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Review: 'Selby and Friends' – Janaki String Trio, from Manly Daily
From The Manly Review.
CONCERT: Selby and Friends: Janaki String Trio
WHERE: Monte Sant’ Angelo Mercy College
WHEN: Sunday, May 13
Remember the name
Steve Moffatt
18May07
THEY take their name from a Sanskrit word meaning “self-realisation”, they play with a discrimination and maturity well beyond their years and they’re creating waves wherever they go.
Formed at Los Angeles’ Colburn School of Music just two years ago, Janaki String Trio combine flair with energy and panache and have already garnered music awards in the US.
On their first visit to Australia the group – Serena McKinney, violin, Katie Kadarauch, viola, and cellist Arnold Choi – stunned and delighted the audience in the first half of this recital with two widely diverse works.
I had never heard Krzysztof Penderecki’s String trio, which was written in 1990 and which shows the Polish composer in an unusually tuneful and even playful mood. The 12-minute work in two movements features impassioned solos from all three instruments punctuated by staccato chords which leads eventually to the second movement, a lively fugue.
It is the perfect showcase for this young ensemble, so much so that they have adopted it as their signature dish and even include two versions – one studio and one live – on their debut album.
Beethoven’s trio Op 9 No 3 showed the threesome to be equally at home with the classical-romantic repertoire – this work by the young composer with a foot in both camps. The bubbling and rhythmic presto finale fairly zipped along with the headlong feel of an Irish jig at times.
Kathryn Selby, formerly of the Macquarie Trio and now founder of TrioOz, joined Janaki for the second half for an elegant and beautifully-judged performance of Faure’s C minor piano quartet.
We shall hear more of this trio, I’m sure.
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Review: Selby and Friends – Janaki String Trio Concert
(Note: This is a review from Melbourne’s The Age Newspaper)
Article Reference: [Kathy-selby-and-friends-janaki-string-trio]
ARTS & CULTURE – MUSIC
Clive O’Connell, Reviewer
SELBY & FRIENDS
Melba Hall, May 16, 2007
BEFORE the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition begins in
July, it might be a salutary if chastening experience for many of the
entrants to hear the Janaki String Trio in action, just to realise what can
be achieved by dedicated, expert young musicians in a short time-span. Yes,
I know that the upcoming competition involves string quartets and piano
trios only, but the experience of watching music of this genre take splendid
shape in real time is what the Janaki Trio provides in full measure.
The group has been brought to Melbourne from the US to participate in the
recital series run by Sydney pianist Kathryn Selby, who is managing to
attract sizeable audiences to these events, capitalising on excellent
foundation work and a loyal audience built up in her years as pianist with
the Macquarie Trio. Not to play down that fine ensemble, but this year
Selby has contributed to a splendid reading of the Ravel Trio with her new
friend-collaborators, violinist Niki Vasilakis and cellist Emma-Jane
Murphy.
In Wednesday’s concert, the Janaki ensemble opened with a razor-sharp
interpretation of the String Trio by Penderecki from 1990, an energetic
work by the Polish master and one that gives its exponents plenty of room
to shine, notably in the first movement’s equally spot-lit solo cadenzas.
Violist Katie Kadarauch projects a most attractive timbre, intonatively
secure and even across her instrument’s range. Violinist Serena McKinney
and cellist Arnold Choi contributed in equal measure to this impeccably
articulated performance, as near ideal as you will hear in such
close-quarter conditions.
The trio continued to exercise a no-nonsense approach in Beethoven’s G
Major Trio from the Op. 9 set with technical mastery, witness to the hard
work they have exercised in their two-year collaboration.
Every so often you wondered about McKinney’s or Choi’s pitch on a
particular note; for the rest, the group’s output was finely shaped,
informed by an individuality of vision and certainly exciting, although
some of the speeds impressed as flamboyantly fast.
Selby joined in for the program’s last element, the Faure Piano Quartet
No. 1. Here, as in the Penderecki, the players’ realisation of the score
impressed for its authority, the string musicians standing up to Selby’s
spacious, unapologetic dynamic in the opening movement. But the real
reasons you would want aspiring chamber musicians to hear a performance of
this calibre are qualities such as the striking unanimity in octave and
unison passages, co-ordination across sustained paragraphs, and finely
calculated weighting in all lines for dynamic levels.
If Selby gave Faure a firm voice, she also found whimsy in the scherzo
movement and an explosive energy for the finale, well countered by the
Janaki youngsters, in particular McKinney, whose consistent, clearly
etched part made you almost forget her pre-Beethoven talk, which brought
to this mind uncharitable reminiscences of The Gilmore Girls.
