Members and friends of Ayr Music Club recently gathered in the Community Church at St. John’s Street for the second last concert in their current ‘Live Music in Ayr Series’.
The concert took place on Saturday where guests were entertained by Trio Ecossaise, Jennifer Brown – clarinet, Harriet Davidson -’cello and Claire Haslin – piano, who were making a most welcome return to Ayr.
In presenting their very varied programme, each player demonstrated her mastery of her instrument, together delighting the audience not only in their robust playing of loud passages, but also in music which was more lyrical in mode.
The Trio had chosen to begin their recital with a new work, ‘As The Feet Of A Deer’, written for them by the Scottish composer Helen Leach, and premiered only a couple of weeks previously.
In her music Ms Leach sought to evoke a world of “panoramic mountains, swirling mists and the unspeakable wild and beautiful Scottish landscape” such as that captured in Landseer’s painting ‘Monarch of the Glen’.
From the first few notes of the rippling arpeggios on the piano surmounted by the gentle ’cello melody echoed by the clarinet, the audience were transported into the peaceful beauty of Highlands.
The concert continued with Mozart’s Trio in E flat major, in which again the Trio Ecossaise demonstrated their total understanding of each other, in playing as a cohesive unit, in which no single instrument dominated, as every nuance of the music resonated.
The second half of the programme was devoted to the French composers Nadia Boulanger and Gabriel Fauré.
The former’s ‘Trois Pièces’ set in minor keys, brought a complete change of mood from the music of the first half and involved concentrated playing from all three instrumentalists, providing the audience with the opportunity to contrast the brighter tone of the clarinet with the deep mellow resonance of the ’cello while enjoying also the intense staccato piano accompaniment.
These were followed by Fauré’s ‘Élégie’ depicting grief and loss in which the full potential of the ’cello was explored, and the programme finished with Fauré’s ‘Trio’ in D minor.
That was not the end of the evening, however, as much to the audience’s pleasure the performers returned, to offer as their encore the second part of Leach’s ‘As The Feet of A Deer’.
The Music Club is grateful to Morton, Fraser, McRoberts, LLP for their sponsorship of this concert.
The next concert will be on Saturday, March 22 in Alloway Church Hall and will be given by Les Trois Blondes, featuring accordions and drums.
Full details can be found on Facebook page – Music in Ayr or on the Club’s website here.
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