“Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio”

The Strad, February 2006 Vol. 117 No. 1390 page 28

As they celebrate their 30th year together, the members of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio
reveal to Laurinel Owen the secrets of a long working relationship.

Their name sure is a mouthful. ‘I suppose it bites us now,’ admits pianist Joseph Kalichstein, ‘because presenters call us KLR, which we hate.’ ‘We have always felt that we are three separate voices and we want to stay that way,’ cellist Sharon Robinson adds. ‘Besides if we were, let’s say the Van Gogh Trio, one of us could leave and we will never let that happen,’ concludes violinist Jaime Laredo.

This year the Kalichstein Laredo Robinson Trio celebrates their thirtieth anniversary. That event alone is noteworthy, but perhaps even more remarkable is that during those three decades there have been no personnel changes, a fact that must rank them amongst the longest tenure of all ensembles active today. Each member is known, in their own right, as soloist: since winning the Leventritt Award in 1969 Kalichstein has played with virtually every major orchestra around the globe; Laredo won the Queen Elizabeth Competition, a Grammy Award, the Deutsche Schallplatten and has over 100 recordings to his credit; and Sharon Robinson is an Avery Fisher Recital Award and Piatigorsky Memorial Award recipient and has been a Grammy Award nominee. Musical America’s Ensemble of the Year 2002, hundreds of concert tours, unanimous critical acclaim, a dozen or so CDs, numerous significant commissions, and 30 years later they still love playing together.

I was scheduled to meet the trio at the Juilliard School in New York City where Kalichstein has taught since 1983 and was recently appointed to an endowed chair in chamber music studies – a first for the conservatory. They were rehearsing in his studio before their concert that evening at the 92nd Street “Y”. Anxiously I waited in the lobby (on the wrong side of the guard) to be met and escorted in. Would I recognize him? Voicing my unnecessary concern while riding in the elevator Joseph Kalichstein laughs and speaks in his softened Israeli accent: ‘We try to keep our photos up to date – not like some singers I know.’

That easy-going natural ease radiated from all three as they practiced the C minor Mendelssohn Trio – a work not on that evening’s program. ‘It is so nice to come back to this piece,’ muses Robinson. ‘We just coached 16 year olds playing it in North Carolina and they sounded like they were at least seventy-five – so slow!’ They worked in detail: tempo, dynamics, pacing, nuance, and texture. ‘Were we dragging around 40?’ ‘I thought so too.’ ‘We weren’t together, she took time.’ ‘Are you going to slide up to the G? You never did before, but if you like it I’ll wait.’ ‘Let’s rehearse the Scherzo.’ ‘Let’s not. I didn’t practice it.’ ‘This part needs to be serene.’ ‘Yeah, we’re too excited.’ ‘That’s because I want you to hear the second beat.’

They rehearsed with focus and concentration. There was no hint of animosity, no tug-of-wars, point scoring, boredom or any shade of an apathetically casual approach or just plain going through the motions. They are three equals contributing to a musical whole with no one member acting as artistic leader – a dynamic that is perhaps more complex since the violinist and cellist are married. What I found particularly inspiring was the level of commitment to a score that the ensemble has practiced, performed and recorded countless times.

‘The day we take making music for granted or get complacent is the day I pack up my fiddle,’ asserts Laredo as he thoroughly cleaned the rosin off his violin and carefully inserted it into a silk bag before stowing it in a double case. ‘We really resist the temptation to play the same way every time,’ agrees Kalichstein. ‘And we are very lucky to have such a great repertoire.’

No one can argue with that, but the ensemble is not just satisfied with playing only the old masterpieces. Besides works written for the trio, such as those featured on their disc “Legacies” by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Arvo Pärt, Leon Kirchner and Stanley Silverman, they continue to expand their repertoire and commission new music. The trio recently asked Grammy Award winning composer Richard Danielpour to write a piano quartet in which violist Michael Tree of the Guarneri Quartet will join them as part of their thirtieth anniversary celebrations. ‘We recorded two other works by Richard,’ says Robinson. ‘His trio, A Child’s Reliquary, which he wrote for us and a double concerto for violin and cello called In the Arms of the Beloved that Jaime and I commissioned for our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.’ ‘We love Richard’s music and wanted more,’ Laredo adds.

Commenting that after listening to their entire catalogue on the Arabesque label I particularly enjoyed their Ravel recording, a two CD set that not only includes the Trio, but the Sonatas for Violin and Cello and Violin and Piano, as well as short pieces. Laredo admits: ‘I never listen to my own recordings, but sometimes in evening when Sharon and I are cooking dinner I put that collection on. The music is so delicious.’ 

Before deciding to learn a new piece all three must agree before they commit to it, though they know most of the standard literature already. ‘I’m still trying to convince Josie to learn the Rachmaninov Trio,’ Laredo says, ‘and I think I have finally succeeded.’ ‘We don’t know the Smetana yet,’ responds Kalichstein. ‘First we had to learn the entire Beethoven, then the Brahms, Mendelssohn and Schubert. It all took time.’ ‘And I am one of the few cellists who loves to play Haydn,’ says Robinson. ‘Now we are working on the piano trio version of Verklärte Nacht.’

