It was an exhilarating day with an even more exhilarating ending to the OSAKA INTERNATIONAL CHAMBER MUSIC COMPETITION 2023. Seven ensembles – six piano trios and one piano quartet – each gave a one-hour performance in Round 2, at which the jury, and the audience, heard one extraordinary performance after another, each ensemble worthy of at least a second, if not a first prize. But such is the nature of a competition that some must unfortunately  be eliminated. The jury spent more time than usual deliberating before announcing the three ensembles that would compete in the final round on Thursday. Jury chairman Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi admitted that it was an excruciating task deciding who would be the lucky three.
They were the Michelangeli Trio from Germany, the Pantoum Trio from France, and the Capybara Piano Quartet from  Germany. To my mind, the Michelangeli Trio did its best work in Round 1, but it made a good showing nonetheless in Round 2. The Pantoum Trio gave a ravishing account of the Ravel Trio, bringing a world of subtle hues and dynamic shadings to the score that at times shimmered and glistened. But the real standout, to these ears, was the Capybara Quartet. It has been together as a group for less than two years, yet it had the most homogeneous, perfectly blended sound of any of the seven groups. Its performance of the Second Faure Quartet revealed a level of finesse, refinement, and sheer beauty of sound unmatched throughout the day.
There was delicacy without fussiness, and power, where required, without force. This is definitely an ensemble to watch.
 
A note about repertory: Of all many choices the six piano trios could have made (each ensemble played two works), two chose the Ravel Trio, two Mendelssohn’s No. 2, two Shostakovich’s No. 2, and two Brahms’s No.1.
But most popular of all was a trio virtually unknown except to true
aficionados: the Trio by Mieczyslaw Weinberg. Three played it. Martinu’s Second Trio also got an outing.

Written by WRITTEN BY Robert Markow