When the Claremont Trio — a violinist, a cellist and a pianist — played in McCain Friday night, I faced a special kind of angst: that of writing about musicians without actually knowing anything about music. Fortunately, though, an Expert Vibrato Analyst came along to help clarify the finer points of…well, vibrato and shit. Now we know what a "movement" is! Sort of.
The first piece, Haydn’s Trio in G major, was… well, I don’t remember much of it. The second piece was more modern; Schoenberg’s "Cafe Music." It was faux jazzy; it sounded like a dude in a suit sneaking through dark hallways. I kinda liked it but kinda also thought it felt like a cheap trick? Added just to please the youngs in attendance. The Expert Vibrato Analyst articulated the misgivings perfectly: when jazz isn’t performed by tried and true hep cats, it just sounds funny.
We both enjoyed the third piece: Antonín Dvorák’s Trio in F minor. And the encore — Gallop, the fifth movement of George Bizet’s composition, "Children’s Game" — was an excellent follow up, being that it was (1) upbeat, and (2) short.
Asking people about the music was awesome, as those who weren’t completely comfortable talking about chamber music struggled to sound like they were. "They’re definitely virtuosos," said one kid, adding that he enjoys pieces when they’re "played in minor keys" (ha ha ha, I have no idea WTF that means. I’m dumb. My biggest reason for attending was that the performers are hot). After the show I caught up with Professor AND Mrs. Donald Hedrick: "The playful virtuosity of the encore was fun." He added that he "liked the Dvorák the best. It speaks to my Slavik spirit. It reminds me of Prague (??)," he said (I caught him off guard). Professor Donnelly and his satanic eyebrows hit the nail on the head: "Chamber music scares people."
