Debut Janaki String Trio

• 1 I. — 07:17
• 2 II. Vivace 04:53
• 3 I. Allegro con spirito 08:09
• 4 II. Adagio con espressione 07:07
• 5 III. Scherzo: Allegro molto e vivace 03:04
• 6 IV. Finale: Presto 06:09
• 7 I. Congruity Theory 03:17
• 8 II. Obstinate Spaces 03:40
• 9 III. Anamnesis 02:34
• 10 IV. Lost in Soquel 05:12
• 11 Duet for Violin and Viola 04:32
• 12 I. — 07:22
• 13 II. Vivace 04:38
• Total Runtime 01:07:54

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Beauty of a String Trio, Free of Distractions: Surely some conspiracy theorist can explain what unnatural sequence of events prevented the string trio from becoming one of the most frequently heard ensembles, rather than the oddity it is. The configuration violin, viola and cello is perfectly balanced and symmetrical, its seamless range from soprano to bass untroubled by a top-thickening second fiddle or the distraction of a piano. And you d think string players would form trios by the dozen just to have Mozart s E-flat Divertimento in their active repertory. Yet composers and players have always flocked instead to string quartets, which are plentiful, while trios are comparatively few. The Janaki String Trio is making the most of an uncrowded field. Its musicians joined forces two years ago in Los Angeles and have won the Coleman Chamber Music Competition and the Concert Artists Guild International Competition. The guild sponsored the trio's New York debut concert at Weill Recital Hall on Tuesday evening. Its repertory tilts toward the contemporary. As an opening salvo the group played Krzysztof Penderecki s String Trio (1991), in which harsh, insistent full-ensemble blasts separate agitated but singing solo lines from each of the players. Eventually the brashness of the score's first pages melts, but lyrical beauty emerges only tentatively, in the violin line, before the piece wends its way back to the grittiness of the opening. That rough-edged quality is clearly a central part of the musicians' sound, and it turned up, in varying degrees, in everything they played.

But it isn't all they do. Andrew Norman's 'Alabaster Rounds,' composed for the trio, was inspired by listening to monks chanting at a basilica in Rome at daybreak, and it requires the ensemble to convey a sense of a shifting, mysterious atmosphere. At first the trio plays a consonant drone, with sustained 'cello and quickly undulating violin and viola figures; but fleeting dissonances enliven the texture, which gradually expands in dynamics and melodic breadth. Near the end a solo viola line offers a florid evocation of plainchant. The playing, more gentle than in the Penderecki, nevertheless had the kind of drive that gives even a slowly unfolding work like Mr. Norman's an irresistible electricity. The players Serena McKinney, violinist; Katie Kadarauch, violist; and Arnold Choi, cellist were as fresh and energetic in Beethoven s Trio in G (Op. 9, No. 1). They closed their program with an earthy, magnificently polished account of Dohnanyi's Serenade in C (Op. 10). (Allan Kozinn, Music Review)

The Janaki String Trio:
Serena McKinney, Violin
Katie Kadarauch, Viola
Arnold Choi, Cello

The Janaki String Trio:
Serena McKinney, Violin
Katie Kadarauch, Viola
Arnold Choi, Cello

The Janaki String Trio, winner of the 2006 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, is the first ensemble of this type to capture the award in the nearly 60-year history of the Competition. The Trio’s New York debut on the CAG Series at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall was praised by The New York Times as “magnificently polished” and exhibiting “an irresistible electricity.”

This electricity produces an immediate connection with audiences. The Trio’s programs incorporate standard works of the repertory, rarely heard masterworks, such as Penderecki’s gripping String Trio and stellar new pieces by composers such as Andrew Norman (2006 winner of the Rome Prize).  The BMI Foundation Commissioning Prize from the CAG Competition brought the ensemble another new work from American composer Dan Visconti, whose world premiere they performed in New York in May of 2008.  California’s South Bay Chamber Music Society has honored the Trio with the organization’s first commission, from American composer Pierre Jalbert which was premiered in Fall 2008.  Other current concert engagements include performances at The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, the Music Guild of Los Angeles, Chamber Music Society of Little Rock and the University of Calgary.

In 2007-08, the Trio made appearances in New York on Schneider Concerts and the CAG/New Works at the Thalia Series, and also performed at Los Angeles’ Coleman Chamber Music Series, San Francisco’s Music at Meyer, Chautauqua Institution, the Mendocino Music Festival and Music Mountain, where the ensemble collaborated with pianist Alpin Hong in a performance of Brahms G minor Piano Quartet.  Other recent engagements include an Australian tour with pianist Kathryn Selby, a residency at Canada’s Banff Centre and a partnership with the Da Camera Society of Los Angeles to bring music to elementary schools, hospitals, retirement communities and other community venues in the area.

The Janaki String Trio’s 2006 debut CD (Yarlung Records; works by Beethoven, Penderecki and Jason Barabba) has received remarkable acclaim. The New York Times praised the Beethoven performance for its “sharply chiseled accents and a broad dynamic sweep.”  The New Yorker commented on the “fresh and bracing character of the performance.” The ensemble’s second release (Naxos; February 2007) is a disc of the Vanhal Flute Quartets with flutist Uwe Grodd.

Serena McKinney performs on a Nicolaus Gagliano violin (circa 1760) on loan to her from the Mandell Collection of Southern California; Katie Kadarauch performs on a Giovanni Grancino viola (circa 1695) on loan to her from the Mandell Collection of Southern California; and Arnold Choi performs on a Carlo Tononi cello (circa 1725) on loan to him from an Anonymous Donor.

The Janaki String Trio was founded at the Colburn School of Music in Los Angeles in early 2005 and won the 59th Annual Coleman Chamber Music Competition in the same year. The ensemble takes its name from the Sanskrit word Janaki (ZHAN-uh-kee).which symbolizes self-realization — the underpinning artistic and spiritual ideal entwining composer, musician and listener.

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