by Mona Seghatoleslami
The Kandinsky Trio will be visiting West Virginia this Friday to perform in Lewisburg. They’re in residence at Roanoke College in Virginia, and they’ve played together since 1987. I had the chance to speak with the trio's violinist Bendy Goodfriend, a charming musician with quite a sense of humor.
The piano trio--which consists of a violin, a cello, and a piano--is standard chamber music configuration, but it hasn’t achieved the popularity of the venerable string quartet. We talked about the perks and challenges of playing in a piano trio, the music that has been written for this line-up, and the story behind the trio's name.
Hear Goodfriend discuss playing in a piano trio
In Lewisburg, the Kandinsky Trio will be playing music of Mozart, Brahms, and contemporary Dutch composer Robert Nasveld.
Listen to a description of the music they’ll be playing
The Kandinsky Trio also plays and commissions of a variety of music. Their latest CD “Trios in Foreign Lands” includes pieces by Turina, Rachmaninoff, Cowell, Bridge, and Chien Tai-Chen. They’ve also commissioned and performed a piece “Tales of Appalachia” for trio and storyteller. The music was composed by Mike Reid.
Listen to the story of creating “Tales of Appalachia”
You can see the Kandinsky Trio on YouTube, with an unusual musical collaboration—piano trio plus whistler: She Blinded me with Science. You can also hear samples from their CD on their website.
The Kandinsky Trio plays will perform at 7:30pm, Friday December 5th at Carnegie Hall in Lewisburg.