Bravo!

The Beaux Arts Trio gave the performance of the season last night at the Library of Congress. I'm not one to shout much at any time, and certainly not at classical music concerts, but these guys had me screaming Bravo several times.

The trio, formed n 1955 or thereabouts, is making its farewell tour (which sound like something Cher or Madonna would do). The program consisted of trios by Ravel, a very short piece written a couple years ago by a Hungarian I never heard of, and a well-known piece by Schubert.

The Shubert, or course, was Schubertian. Light, melodic, ariose. Eminently hummable. What more can I say? Mary Ellen wanted to stand and applaud after each movement.

The piece by the Hungarian was pretty dreadful. It sounded as if the musicians were just tuning their instruments. But . . . but . . . for all that, there was a delicacy and fragility about the piece that did make it appealing. I liked it.

The Ravel was . . . what's the word I'm looking for? . . . FABULOUS! And this from a guy who doesn't like Ravel. The first movement (indeed, most of the piece) was very, very slow, but it was absolutely riveting. When that first movement ended, a guy in back of us said "Whew. We can all take a breath." And that's exactly what it felt like. And the other three movements were just as effective.

That was the program.

And then came the encores: Shostakovitch! Dvorak! Beethoven! Each one more wonderful than the one before. (The Beethoven brought Mary Ellen to tears.)

And to think, we nearly skipped the concert: As I said, I don't care for Ravel (or at least I didn't think I did). And it was a pretty good bet I wouldn't enjoy the modern Hungarian piece. And Schubert . . . yes, lovely, but how many times can you listen to something before you start to hate it? If we had had only ordinary seats, I probably would have said "The hell with it. Let's stay home." But we were in the center of row C, about 15-20 feet from the cello, so I decided to go for it. Am I ever glad I did.

If you hurry, you might be able to get tickets for the the same concert in New York this weekend. Of course, those tickets in New York are going to set you back $50 apiece. And you're probably going to be 200 feet from the stage. But trust me: It'll be worth it.

(Your tickets are going to cost $50. Ours were FREE. I guess God really does love me.)