By Nancy Plum

Princeton University Summer Chamber Concerts continued its 2024 season this past week with a presentation by three instrumentalists who have put their collective talents together to create an exciting new experience for their audiences. Violinist Friedemann Eichorn, cellist Peter Hörr, and pianist Florian Uhlig each have had successful international solo careers and have joined forces in the past five years to explore chamber repertory as the Phaeton Piano Trio. Named for a mythological character but performing with solid down-to-earth musicianship, the Trio came to Richardson Auditorium last Monday night for an evening of Franz Joseph Haydn, Felix Mendelssohn, and Antonin Dvorák. The ensemble may be relatively new, but its playing style is rooted in centuries-old performance practice and interpretation of the classics.

Haydn’s Trio in C Major dates from a high point in the piano trio genre, in which each instrument was evolving with its own independent voice.  In this Trio, Haydn combined a deliberately virtuosic keyboard part with string accompaniment composed with amateur players in mind. Pianist Uhlig was clearly a star of this piece, never missing a moment of the nonstop piano flow while violinist Eichhorn and cellist Hörr added emphasis, color, and delicacy. Uhlig successfully brought out Haydn’s complex and skillful piano writing, often overshadowed in past centuries in favor of Mozart. In particular, the Phaeton Trio created musical suspense in the second movement “Andante,” with each player taking his time with solo lines. The Trio ended movements gracefully and always with an element of elegance, even when the mood was forceful.

Mendelssohn took the trio genre a step further by scoring each instrument with his trademark Romantic melodies, while insisting on the highest proficiency from those performing his music. In the first movement of Mendelssohn’s Trio No. 1 in D minor, the Phaeton players showed a great deal of emotional range, with rich passages from the cello against Uhlig’s rolling piano accompaniment. Eichhorn played especially dramatically in the first movement, and the Trio members effectively executed a technically demanding coda. The second movement “Andante” featured Eichhorn and Hörr in duet against a songlike piano part, with Eichhorn providing a sweet violin line. All three players demonstrated lithe technique in the third movement “Scherzo,” skipping nimbly across both keyboard and strings reminiscent of Mendelssohn’s “fairie music” in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Much of Antonin Dvorák’s music is rooted in his native Bohemia, with folk dance forms and harmonic patterns appearing throughout his repertoire. Dvorák’s Trio No. 4 in E Minor incorporated the Slavic “dumka,” a form of epic pensive ballad. The plural “dumky” came to signify a sorrowful instrumental work followed by an energetic furiant dance, and to Dvorák, the term represented a blend of melancholy and joyful elements in one piece. The six movements of Trio No. 4 showed this folk tradition in a variety of ways.

The first three and final movements of Dvorák’s Trio alternated somber and lively characters, with the fourth and fifth movements creating a “dumka” together. In Monday night’s performance, the opening “Lento maestoso” featured improvisatory passages from violinist Eichhorn and cellist Hörr, followed by a rollicking and cheerful close with impressionistic playing from pianist Uhlig. Hörr’s reverent cello lines brought the second “dumka” to life, against a contrasting dance section. As Dvorák’s work progressed, the Trio easily maneuvered between almost funereal and lyrical textures, accompanied by cascading piano scales. Thematic material was shared equally among the players, ranging from a single unassuming piano melody from Uhlig to Hörr’s elegant cello solos.

The overall palette was lush at times, with the most tuneful music saved for the final “dumka.” In this closing movement, the Phaeton Piano Trio uniformly toyed with tempos, drawing out a slow introduction to emphasize a fast, whirling dervish section, and concluding the concert in a swirl of high-speed and exciting playing.