Ryedale District Council supports the Ryedale Festival.

Dave Robson - Darlington and Stockton Times - Friday 7th August 2009

THE celebrity concert by the Gould Piano Trio began with a fine performance of Haydn’s Piano Trio in G H XV 25, notable for the exquisite, even-paced flow of the central adagio and the sparkle of the final Hungarian rondo. The 20th century provenance (1997) of James Macmillan’s Fourteen Little Pictures may have seemed a daunting prospect as a follow-up to the Haydn piece of 200 years earlier.

But the contrast with the disciplines of the classical age, while demonstrating very different modern techniques, engaged both ear and intellect, resonating most effectively, notably in Macmillan’s excesses of sound and pace in the 11th picture’s frazzled course, in contrast to the reflection of the 12th and the piano’s final long, delicate, solo coda.

A return to 19th century romance with Mendelssohn’s C minor Piano Trio, op 66 offered more contrasts amid lush musical pastures, especially when as well played as here.

The festival finale thus celebrated two musical anniversaries while introducing something new to the audience.

Photograph Joanne Turner