During the long December nights, darkness inspires us to listen more carefully. This can be a perfect time for encounters with refined works of music – for example, the masterful chamber pieces performed by the Boarte Piano Trio. These renowned Polish musicians will perform canonical works by Haydn, Debussy, and Mendelssohn at the NFM. The artists recorded parts of this programme on their debut album released earlier this year.

The Boarte Piano Trio is an ensemble enjoying numerous successes in Poland and internationally. The group’s reputation is evidenced not only by its members’ academic degrees and competition awards, but also by their successful performance of classical works. Reaching for the works by masters of chamber music is now the privilege of the most skilled virtuosos. In a world where authenticity and a live experience are increasingly difficult to achieve, meeting these superb artists is all the more worthwhile.

The programme will begin with one of the last piano trios by Joseph Haydn, a master of musical brilliance and humour. The piece is contemporaneous with the composer’s late symphonies, and while on the one hand the keyboard part traditionally dominates the texture, on the other the strings are very close to their classical role. Claude Debussy’s Piano Trio can be said to anticipate its composer’s greatest achievements. In a composition firmly rooted in the patterns of French Romanticism, only a few fragments anticipate the groundbreaking ideas of his Preludes. In this context, Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 2 is a mature, though still youthful work. This is a quintessence of Romantic style with its moving cantilena, brilliant passages, and a variety of moods. Will any spooks emerge from the semi-darkness of the Chamber Hall? Let’s listen!