(Thanks to Helen Barnett/Agnes Selby for this information.)
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Selby and Friends – TrioZ – Perform in Sydney
Selby & Friends – TrioZ – Perform in Sydney’s St Andrews Cathedral
By Tel Asiado (c)
Congratulations to Kathy Selby and her TrioZ for another wonderful evening of music. A superb and excellent performance from Selby-Vasilakis-Murphy trio.
Kathryn Selby did it again - presenting a high quality chamber music. Selby is the founder, manager and pianist of the musical ensemble Selby & Friends, previously, the Macquarie Trio. Last Tuesday evening, March 20, at Sydney’s St. Andrews Cathedral, I had the pleasure of enjoying the first of Selby & Friends concerts performed by TrioZ.
Never mind that venue’s not in the Sydney Conservatorium. Once the TrioZ started playing, it was completely another matter, bringing the audience to a higher level of musical delight. It also feels good to be in the company of receptive audience.
To the former Macquarie Trio subscribers who missed this concert, you missed a beautiful performance. Let’s hope you’ll make it to ’Selby and Friends’ next time.
The TrioZ is led by pianist Kathryn Selby herself, with virtuoso violinist Niki Vasilakis, violinist of the popular SBS ‘Classical Destination’, and Emma-Jane Murphy, former principal cellist of the Australian Chamber Orchestra. They are providing a series of recitals from March through to November this year.
The evening’s program at St. Andrew’s Cathedral consisted of:
Ludwig van Beethoven – Piano Trio in G, Op. 121a, “Kakadu Variations”
Introduzione: Adagio assai; Thema: Allegretto – 10 Variationen uber Wenzel Mullers Lied
Felix Mendelssohn – Piano Trio in C minor, Op.66
Allegro energico e con fuoco; Andante espressivo; Scherzo: Molto allegro quasi presto; Finale: Allegro appassionato
Maurice Ravel – Piano Trio in a minor
Modere; Pantoum: Assez vif; Passacaille: Tres large; Final: Anime
The TrioZ performed with warmth as if they’ve been together for a long time. They made an instant striking impression as the program opened with Beethoven’s Piano Trio in G major, Op.121a “Kakadu” variations. Carrying on the tradition she established with the MacTrio, Kathy Selby briefly talked to the audience about the music. I love this kind of feature, as it further enthuses music appreciation from the audience. By the way, kakadu is a kind of parrot, nothing to do with Australia’s Kakadu. I can say without contradiction that Selby, Vasilakis and Murphy responded beautifully to Beethoven’s sophisticated and charming musical variations.
The treatment of Mendelssohn was equally delightful. I particularly like scherzo, with the right agility. The performance of the Mendelssohn Trio in C Minor, Op. 66 was as tasteful and skillful. Selby, with Vasilakis and Murphy, interpreted the allegro appassionato gracefully. The brilliant composer and pianist himself, Mendelssohn, would certainly be pleased.
I admit that unlike the Piano Trio of Beethoven and Mendelssohn, I’m not much into Ravel’s. It must have been the TrioZ’s awesome interpretation of this A minor, with its dramatic elements reflective of Basque colours and exotic settings. Slowly, I found new dimensions and interest in Ravel’s music. How can I not, with the trio making the phrases glow in their fingers, perhaps as the composer would have it - starting from the poignant piano and cello, the forceful pantoum of the second movement, the calmness of passacaille, flowing through to a regal build of the violin and cello, and culminating to the joyful amine.
Thank you Selby & Friends – TrioZ’s Kathy Selby, Niki Vasilakis and Emma-Jane Murphy - for a lovely and delightful musical evening.
Note about Selby & Friends: Before the MacTrio, 1988-92, Selby & Friends already existed as an ensemble, members working with varied topnotch classical musicians in transitions. Recently, Kathy Selby resurrected Selby & Friends with emphasis on TrioZ.
For more information, concert dates and bookings, visit website of Selby and Friends
You can also email info@selbyandfriends.com.au
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Mozart's "Mass in C" a Masterpiece
According to a review by Fred Blanks (North Shore Times, Friday, October 20, Sydney), “Mozart’s Mass in C Minor K 427 is a masterpiece despite lacking two final sections and using an incongruous mix of styles.”
Performance at the the Sydney Opera House was held last week, directed by Richard Tognetti. It’s said to have the largest force of musicians, about 60, that the Australian Chamber Orchestra has ever assembled on stage.
Laudamus Te and Et Incarnatus Est were particularly impressive, Blanks wrote.
Soloists were headed by soprano Sara Macliver and mezzo-soprano Fiona Campbell; “…their singing touched glory.”
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