The year started positively from a concert point of view. After the almost obligatory “joy” of the holidays, the Athens Concert Hall offered on January 17 an evening of spiritual euphoria: in the “Dimitris Mitropoulos” hall, violinist Danai Papamataiou-Machke, cellist Kerstin Felts and pianist Uwe Macchke performed two important pieces of chamber music, Piano Trio No. 1. 1 in B major, Op. 8 by Johannes Brahms and Piano Trio No. 1. 2 in E minor, opus 67 by Dmitri Shostakovich.

Brahms’ first trio seems to have retained the best elements of the two seasons. It was written when the composer was only twenty years old, but was radically revised thirty-five years later, so that, in fact, one can speak of two different works. Brahms cut many musical themes, replaced some musical themes, and developed others quite differently. The “new edition”, as he called it, was first presented in Budapest in 1890 and published the following year. The youthful impulse of the first musical themes remained unquenched, the lyricism of the arrangement acquired a different depth.

The different personalities of each musician creatively contributed to the result.

Known for decades for his consistent and significant contribution to the Athenian music scene, pianist Uwe Matzke has collaborated, as he has often done in recent years, with his daughter Danae, and this time also with the German cellist Kerstin Felts. All three were perfectly balanced, and each of them creatively contributed to the result. The precision and clarity of the sound, as well as the sharper articulation of Danae Papamataio-Matzke, were in dialogue with the curves and plasticity of Feltz’s generous phrasing, which was immediately appreciated in the opening live movement, and even more so in the slow one. part three of the project. Matzke not only provided the crucial bonding framework needed to develop the expression of the two strings, but also essentially participated in shaping the aesthetic, being in dialogue with both without imposing.

In the Shostakovich Trio, Kerstin Feltz gave a unique performance of the key opening bars, in which the cello, alone and on display, is meant to create an otherworldly atmosphere. Danai Papamatteiu-Machke led the three into the correspondingly creepy, but also frenzied mood of the second part, where Uwe Matschke’s contribution was just as decisive. Two strings spiritualized the plaintive song of the pasachalia, which is the slow third part of the work, elevating it to the poetic center of the composition. Then, without intermission, the three musicians together broke out into a “terrible dance” that ends the trio in a shocking manner and lends its “Jewish” theme to the second movement of Shostakovich’s famous Eighth String Quartet, written fifteen years later. An exciting performance that deservedly received thunderous applause from the audience.