the Raphael Piano Trio, seemed especially safe and sane.

Perhaps it was the resolutely 19th-Century, Middle European program of Schubert, Dvorak and lightweight Beethoven, or the Raphael’s right-down-the-middle-of-the-road interpretations. There were no surprises here and no risk-taking, which is how many like it, surely.

The Trio--Charles Castelman on violin, Susan Salm on cello and Daniel Epstein on piano--was on this occasion more admirable than compelling. Epstein was the most consistently involved and involving musician; he sounded as if he were enjoying himself, his playing had a sparkle. Castelman and Salm proved polished and thoughtful presences, but not notably charismatic.

The concert opened a little too inconsequentially with warm and cozy readings of Schubert’s little Nocturne, D. 897 and Beethoven’s one-movement Trio, WoO 39, written for a talented 10-year-old (and sounding like it), the pianist Maximiliane Brentano, daughter of the composer’s supposed “Immortal Beloved.”

A secure, often elegant and, when needed, spirited reading of Dvorak’s G-minor Trio followed, the folk-dance rhythms rendered blithely and Epstein a fiery presence in the Scherzo.

Schubert’s Opus 100 Trio suffered from what appeared to be mere inattentiveness, momentary ensemble and solo blemishes that made one remember that it was the third night in a row that the group had played this piece. At any rate, these players managed to convey most of the work’s considerable charms, if not its depths, and Epstein was properly flashy and springy of step in the bubbly piano part.

The fourth movement of Dvorak’s “Dumky” Trio, more of the same, served as encore. Call it all pleasant.