As “the curfew tolled the knell of parting day" I plodded my way up the Banbury Road to the light and airy Leonard Wolfson Auditorium to join an appreciative audience of the latest performance by the Fournier Trio, the college's artist in residence. The piano trio performed Tchaikovsky's elegy to his mentor Nikolai Rubinstein which was written as an expression of his grief a year after his friend's death. The Fournier Trio's rendition of his Piano Trio in A minor intricately explored the emotional and musical complexity of the piece. The piano score itself is very demanding from the opening elegiac passage through to the Finale e Coda, covering a breadth of tempo and techniques, all eloquently executed by Chiao-Ying Chang.

Although the piano score dictates the pace, tone and mood of the piece there seemed to be an almost telepathic level of communication between the trio, confident in their ability and the timing between them as each instrument and musician sought to complement the others. This was clear in Sulki Yu's rendition of the six note motive which appears throughout the piece and which is so redolent of melancholy and loss however rendered. This theme was precisely and poignantly echoed by Pei Jee Ng's cello, an instrument of perpetually sad tones, perfect for this elegy.

There are, however, spells when the piece is not mournful. At times there are strains of the waltz and mazurka and there is a tremendous and powerful fugue in the second half of the piece which was played with drive and enthusiasm. Ultimately though, this consummate composer quietens the monumentality of the closing bars of the piece to a solemn conclusion and a moment of reflection, “leaving the world to darkness and to me".