Haydn, the teacher, was not happy when he heard one of Beethoven's three trios which were to become his Opus 1. Haydn told him to rework it but Beethoven thought it the best of the three. This was the work that the Trio Rafale chose to open their prize winners concert in the Balmoral Hotel.
Maki Wiederkehr, Daniel Meller and Flurin Cuonz were all born in 1986 and studied music from a very early age. They met as students at Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland's largest arts university, and in 2008 played Ravel's piano trio. Enjoying playing together they formed Trio Rafale - after the French word for a gust of wind.
After the thoughtful and well executed Beethoven Daniel Meller told us that they had been looking for a shorter work to suit their typical concert programme but failed. Instead they commissioned a work from Jannik Giger, Basel-born in 1985, which was inspired by violin caprices of Niccolo Paganini. Composed in 2013 we heard Jannik Giger's Caprice start as a menacing contemporary work that calmed to a well considered ten minutes ideally suited for Trio Rafale.
After the interval, when Mauler sparkling wine from the Swiss canton of Neuchatel Môtiers was served, we heard Brahms Piano Trio No 2 first performed in 1882. Again it had been criticised - this time by Clara Schumann for when Brahms sent her a copy for her opinion, she considered its third movement “not quite important enough and seems rather manufactured.” Brahms did not change it. And Trio Rafale gave us a first rate performance. If Maki Wiederkehr's Yamaha piano seemed out-of-sorts for the Beethoven it was far more appropriate for Brahms.
All praise to the Swiss Cultural Fund UK once again for bringing to Edinburgh the winners of what is the 17th Swiss Ambassador's Award. His Excellency Mr Dominic Furgler, who introduced an extraordinarily well prepared concert, and his wife as chair of the Fund gave us a treat of an evening.
Concert: Thursday 16th October 2014 at 7.30pm