Selby & Friends | The Living Tradition | classikON
28 May 2026, Primrose Potter Salon, Melbourne Recital Centre, VIC
Kathryn Selby – pianoforte
Alexandra Osborne – violin
Clancy Newman – violoncello
Programme
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) – Variations on ‘Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu’, Op. 121a (1824)
Elena Kats-Chernin (1957 – ) – Variations on Schubert Trauerwalzer (2009)
Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel (1805 – 1847) – Piano Trio in D minor, Op.11 (1846-47)
Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828) – Piano Trio No.1 in B flat-major, Op. 99 D 898 (1827)
I count myself fortunate to have been reviewing Selby and Friends for the last five years. The concerts have been consistently excellent, very excellent. This the 20th Season of Selby & Friends in its current format which comes after her earlier manifestations as the Macquarie Trio and TRIOZ. A show of hands indicated at least 20 audience members had been attending Selby and Friends concerts for all this time and the person next to me had attended Selby’s concerts when they were in Melba Hall during the 90’s. Lucky man! I attended the 2.00pm sitting and it always amazes me that Selby performs huge demanding programmes twice on the same day in Melbourne.
Opening with a serious and lengthy introduction, the Beethoven work proceeded eventually to live up to the title’s light-hearted humour. The mysterious opening was very delicately balanced with the almost unison theme in all instruments. After a somewhat lengthy and grave introduction, the contrasting theme upon which this work is based was presented by the piano with some brief interjections from the strings. Belying the introduction, the theme has the simple clean lines of a child’s song or a folk song. Beethoven’s inventiveness in working this theme in many ways was faithfully represented by the musicians ranging from delightful simplicity to more involved even with broken octaves in the piano. One variation had the strings playing as a duo with a long break for the piano. In the minore variation the light-heartedness gave way in contrast to a soulful and sparse variation before returning almost flippantly with a faster tempo. The three musicians captured each variation’s character with poise and balance perfectly matching their playing to Beethoven’s variety and inventiveness. Beethoven in this youthful work (published late in his life) shows himself to be a master of scoring for this small ensemble thus giving a sense of a work much larger than a trio.
A worthy companion
The Kats-Chernin work started with solo violin playing figuration or chordal arpeggios in 5/4 time. This contrasted with a lyrical melody emerging in the cello some bars later giving the feel almost of a ballad. Building to a bigger sound the piano started with big chords. This work was a great companion piece to the Beethoven working to achieve variations with a variety of textures and instrumental scoring. Using individual instruments then various duo configurations and then all three instruments gave numerous permutations of what could be achieved with only three instruments. All three musicians were thoroughly balanced in their musical textures and dynamic changing of roles from melody instrument to chordal to rhythm section and sometimes being the commentary with two or three note interjections perhaps like a Greek chorus in a classical play. This was a worthy companion to the Beethoven work.
dynamic changing of roles
The Mendelssohn trio was the large work for the afternoon (evening) with a massive first movement. Again, balance and poise were evident throughout and I noted that Selby never overplays what can be a powerful piano in a powerful trio. I was in a position to see how her subtle and restrained use of the pedal contributed to keeping the clarity of the music foremost. This with her dazzling and precise finger technique meant that the musical textures and Mendelssohn’s intent were always clear and evident. Her touch transitioned from a perfect legato to a pearly slight separation of the notes always suiting the needs of the music. One could not fault the strings technique either with superb intonation, dialogue and gesture throughout this work and indeed the entire programme.
The grand large scale of the first movement made for some heroic sections with the two strings playing the soaring theme in octaves, some dramatic harmonic shifts and a lot of notes for the piano showing how pianocentric this work is from a gifted pianist composer. The first movement opens in this way with rushing scales winding around fairly low in the piano while the strings state the opening theme. The ebb and flow from lyricism to passion in this movement were faithfully and energetically portrayed and the movement ended in a grand flurry after all the stormy surging.
The second movement (andante espressivo) was where each instrument was able to excel in expressive and cantabile (singing) playing. In a slower tempo one can hear the various layers of the music more easily and I noted Selby’s translucence in being able to show two or three parts at the same time without any overshadowing by the melody giving not just beauty of sound to the music but a beauty of logic in the phrasing. Thus one is able to hear harmonies and melodies at the same time. The movement began in the piano in this vein and towards the end of the theme the cello subtly added a few pizzicato notes to herald the theme moving to the strings. The intimacy of this movement was expressed with great delicacy.
The third movement marked “Lied Allegretto” was a rapturous song with the simplicity of a folk song and again all instrumentalists excelled in their expressive playing as the melody was passed from one to the other.
The final movement Allegro moderato, had an almost symphonic nature and sound to match the first movement’s large scale. Sections where the strings dialogued short sections with each other trading their gestures and developing them further while the piano gave brilliant flashes of commentary in the background showed this to perfection. Everything was where it should be for this whole work with the music always foremost, but backed by technical mastery and mature conceptualisation.
Amazes and delights
Clancy Newman introduced the final work after the interval and gave a slightly emotional account of how he has finally come to believe that Schubert is his favourite composer. To paraphrase a quote “with Schubert all our troubles disappear”. Without giving too much detail this work moved me greatly due to the exceptional playing of an exceptional piece of music. Technical control, excellent ensemble, all this is wonderful but these mere words cannot describe the musical integrity and unity of purpose achieved especially in this favourite piece of music in the piano trio literature.
Newman continually engages with the other musicians and more often than not, is not looking at his score but at the other musicians to take his cue from them. When he takes the centre stage with as so often happens in this sort of programme, he closes his eyes focussing entirely on the sound and the phrasing of the moment. This also clearly indicates his thorough knowledge and preparation of the music he performs.
Everything was where it should be
Two superb string players working with a gifted musician pianist is a recipe for great musical enjoyment. The strings’ strength of sound, ranging from haunting delicacy in the lyrical moments to heroic passion in this concert, were such that I was constantly moved by the music and sometimes holding back tears of ecstasy. And with Selby I always find that phrases, gestures and musical shapes, even in so called accompanying figures and chords, go somewhere. Nothing is ever static and her ability to infuse the music she presents with subtle direction and ever growing or receding lines amazes and delights me as it did the audience.
No wonder such excellent musicians want to perform with her and no wonder why her audience keeps coming back for more.
