Piano Trio op. 50 - Granados
Trio en Fa sostenido - Gombau
Tres Piezas Espanolas - Arbos
GranadoS and Arbos were contemporaries, both born in the 1860s, and Gombau came a generation later; all three, however, write in a similar manner. Whatever you feel, feel it passionately and enshrine it in rich harmonies; allow no time for meditation or repose: that is the impression given by the three works for piano trio performed in the Lane Gallery last Sunday. Who better to present this opulent music from Spain than the members, all Spanish, of the Trio Arbos.
The Trio by Granados seems to give expression to a repressed sensuality; one can easily imagine a salon of the well-to-do, all encased in the elaborate costume of a bygone age, luxuriating in emotions they would hardly have admitted to themselves, with here and there a discreetly-heaving bosom, as they settled themselves more comfortably in their chairs beneath the glittering candelabra in the music room. The Trio Arbos was perfectly in tune with the spirit of that age.
The Trio by Gerardo Gombau (1906-1971) was very much in the same style though its insistent rhythms had a flavour of the machine age, and the progress of the music, punctuated as it was by violent interjections, anticipated our more troubled times.
The Three Spanish Pieces by Arbos sounded as if they were based on folk material and made respectable, so to speak, by being harmonised in the manner of Granados.