Rautio Piano Trio, Chichester Chamber Concerts, The Assembly Room, North Street, Chichester.

Having originally planned to perform in Chichester, in December 2010, Rautio Piano Trio’s earlier concert had to be postponed, due to exceptionally snowy weather.

Now having arrived – despite their active European programme – this Trio was eagerly introduced by Anna Hill, as all three members assembled on-stage, before commencing their long-awaited recital. Quite logically, the female cello-player and violinist were seated right at the front and the highly artistic Russian pianist, Jan Rautio, was positioned behind them, thus allowing all three to create a supreme balance of sound, especially as his music-pages were turned flawlessly by the promising young University pianist/composer, Michael Whytock.

Having started with an intensely expressive version of Beethoven’s highly melodic, (1798), B-flat Piano Trio masterpiece, all three then enthusiastically moved onward to a far more contemporary musical atmosphere. Following an energetic personal introduction by the British composer himself, they then moved on to a dynamic performance of the five fascinating movements of John Casken’s (2002).Piano Trio, which were clearly appreciated by most of the audience.

After the Interval, all three then applied their communicative styles to Mozart’s first, highly entertaining, Trio in B-flat, and then – once again – combined extremely artistically as they proceeded towards their finale, with a creative presentation of the lyrical texture, rhythm and drama of Brahms’ Piano Trio No.3, all of which resulted in sincere applause from all those present in the Assembly Room.

John Wheatley