For the opening concert of their 20th season, Selby & Friends Artistic Director and pianist Kathryn Selby was joined again by ‘friends’ Alexandra Osborne (violin) and Clancy Newman (cello). 

Reuniting by popular demand after their successful collaboration in 2024, this program began with two variations-based works, followed by two piano trios which most certainly stood on their own.

Kathryn Selby. Photo supplied

Beethoven’s Piano Trio No. 11 in G major consists of 10 variations on a song Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu (I am the tailor, Cockatoo) from Wenzel Müller’s musical The Sisters of Prague (itself largely lost to history). Considered an ‘uneven’ work by critics of the day, the trio has some lovely moments and an engaging range of moods. 

Its great service in this program was to introduce the pure, rich and mellow tones of Osborne’s violin and Newman’s cello. In the hands of these two incredibly accomplished players, the timbre was perfectly matched. That said, there were moments when it seemed the three players weren’t in perfect agreement about the way to handle certain climaxes and rallentandi. 

Interestingly, the opening Elena Kats-Chernin’s Variation on Schubert’s ‘Trauerwalzer’ (Mourning Waltz) was executed more confidently, with Osborne driving a relentless tempo over simple long-bowed cello notes before the dominant line was handed to the cello and subsequently the piano. 

The timing and character match was better than it had been in the Beethoven, but marcato phrases were still articulated differently by each player, which proved slightly distracting.

Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel’s spectacular but demanding Piano Trio in D minor was written in the year of her untimely death and also that of her beloved brother Felix (1847). Despite the acclaim she received during her life, her prodigious output, and the uncommonly strong support (in that day) she received from her husband and from Felix, Fanny Mendelssohn’s music is only now being rediscovered.

Selby, Osborne and Newman opened with the plaintive first bars, but then opened into an assertive and confident new mode. Newman’s vibratory expression on his gorgeous rosewood-coloured instrument consumed his whole energy later in the Allegro, despite a stage personality which was never as extroverted as his two colleagues. Then his sensual expressiveness in the Andante provided a complete contrast.  

After interval, this performance went to a new level. Schubert’s Piano Trio No. 1 in B flat major can rarely have been played better. The charming interplay between the strings in the Allegro moderato was precise, yet emotive, as the opening theme was passed between the violin, cello and piano.

The relentlessness of Schubert’s demands on the pianist’s right hand gave the right driving effect, but Selby made it look easy. The ensemble playing in the Andante was faultless, all players in sympathy with each other and matching tone and character perfectly and fading from a stunning piano-pianissimo into silence with exquisite delicacy.

While this concert was textured and well-executed, the performance of this Schubert masterpiece was breathtakingly brilliant.

Selby & Friends presents The Living Tradition at City Recital Hall, Sydney on 25 May, the Primrose Potter Salon, Melbourne Recitsl Centre, 28 May, and Concordia College Chapel, Adelaide on 31 May. For bookings visit this link.