Noticeably, they didn’t mention the two Shostakovich, a Mozart and the Pärt Trios, which were on that evening’s concert. Laredo remarks: ‘The three of us are together because of the “Y”. We were the first trio to perform at the hall and we have played there every season since then. Originally Sharon and I were to play with Rudolf Firkušný, Ani Kavafian, and Walter Trampler at the “Y”. Due to some mix-up Rudy had the concert’s date written incorrectly in his diary for the following week and had to be in Prague instead of New York playing with us. We thought about whom we should invite and Josie was suggested. We called him and he learned the Dvořák Quartet in only four days!’ ‘We immediately clicked,’ confirms Robinson. ‘That was April of 1976.’

‘A few months later Sharon and I were in South America having so much fun playing chamber music that we started thinking about how we could make this on-going,’ Laredo recalls. ‘Of course, Josie was the first one we thought of.’ ‘He was playing at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center,’ says Robinson, ‘and we went back stage to talk with him. As we left he said: “Give me two weeks to think about it.” He called us back the next day.’ ‘They knew the repertoire,’ admits Kalichstein, ‘and even though I didn’t I had a lot of accompanying experience.’

‘We started rehearsing that summer for a concert in Great Neck, Long Island then out of the clear blue sky I got a call from Robert Shaw, who was the conductor of the Atlanta Symphony,’ continues Laredo. ‘He said: “I understand you have a new trio.” He was in the midst of arranging the inaugural celebrations at the White House for President Jimmy Carter, who loved classical music.’ ‘Shaking hands was so tedious Carter kept coming over and saying what a relief it was to listen to us,’ remembers Kalichstein.

Longevity has its rewards. Unique to this ensemble is a biennial prize named in their honor by the Chamber Music Society of Detroit – the Kalichstein Laredo Robinson International Trio Award. Young up-and-coming piano trios from around the world are nominated then observed during performances without their knowledge. The group showing the most promise wins concert engagements with twenty participating presenters, including Carnegie Hall. ‘This year we selected the competition’s second winner, Trio con Brio Copenhagen. I got to call the group and tell them they won,’ gloats Robinson. ‘I felt like a game show host announcing the million dollar winner – it was fabulous!’

Recently Laredo and Robinson have accepted appointments at Indiana University. ‘I’ve been asked four times to teach there,’ Laredo reports. ‘Up until now it was never the right time, though I was tempted. I have been connected to the school for many years since one of my former teachers was Joseph Gingold. He was Bloomington. Now there will be a chair named after him that I will be appointed to. Also, the school has a new dean, Gwyn Richards, who is amazing. He came all the way to Vermont to see Sharon and me. He wants to make IU’s music department extraordinary. We feel that with him we will have carte blanche. I will conduct, coach chamber music, teach and develop whatever I want. I have been teaching youngsters 10, 11 and 12 years old at the Curtis Institute and am looking forward to working with an older age group. Also Starker lobbied hard for Sharon.’

‘I find teaching very inspiring,’ asserts Robinson. ‘This year I am taking all of Tsuyoshi Tsustumi’s class half-time, since he left to become president of the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo. But with all the traveling, concerts and my own practicing I am finding the nineteen students too much, so next year I will pare down my load to nine students.’

The Kalichstein Laredo Robinson Trio has big plans to mark their thirtieth year together. ‘The group is purchasing the masters and rights of all their recordings that originally came out on Arabesque Recordings,’ informs Jay Hoffman, the president of Jay K. Hoffman & Associates, the ensemble’s management. ‘Currently they are in the process of starting their own label and will re-release their old catalogue as well as add new titles.’ First up is a Russian disc featuring the Arensky and Tchaikovsky Trios. They are also scheduled to record the Brahms string sextets for Koch.

Additionally the trio has major performances on the calendar. The newly commissioned Danielpour Piano Quartet will go on a ten-city tour, including Washington’s Kennedy Center, and there will be a gala concert at Carnegie Hall with guest Pinkus Zuckerman and performances of the complete Brahms Trios at the 92nd Street Y. But Laredo speaks most enthusiastically about a project he has been lobbying for for years. ‘We’ve played lots of Beethoven cycles, usually in three concerts, ’ he explains, ‘but I’ve always wanted to do all the trios in one go!’ I can see that the group has the enthusiasm and stamina, but I wonder if the audience might at least get an intermission. ‘Alright,’ he laughs, ‘I will concede that small point.’
 

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Side Bar: Robinson and Laredo Play…

While they rehearse the slow movement of the Mendelssohn Trio Robinson remarks: ‘Jaime, I’m missing the sweetness of your Strad.’ It seems that Laredo has played the same instrument for 36 years, the “Ex-Garile” Stradivari of 1717, and is now flirting with an early Guarneri 'del Gesù from 1728. ‘I’ve decided that since I’m faithful to Sharon I can be unfaithful to my fiddle,’ Laredo chuckles. ‘I’ve loved my Strad for so many years.’ ‘Perhaps this is your mid-life crisis?’ she banters. ‘In an ideal world I’d take them both. The Guarneri has lots projection, but then so does my Strad. Maybe though this has more raw power.’ The strings that the 'del Gesù are set up with are Infeld gold E, Red A and D and Blue G.

Ever since she came of college and landed a job with the Houston Symphony, Robinson has played the same cello, a copy of the Duke of Marlborough Stradivari by the English maker John Lott, made around 1830. ‘I like this instrument,’ she reports. ‘It has all the primary colors, though sometimes I miss the mauves and taupes.’

Both musicians own old master bows, but for their everyday work they use new ones by Lee Guthrie, a bow maker in Hudson, Wisconsin. ‘Tonight I’ll use my Pajeot,’ states Robinson, ‘but we love Lee’s bows.’ ‘We each have four or five,’ confirms Laredo.