The Apollo Trio at the Meeting House, New Marlborough play Beethoven, Shostakovich, and Dvořák, by Keith Francis

Dmitri Shostakovich

The Apollo Trio at the Meeting House, New Marlborough
Saturday, September 17
Curtis Macomber, violin; Michael Kannen, cello; Marija Stroke, piano

Beethoven – Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 44
Shostakovich – Trio in E Minor, Op. 67
Dvořák – Trio in E Minor, Op. 90, “Dumky”

This recital was part of New Marlborough’s enterprising “Music and More” series, directed by Harold F. Lewin and now in its twentieth year, which has certainly succeeded in its stated intention of “bringing a diverse and distinguished group of authors, actors, musicians and films to the Berkshires.”

Beethoven completed the Variations, Op. 44 in 1792, long before he undertook the task of setting the world to rights. It is remarkable that a year after Mozart’s death and while Haydn was regaling London with a succession of masterpieces, this young man of twenty-two could write music that sounds like Beethoven and could not be mistaken for a product of either of the two older masters. The variations are by turns elegant, soulful, sparkling and exuberant, and the performance characterized them beautifully.

Read the full review
 on the Berkshire Review, an International Journal for the Arts!








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