The Ahn Trio has released four discs of classical music. The first two were forays into Villa-Lobos, Ravel, Dvorak, Suk, and Shostakovich. Their third disc, Unplugged, covered some contemporary works and arrangements and included pieces by Kenji Bunch, Michael Nyman, and Astor Piazzolla. An interesting trio arrangement of David Bowie’s “This Is Not America” also found a home on that disc. Following in the tradition of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” the Ahn sisters’ new disc, "Groovebox" contains works that were either written, arranged, or transcribed for them. The Ahn Trio have prevailed again upon Nyman, and Bunch, have a new arrangement of Piazzolla’s “Milongo del Angel”, and welcome into the fold new works by other composers.

The disc opens with an arrangement of “Riders On the Storm,” from The Doors’ "L.A. Woman" album, that stays true to the original classic, perhaps a little too true for me. I “get it” after twenty seconds. In and of itself, the playing is solid if not remarkable; without much emotion except for the occasion run by pianist Lucia Ahn, who, although playing classically mannered, does evoke Ray Manzarek’s keyboard play on the rock classic. In the final analysis, it is a perfectly acceptable rendering of the song; but that’s all it is. One expects more than a faithful transcription; one expects extension, vamping, and a little variation taking flight. For example, the Kronos Quartet’s version of Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” (recorded on their first disc for Nonesuch Records) has the four musicians stretching out and gives an interpretation to the music while simultaneously acting as a transcription. As a result, the piece by Kronos holds one’s attention better than the one by the Ahn Trio here. Michael Rataj, who arranged Storm for the Ahns states in the liner notes that “[i]t was hard to explain to Maria [Editor: the cellist], why she should play the bass beats all the time and why the cello solo is so short!” Um, them’s the breaks when you play an instrument that serves up ostinato and have a rather straight transcription.

Michael Nyman's “Yellow Beach”, based on “Come Unto These Yellow Sands” (from his suite for the movie “Prospero’s Books”) comes next and is ably played. The piece is attractive and insistent. It is also deceptively simple requiring constant attention by the players to pull off the intended cycle of tension and release, which the Ahn Trio does for the most part. Overall, there are more occasions for the piano and the violin (played by Angella Ahn) to shine.

Maurice Jarre composed The Engadiner Suite for The Ahn Trio. It’s an exciting work broken into four movements: Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Spring. Inspired by a stay in the Swiss Engadine Valley, Jarre mixes it up a bit. According to the liner notes, although each movement has its own signature sound motives, there are occasional unexpected entries of gentleness or fervent activity not usually associated with particular seasons that mirror the unpredictability of the weather in the valley. This piece is beautiful and well conceived. There’s room to spread out for the Ahns witnessed by some very fine playing by Lucia and Angella (violin) who, in the Winter movement, are able to recreate the stillness and frigidity. As well as this is played by the Ahns, I kept wondering what it would sound like in the hands of the Beaux Arts Trio, or some other long-established ensemble who might find all the bloom and intensity that lies beneath much of the surface calm.

Astor Piazzolla's gorgeous piece Milonga del Angel was also arranged for the Ahn Trio by Rataj. Although the playing does not lack emotion and warm-blooded feeling, one gets the feeling the playing and playing off each other could have been kicked up a notch. On more than occasion, I had the impression that the trio was doing an excellent job of doing their first sight-read of a piece. That is, getting the notes right first and not worrying about the emotional aspect of the music. Perhaps that not truly fair, but on the other hand, the playing certainly could be more emotional.

With Kenji Bunch’s Swing Shift, a suite that at times in the Prelude recalls John Adam’s The Chairman Dances, the Ahn Trio finally hit their stride. Bunch seems to have a knack for writing to the strengths of the Ahns. Swing Shift is a suite describing the wee hours of a typical New York City night. The composer sought to evoke images from Edward Hopper’s paintings of loneliness (i.e., Nighthawks) and is dedicated to people who work the overnight shift. The Ahns work off each other perfectly and seem to enjoy the light touch afforded by the jazz-inspired sections within the piece. Other parts allow for sentimental harmonies that are followed by humorous jabs, like a person who inadvertently lets his guard down then makes fun of himself for doing so. The closing movement of Swing Shift, Grooveboxes, starts with the new day not giving rest to the weary. How could it in the city that never sleeps? Sounds of the urban scene stretching and waking with industries beginning their piercing clamor bright and early greet the tired and the earnest. This music could accompany one of those time-lapse movies of people on the go. The Ahn Trio play this music to the hilt, but the mic-ing of the various instruments seemed to be used to less than optimal effect, but the performance is brilliant.

Groovebox’s closer is Ronn Yedidia’s Lullabye, a beautiful work that tells us the show has come to an end after the high-spirited Swing Shift. Lullabye brings us down gently and lulls us into comfort and complacency. However, the tragic timbres of Lullabye reflect the fact that the work is a paean to his deceased grandmother and to the late song composer Alexander Argov. The trio works the emotional piece into equal parts of bitter longing and reflection to great effect.

Clearly, the last two compositions on the disc are brought to their fullest potential by the Ahns. If the Ahns don’t fully imbue the music on this disc with all of its intrinsic intensity, the other problem is that sometimes, the sound is unusual. Occasionally, the piano is not sharp, not like a desired dream-like state, but rather poorly mic’d. At other times, the piano has a harsh echo to it. Still other occurrences find the one instrument too close in the aural foreground while the other two instruments are obscured.

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The Ahn Trio

Groovebox

Released: October 22, 2002
Origination Year: 2002
Time: 74:17
Tracks: 14
Produced by: Miguel Kertsman
Engineered by: Miguel Kertsman
Mastered by: N/A
Style: Studio
Format: CD
Enhancement: None
Label: EMI Classics
Website:
www.ahntrio.net

Riders on the Storm
The Doors, arr. Michael Rataj
Yellow Beach
Michael Nyman
The Engadiner Suite
Maurice Jarre
1-Summer
2-Autumn
3-Winter
4-Spring
Milonga del Angel
Astor Piazzola, arr. Michael Rataj
Swing Shift
Kenji Bunch
1-Prelude
2-Night Flight
3-Interhour
4-Club Crawl
5-Magic Hour
6-Grooveboxes
Lullabye
Ronn Yedidia