Chamber Music a Trois

In the chamber music world, the string trio format is lesser known than the string quartet. Yet the string trio, with its lightness and flexibility, is a sound worth knowing better, especially when the advocates are as persuasive as the Jacques Thibaud String Trio, playing Monday at Cal State Northridge’s Performing Arts Center.

We will hear the familiar strains of Schubert’s “Trout Quintet” expanded to include pianist Ayke Agus and double bassist Christopher Hanukik, rarely heard pieces by Mozart, and the Mozart Piano Quartet in E-flat.

“That’s the great thing about the string trio,” cellist Uwe Hirth-Schmidt said. “Many more or less strange and interesting combinations consist of a string trio-plus-X.”

Violinist Burkhard Maiss, violist Philip Douvier and Hirth-Schmidt formed the trio while they were at the Berlin School of Art in 1994 and have steadily risen in the international ranks. They won the 1999 Bonn Chamber Music Competition in 1999 and have toured the United States annually since 1997 to glowing reviews.

In the beginning, the musicians weren’t necessarily settled on the trio sound.

“All of us always wanted to be chamber musicians,” Hirth-Schmidt said. “It is not easy to find members that fit together, though. We struggled for many years to find people willing to sacrifice a lot until the group was there musically, technically, financially.”

Repertoire for string trio may be limited, but that’s not a concern for the group.

“Compared to quartets, it really is limited,” Hirth-Schmidt said. “But there’s enough, especially if you consider the maintenance a string trio needs. If you want to sound comparable to a quartet, you need to keep working on your pieces more than a quartet.”

Monday’s program is typical of the group’s approach to designing a concert, balancing the popular with the slightly obscure.

“It is always a good idea to put unknown pieces together with a known teaser,” Hirth-Schmidt said. “Why would you want to play a program of unknown pieces to an empty hall?”

BE THERE

The Jacques Thibaud String Trio performs Monday at 8 p.m. at the CSUN Performing Arts Center, 18111 Nordhoff St. Tickets are $5-$24. (818) 677-2488.