Piccolo's powerful spotlight

Brief concerts offer chance for artists to shine

The Piccolo Spoleto Spotlight Concerts, coordinated by Ellen Dressler Moryl, provide wonderful opportunities for local and regional artists to showcase their talents in hour-long performances that close the afternoon or spark up the evening.

Wednesday at the architecturally resplendent and resonant New Tabernacle Fourth Baptist Church, violinist Sarah Johnson and two of her colleagues presented a program of two pieces that were composed more than two centuries apart, yet share a unity of purpose: to combine instruments that complement each other in meaningful and beautiful ways.

Franz Joseph Haydn's "Trio No. 1, Hob 25, in G Major" began with an andante that sounded bright and chirpy in this sacred space, and the players took this and the third movement (rondo all'ongarese) at a speed not often attempted while maintaining strict accuracy. Sarah Johnson is well-known in these parts for her sensitive and powerful playing and her service for almost 10 years as founder and director of the critically acclaimed "Sarah Johnson & Friends" series at the Dock Street Theatre. Here, she proved her mettle to great effect.

Kenneth Law's cello was an ideal partner in this collaboration, delivering shimmering legato lines in this lively gem of early romanticism.

Pianist Douglas Weeks, also a professor at Converse's Petrie School of Music, plays with sweep and strength. He chose to play with the piano's lid up, not unheard of when accompanying other instruments, but particularly in that acoustic, he sometimes overwhelmed the strings.

Careful interpretation of the music and effective use of dynamics also stood the trio well in Robert Livingston Aldridge's recent "Trio for violin, cello and piano." Now we knew why that lid was full open!

Especially in the towering first movement, the lush chords and polychords streamed together in a grandeur of unabashed romanticism.

There is even a glissando in the fourth movement, and enough syncopation to make you associate this sprawling work with big bands or movie music. Movie music it isn't, but you can recognize snippets of pop songs and the theme from Mighty Mouse.

Wonderful harmonies made the trio sound at times like 10 or 12 instruments; though modern-sounding, the piece is grounded in the traditional classical form.

A housekeeping note: There is a handicapped entrance, with no steps, on Elizabeth Street, but you'll have to ask. Be sure to include at least one of these concerts on your festival schedule.