Z.E.N. TRIO A MATCH MADE BY THE BBC
Young players brought together on recording for British broadcaster
In the weeks ahead, two young chamber ensembles make Vancouver a port of call: the Danish String Quartet in a program of Bach, Mendelssohn, and Beethoven on Nov. 3, and the Z.E.N. Piano Trio, this Sunday.
The Danish Quartet has delighted Vancouver Recital Society audiences before; the piano trio is new to us, although cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan and pianist Zhang Zuo have been featured here in recital.
The trio’s violinist is Esther Yoo — the “E” in Z.E.N., a name that combines the first letters of the player’s given names. All have impressive musical pedigrees, and all were chosen as BBC New Generation Artists 2014-16. And it was the BBC that first put them together in the spring of 2015 to record Brahms’ Piano Trio #1, which features in their performance in Vancouver.
It proved a prescient bit of musical matchmaking. The young performers knew about each other, and, according to Yoo: “During those rehearsals and recording sessions we just ‘clicked,’ musically and personally, and decided to continue performing trios together, while of course pursuing our individual solo careers.”
Commitment, compatibility, consistency, and just plain luck determine why one chamber ensemble thrives while another packs it in. Trio Z.E.N. got off to an impressive start with performances in Europe, China, and the U.S., plus a major-league DGG recording.
Their Vancouver debut is part of a six-city North American tour, with Vancouver being the sole Canadian date. And when that’s done, they head back into the recording studio to create a second album. All this while playing individual solo gigs and other chamber music performances.
The key to it all is planning. “Scheduling in advance is key!” says Yoo.
“It helps that we all live in Europe, so that makes things easier when trying to find rehearsal periods. The beauty of playing with the same musicians regularly is that you get to know each other so well — the way we think, how we work etc. — so this also facilitates the working process when we’re together, and makes it all much more efficient.”
While the piano trio repertoire is distinguished, it’s not as extensive as that for string quartet.
Yoo explains: “The piano trio repertoire is quite diverse, and there are also many beautiful hidden gems if you search beyond the core trio repertoire.”
Even so, putting programs together requires careful planning.
“There are several factors to take into consideration when deciding on a program — what we feel suits our trio, what we want to discover, what we want to convey through the program, and, on the more practical side, what we have time for. We have yet to experience the issue of running out of repertoire, due to the fact that we’re not a fulltime trio.”
As well as early Brahms, the VRS program includes late Schubert and the Soviet-era piano trio of Shostakovich. (So far the group hasn’t gone the route of commissioning new repertoire, but that’s a “not yet” prospect, not a hard no.)
It’s early days for the ensemble, but Yoo affirms that despite all the trio’s other activities, chamber music is essential to each of them; it is what she calls a big part of their musical DNA.
“We all truly believe that playing chamber music stimulates the manner in which we perform our solo works, and vice versa.”
Then there is the particular magic that blazes when gifted young players interact.
“The three of us have many similarities and coherent artistic visions which harmonizes the trio, but we often feel that our differences bring extra qualities to our combined music making. We learn from each other, and inspire each other to try new ideas, different interpretations. Ultimately it’s about combining our individual qualities to create one beautiful whole.”