Ask Daniel Foster, a viola player with the National Symphony Orchestra, about performing in a chamber ensemble, and he will call it “a change of pace.”
“It’s a change of medium,” he continued. “It’s something very different, and so it keeps orchestra playing fresh and chamber playing fresh.”
And with his appreciation of being able to perform in both disciplines, he readies himself for a Sunday performance that has become a tradition. As part of Chamber Music Across America, the Kennedy Center Chamber Players — of which he is a member — open their season with a program of piano trios; one by Franz Joseph Haydn and the other by Andre Previn, as well as Robert Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E flat major, Op. 44.
Foster’s colleagues in the ensemble include Nurit Bar-Josef on violin, Marissa Regni, also on violin, cello player David Hardy and pianist Lambert Orkis. Like Foster, all are National Symphony Orchestra members.
“There’s no particular theme to the program — they are just three pieces we like,” pianist Orkis said. “I happen to like the Previn trio — I’m the only one who has played it in public before. The Haydn trio is little-known [except by] people who play in trios and ones that go to trio concerts. The same can be said about Schumann, [but] it’s one of the most beloved of quintets.”
Haydn’s Piano Trio in E major, Hob. XV: 28, is one of three trios written in 1794-1795 and, according to NSO program annotator Paul J. Horsley, “though they contain considerable structural and tonal experimentation, they are appealing and accessible.”
The Previn Trio for Violin, Violoncello and Piano is a high-spirited piece that opens the 65-minute program. The work was originally commissioned and written for performance in a series of New York concerts celebrating the noted composer’s 80th birthday.
Orkis, who performs in all three of the pieces, addresses the challenges involved, noting, “There are always passages that are less friendly than others — it depends upon performance experience … and how many times you’ve had to figure things out until you are really comfortable.”
Foster finds reassurance in the tightness of the group and the way the players feed off one another.
“When you play with the same group of people over a number of years, there’s just a certain familiarity and a naturalness that evolves as people become accustomed to each other’s style of playing.”
