Pacific Piano Trio Conducts a Warm, Assured Dialogue

The venerable Music Guild may not have as high a profile or budget as other presenters, but it has long been a major component of the local chamber music scene. The organization opened a new matinee series--Coffee, Cakes and Chamber Music--Sunday at University Synagogue in Brentwood, a pleasant, comfortable space to hear the Pacific Piano Trio play big-boned masterpieces from Dvorak and Mendelssohn.

This ensemble is another enduring but seldom celebrated local treasure. Violinist Endre Balogh, cellist John Walz and pianist Edith Orloff have been playing together for 20 years. Longevity is often overrated in chamber music circles, but in this case it has honed an ensemble of all-embracing warmth and assured dialogue, supported by abundant technical resources.

And these are three musicians who still come to work with fire. They have recorded Dvorak’s F-minor Trio, Opus 65, and a real relish for its many moods--its dancing elan and brooding soulfulness--was readily apparent, as was thoughtful respect for its harmonic logic and structural grace.

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Mendelssohn’s D-minor Trio was once the mainstay of the medium’s repertory, but lately professional ensembles seem to have taken perverse pride in not playing it. The Pacific Piano Trio reminded us not only of its sweeping, up-front lyricism, but also its inner life, bringing burnished sound, rhythmic zest and a killer combination of clarity and speed to the piece.

The eloquent encore was Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise, expressively contoured from elegant poignancy to steamy passion and back.