Joshua Bell, Steven Isserlis & Dénes Várjon

Queen’s Hall

Bell, Isserlis and Várjon are phenomenal musicians in their own right, but as a trio they are sensational.

They thundered through Mendelssohn’s mighty Piano Trio No 2 in C minor Op 66 with deceptive ease. The composer’s instructions call for energy and fire but the trio set this phenomenal work ablaze.

Várjon’s hands danced up and down the keyboard rippling through the notepacked phrases with the lightest of touches while the sparky chemistry between Bell and Isserlis, on violin and cello, was thrilling to behold. In the scherzo, they never dropped a note of the scurrying theme and expertly balanced the expansive passion of the coruscating finale with its darker melancholy.

The trio gave a rapturous account of Brahms’ original version of Piano Trio No1 in B major Op 8 – he later revised it. Although it’s an uneven work, the flaws were barely discernible in this seamless performance.

Then there were the poignant ‘his’ and ‘her’ Schumann romances. Isserlis beautifully captured the emotional turbulence of Robert’s Three Romances Op 94 for piano and cello while Bell’s rhapsodic account of Clara’s contemplative Romances Op 22 with Várjon was sublime.

Indeed, the trio have set the bar sky-high for the 2018 festival. SUSAN NICKALLS