Above: Cellist Bartholomew LaFollette, who joined Alexander Sitkovetsky (violin) and Wu Qian (piano) for this national Sitkovetsky Trio tour for Musica Viva.

The second tour of Australia by the Sitkovetsky Trio  has left no doubt in listeners’ minds that this trio is a definite  powerhouse capable of meeting the emotional challenges of any composer it encounters. The trio’s big sound and equality of parts explored both new and well-known repertoire with incredibly spontaneous, energetic and passionate playing.

For those who have never heard recordings by this trio nor have had the thrill to witness them dealing spectacularly with classics of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this listening experience would have been a real baptism of fire and a quick upgrade to fan status.

This continually breathtaking evening began with  Rachmaninoff’s Trio Elegiaque No 1 (1892). Sitkovetsky trio introduced us to their capacity for big and beautifully balanced playing with formidable  expressive range.

The exchange between strings was a fine conversation throughout this single movement work , and the atmospheres created by them were a perfect backdrop for rich Rachmaninoff chordal work on the piano.  Here, pianist Wu Qian’s arsenal of so many degrees of nuance made for some exquisite moments in melodic exposition and development.

Nowhere in the concert was the mastery  of such extra and  intricate internal dimensions more successfully on display than during Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No 2 Op 67, written in 1944 by the grieving composer after the death of  a friend and during the Siege of Leningrad.

Atmosphere  was key in this work, and impressive techniques required such as the opening virtuosic presentation of virtuosic string harmonics was a joy to watch and a pleasing emotional soundscape to be drenched in.  The piano part in this work’s quiet and bare atmospheric sections bristled with the energy of deep sorrow despite the thin texture of such moments.

Keen characterisation and keenly chosen tempi in this trio’s fast movements ensured that Shostakovich’s musical and extramusical concerns were painted with palette loads of colour and feeling. The final Allegretto’s chilling manipulation of Jewish musical material was attacked by the trio in  a vigorous assault. The result was  relentlessly savage and screamed out with Shostakovich’s typical extra dimensions of deep pondering at the futilities of his country’s twentieth century suffering.

Following interval, Sitkovetsky Trio performed Australian composer Lachlan Skipworth’s Piano Trio (2015). The performers here proved themselves to be rewarding interpreters of new music as well as the earlier styles on the programme. In this piece, they clearly rendered the complex combination of gestures based on possibilities of the  Japanese shakuhachi and the wave-like imagery of the Daha compositional style.

Once again the trio’s performance showed the expressive power of a superior ensemble and the sheer power which can result from  a a well-performed suitable composition for the genre. There were successive  moments in this successful work where the overlapping filigree and expressive architecture made the trio reverberate in the sharp Angel Place acoustic  as if much larger forces were employed.

The concert concluded by stepping back in time to the oldest work on the programme and huge favourite of the oeuvre, Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No 1 Op 49 (1839). In a meaningful spoken introduction to this work, as throughout the concert, Alexander Sitkovetsky indicated the thoughtful and intelligent approach of his trio to Mendelssohn’s architecture, and the blend of Classical and Romantic gestures needing to dealt with.

And deal with the familiar movements with elegance and exciting panache the Sitkovetsky Trio certainly did. Their trademark precise passion  with no over-playing was once again a recipe for success. The first movement showed great equality of part playing and well- shaped piano decoration.

Movements in the rest of this work  showed sensible tempo choice. They were well contrasted to highlight Mendelssohn’s genius and the performers’ range of feeling. The brisk Finale bristled with technical excellence as it brought the work and the final concert of the tour to a breathtaking close.