ESPRESSIVO is a team of promoters who have put on more than 100 concerts in Herefordshire and neighbouring counties since they started in 2002. On Sunday, April 24 the splendid Hellens Manor auditorium was the setting for an impressive performance by Trio Severn.

Their programme was a selection of piano trios spanning the entire Romantic period, with items from Schubert through to John Ireland.

The main focus of the first half was Mendelssohn’s popular Trio in D minor, with its sumptuous opening melody in the cello part. Despite a rousing scherzo movement and finale, though, some of the playing seemed somewhat subdued, particularly apparent with the stringed instruments.

Mendelssohn’s taut and masterly interweaving of lines contrasted with the work that had preceded it – Ireland’s Phantasie Trio, a carefree, rather sugary piece. Ireland is a late – too late? – Romantic 20th century composer, whose chamber music is occasionally offered as a filler. Played with a sense of devotion by Trio Severn, nevertheless. We were treated to another ‘filler’ after the interval, although Schubert’s miniature ‘Notturno’ is rather more than that. Trio Severn captured the exquisite frailty of this work, a late piece by the composer that recalls the achingly beautiful slow movement of the String Quintet. Again, however, the piano part seemed slightly overwhelming, though whether it was a problem of balance or one of acoustics I could not be sure.

This concert got better and better as it went on – both in terms of the quality of the music and the performance. The Piano Trio no 3 by Brahms, the final offering in the programme, and our ensemble were well matched in every way. The strident energy of the first movement was sublimely caught, and all four movements of this grand opus were handled masterfully. It was almost as if Trio Severn had been warming up for it!

Brahms’ music is firmly rooted in the nineteenth century tradition, but there is often an undertow of tragedy that almost seems to foretell the troubled times to come less than 20 years after his death. (One thinks of the music of Elgar around the time of the First World War, much influenced by Brahms as it is).

This keen sense of the tragic was conveyed effectively by the Trio, who, with this piece, rounded off their recital with a display of virtuosity and cohesion.

Spencer Allman