The Chamber Music Competition

Last week was my first time at the Chamber Music Competitions!

I played with my school piano trio first, also known as The Golden Trio (Harry Potter reference intended!) We played the first movement of Dvorak’s Dumky Trio. We played at the Ray Freeman centre at Epsom Girl’s Grammar School, which has the most disconcerting acoustic as it is very dry. It was a little like all of us were playing together yet sitting on different countries! (That’s what the pianist related it too.) From what people said, I think it went quite well, though the adjudicators wrote VERY little on the report sheet as one had studied in Hungry and, as Hungry is quite close to Bohemia, the Dvorak took him someplace else! The only thing they said in the comments after the concert was “lovely cello solo in the beginning” which, although flattering, didn’t really help us in improving our playing for next time. However, the performance was great fun, showed me that I can play fast, tricky sections without falling off (as I had been fretting over), and let me know to work on a beautiful, open vibrato for the next day.

‘The next day’ being important as I had a second piano trio. The Summer Trio. We performed Grieg’s Andante Con Moto C Moll. And it was such an amazing experience – particularly the journey getting there. All of those rehearsals! At Auckland University! They’re such lovely people!

There were a few weak spots in our performance, the off-beats for one, and we had a few unanticipated tempo changes, yet the performance was full of feeling and it was the best we could have done (keeping in mind the tired, over-worked children we are – thank you, school and crippling perfectionism!) Again, I am pleased to say, was the “lovely cello solo” in the comments! Blimey!

I really hope to do it all again next year.