A variety show of rare music

After a ho-hum start to the new year, the WindRose Trio’s concert of light classics on Sunday at Robertson-Wesley United Church promises to be a warm breath of fresh air.

Whether vigorous or sublime, the classical ensemble is always fluid and sincere. And in their second concert of the season, the Western Canadian Music Award recipients are departing from their usual format with special guest, pianist Sarah Ho.

In the seven years Beth Levia (oboe), Matthew Howatt (bassoon) and St. Albert musician Jeff Campbell have performed as a trio, this is their first concert with an invited guest.

“We decided we needed to branch out. There’s a lot of repertoire we can do if we bring in extra people,” Howatt explained.

The foursome met when they were invited to play at the 2009 Kaleido Arts Festival. Ho, who has extensive credentials across North America as a soloist and chamber musician, has performed with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and is currently on the piano faculty at Alberta College Conservatory of Music.

“She’s an excellent accompanist. One of the traits of a really good accompanist is that her style is hard to pin down. She is truly adept at what she does. She morphs instantly from one style to the next.”

The trio opens and closes the show with works written in the 1960s that are diametrically opposite in tone and texture. While Parisian composer Jeanine Rueff’s opening Trois Pièces is rhythmic and virtuosic, DĂ©sirĂ© Dondeyne’s closing Suite of French Folk Songs is loaded with enduring charm.

Throughout the body of the concert, the three friends perform individually with Ho. Levia and Ho spring into action with Franz Reizenstein’s mid-twentieth century Three Concert Pieces.

“It’s pretty. It’s light. It has these sweeping lines that are tongue-in-cheek, almost overdone. The harmonies are very dense and many musicians steer away from it because it’s so daunting. It’s a gem and deserves to be played,” said Levia.

Campbell joins Ho with Joan Tower’s Fantasy for Clarinet, a tune based on Those Harbour Lights, a number once sung by the late Elvis Presley.

“It starts off softly and lyrically and builds into a virtuosic frenzy. Jeff and Sarah have been putting in a lot of rehearsal time. It’s a very complex interplay between two parts and there’s tempo changes that are hard to negotiate,” Howatt said.

And finally Howatt partners with Ho in John Steinmetz’s Sonata For Bassoon and Piano.

“When I first heard it on YouTube, it jumped out at me. A lot of contemporary music sounds the same. But this was so unique. There are three movements and they create a meditative effect.”

The foursome joins forces for Jenny Brandon’s Sea Quartet, a soundscape inspired by the ocean that brings life to the many moods and colours of the sea.

“It’s almost a bit of a variety show of rare music. It will be a unique and entertaining afternoon.

Visit www.windrosetrio.ca and click on the bird logo for a two-for-one ticket voucher.