JOIN USThe Bangalore School of Music (BSM) in collaboration with the Austrian Embassy, New Delhi and The Austrian Cultural Forum, organised a concert by ‘Widerkehr Trio Wien’ from Austria, in the City, recently.
This trio concert featured artistes Thomas Frey on the flute, Matthias Kronsteiner on the bassoon and Bernhard Zachhuber on the clarinet. The performance started off with compositions like ‘Trio II C-Major’ by Ignaz Pleyel, ‘Sonatino op 7’ by Jorgen Bentzon and moved onto ‘Tasty Sides I to III’ by Roland Neuwirth. Other compositions that the audience heard included Koechlin’s ‘Trio’ and Jacques Ch M Widerkehr’s ‘Trio no. III d-minor’. The programme concluded with a composition by Mathias Ruegg and an encore piece.
The audience was whistling and cheering with excitement after most pieces were performed and were highly impressed with a brief history that was narrated before each piece was played at the concert. Varying from simple notes to seemingly strange musical notes, the artistes were in sync with their music and one could clearly see them enjoying while performing.
Talking about the experience of performing in the City, Matthias Kronsteiner, the bassoonist, said, “The audience seems to have accepted us well. The musical scene in India fascinates us as the form here seems to be stricter. Since we are trained in western classical music, it’s interesting to hear other classical music forms too.”
Supporting these views, Thomas Frey, the flautist, said that despite the performance being in a closed space, he was extremely enthusiastic about performing in Bangalore. “Closer spaces provide an intimate feeling with the audience and the artiste and the audience can bond and feel the music better,” he said.
Commenting about the performance, Aruna Sunderlal of BSM said, “It’s a blessing that the trio decided to come to the City. It’s wonderful to hear the beautiful music that comes from the different instruments, despite the audiences not being familiar with the music that they played. It’s a good opportunity to be exposed to unheard musicians.” She added that it was a rarity to see a trio of wind instruments performing.
The audience also consisted of a lot of young children who were excited about meeting the artistes after the performance. “The way the flautists dropped in one-liners to amuse the audience was indeed special. It was a nice and interesting way to keep the audience engaged. Also, the music was exceptional,” said Gunjan Mehta, a music teacher.