Trio Klavis (Austria) - violin, piano and saxophone - performs a festive Christmas concert of much variety at the American Colony Hotel, Jerusalem

Trio Klavis: Jenny Lippl, Sabina Hasanova, Miha Ferk (photo: Petra Klose)

Originally built and owned by an Ottoman Pasha - Rabbah Daoud Amin Effendi al-Husseini - who lived there with his harem of four wives, the American Colony Hotel (now run by a Swiss company) is located where East- and West Jerusalem meet. In conjunction with the Austrian Cultural Forum (Tel Aviv) and the Willy Brandt Centre, Jerusalem (Petra Klose: social art project coordinator) the American Colony Concert Series’ 2019 Christmas concert on December 20th featured Trio Klavis (Austria) - Sabina Hasanova-piano, Jenny Lippl-violin and Miha Ferk-saxophone.

 

Welcoming the audience gathered in the exquisite Pasha Room of the hotel, Mr. Arno Mitterdorfer, director of the Austrian Cultural Forum in Tel Aviv, referred to the American Colony Hotel as a “gem” of a venue, a place of co-existence and an oasis of culture bringing together people of all walks of life. Mr. Mitterdorfer spoke of Trio Klavis as having already made a great impact on the Austrian musical scene. The Austrian Cultural Forum actively supports Austrian artists and their activities in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

 

For the festive event, the players chose works from four different countries and styles spanning the 18th- to 20th centuries. Trio Klavis members offered a few words on each item on the program. All the pieces had been adapted and arranged by Miha Ferk. The program opened with W.A.Mozart’s Kegelstatt Trio KV 498 (1786), originally scored for clarinet, viola and piano. It was first performed at the Jacquin residence in Vienna, where family and friends met weekly to enjoy time in discussion, games, and music-making. In the Kegelstatt Trio, originally performed there, Mozart played the viola part. The rumour that the piece was composed during an afternoon game of skittles - hence the nickname “Kegelstatt” (or playground for skittles, an old European variety of bowling) - remains unproven. But, whatever its origin, the work exudes a warm sense of contentment and delight. Despite their disparate instrumental combination and the fact that the saxophone is limited in how pianissimo it can play, the Klavis artists preserved the work’s Classical style, its Mozartian delicacy and elegance, its lively dialogues and its hearty sense of well-being. In the seven-part Rondo Allegretto, a reference to the concerto style, the virtuosic writing for all three instruments, accompanied by attentive listening on the part of all players, made for an exciting finale. 

 

Then to the Aria of Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No.5, written in the 1940s when the composer was riding a wave of international recognition. It reflects his endeavour to create musical compositions using indigenous Brazilian elements together with his connections to the European tradition of such masters as J.S. Bach. The Trio Klavis instrumental setting would seem to be a far cry from that of No.5, which calls for eight 'cellos (Villa-Lobos' instrument) and soprano, using the voice both for traditional singing of words and for wordless vocalise. Trio Klavis’ interpretation of the piece  (with much octave playing between violin and saxophone) nevertheless evoked the exquisite, long-spun melodiousness and otherworldly mood of the ponderous opening, the work's central section calling to mind folk-song sensibility and Brazilian sensuousness, that of the poem by Brazilian writer Ruth Valadares Corrêa (who sang in its world premiere), the text being an ode to the moon's gentle rise against "the drowsy, beautiful firmament”. On the return of the first section, Ferk separates violin from saxophone, giving the mysterious moon-struck melody to the latter.

 

Not often heard is Dmitri Shostakovich’s Trio No.1 Op.8 in C minor, written when the composer was still a student; he scored it for violin, ‘cello and piano. Sabina Hasanova mentioned that the young Shostakovich had fallen in love in 1923 and that this single-movement work offers insight to this youthful experience, including the frustrations of relationships. The young lady concerned was a certain Tatyana Filvenko from Moscow, to whom the composer wrote: "It's dedicated to you, if you've no objections."   The Trio was first performed later that year at the Petrograd Conservatory, with Shostakovich at the keyboard joined by fellow students. Originally called "Poem for Violin, Violoncello and Fortepiano", this title might conceal the fact that the 17-year-old Shostakovich was already a master of form, weaving the work from a tight structure alluding to sonata-form. The Trio Klavis players’ presentation of it gave vivid expression to the play and contrast of the many aspects of this Romantic concert piece - its tenderness, its plaintive sentimentality, its huge variety of textures from featherweight utterances to heavy, urgent chordal clusters and sizable tutti, affectionate melodies and wild, tumultuous, dancelike sections. The artists took on board the technical challenges of the work, with Miha Ferk here engaging in a little more vibrato playing than in the two previous works.

 

In honour of the festive season, Trio Klavis performed “Forbidden Colours” from Ryuichi Sakamoto’s soundtrack to the 1983 British-Japanese war film “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence”. Sabina Hasanova felt the item would be suitable to the many cultures of the people attending the concert. A mood piece, the artists created its initial dreamy soundscape and singing melodic lines, highlighting the subtle mix of Japanese- and western music, then to spiral into a more substantial texture. Sealing what was indeed a festive, moving and exhilarating event, the program concluded with an original composition of Miha Ferk, bearing the name of “Traubensaft” (Grape Juice), an exuberant, jazzy, virtuosic piece with extensive keyboard quotes from J.S.Bach’s “Well-Tempered Clavier” punctuated by other elements, such as folk melodies from Ferk’s native Slovenia.

 

A unique and exceptional group of young musicians, the Trio Klavis artists each have outstanding and versatile individual careers. As an ensemble, they take on works of a great variety of styles, from music of the Classical period to premiering contemporary works of living composers, to performance of their own compositions. The Trio’s aim is to expand the repertoire for the unusual combination of violin, piano and saxophone. Its performance maintains the highest international standard, with all works played by heart. In the Trio’s 2016 debut album - “Geography of Sound” (Orlando Records) - the artists play classical works influenced by folk music from around the world. Trio Klavis has been chosen to be NASOM (New Austrian Sound of Music) artists for 2020-2021.