{"id":226811,"date":"2026-05-11T03:31:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T03:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/226811\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T03:31:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T03:31:31","slug":"joy-luck-trio-give-a-stunning-performance-at-bargemusic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/226811\/","title":{"rendered":"Joy Luck Trio Give a Stunning Performance at Bargemusic."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Joy<\/a><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Joy Luck Trio<\/a>, consisting of (left to right in the photo)\u00a0Karen Han<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0ehru<\/a>, Donna Weng Friedman<\/a>\u00a0on piano, and\u00a0Gao Hong<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0pipa<\/a>, had their first Brooklyn performance at\u00a0Bargemusic<\/a>\u00a0last Sunday. As I\u2019ve noted before, I\u2019m a fan of\u00a0syncretism<\/a>\u00a0in music (and in other things). Joy Luck, in my estimation, does an awesome job of combining Asian and Western instruments and musical traditions.<\/p>\n

They opened the concert with\u00a0The Swan\u00a0(1886) by\u00a0Camille Saint-Sa\u00ebns<\/a>\u00a0(1835-1921),\u00a0which they did as written except for some improvisations. According to my sketchy concert notes Han\u2019s\u00a0ehru\u00a0produced a \u201cdreamy melody\u201d while Hong\u2019s\u00a0pipa yielded \u201cversatile sounds.\u201d Friedman\u2019s piano was precise. This was followed by Hong\u2019s own composition,\u00a0Flying Dragon, done solo on pipa. As its name implies, it had a soaring quality until the last note, which evoked the dragon\u2019s descent, and was made by Hong\u2019s dragging her thumbnail down a string, a move that produced a pleasing sound. Han then had a solo turn on\u00a0ehru with\u00a0Birds Singing in the Empty Mountains,\u00a0by the Chinese composer\u00a0Liu Tianhua<\/a>\u00a0(1835-1932). My notes indicate \u201cconversational sounds\u201d and \u201cscope of timbre.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next on the program came three pieces by the composer\u00a0Stefania de Kenessey<\/a>, who was present for the concert. These were from\u00a0Microvids<\/a>, a series of nineteen short pieces she composed after the worst of the pandemic had passed. The three performed at the concert were\u00a0Reach for the Sky, Clouds,\u00a0and\u00a0Pure Joy. They were written for solo piano, but the concert performances included improvisations on ehru and pipa. It all worked brilliantly.<\/p>\n

Hong then had another solo turn on pipa with a piece,\u00a0Pastoral, that she said was inspired by the Mongolian countryside. Its evocation of a spacious landscape reminded me, in a good way, of Neil Young\u2019s instrumental,\u00a0The Emperor of Wyoming<\/a>. Friedman then had her solo turn on piano with\u00a0The Three Maries\u00a0(1939) by the Brazilian composer\u00a0Heitor Villa-Lobos<\/a>\u00a0(1887-1959). These three short pieces,\u00a0Alnitah, Alnilam,\u00a0and\u00a0Mintika, were given the names of the belt stars in the constellation Orion that are sometimes called \u201cThe Three Marys.\u201d My notes on each in order were: \u201cplayful\u201d; \u201cloving\u201d; and \u201creflective.\u201d<\/p>\n

The last two pieces in the program were Hong\u2019s\u00a0Nostalgia,\u00a0which she described as \u201cchasing a dream\u201d and for which my notes are \u201cplaintive, then lovely,\u201d and Horse Racing, by the Chinese composer\u00a0Huang Haihuai<\/a>\u00a0(1935-1967) which evoked the propulsive rhythm of hoofbeats and concluded with a convincing whinny on the ehru.<\/p>\n

I have friends who think that the purpose of music, or of any art, should be to provide pleasure. I believe that great art should not only please, but also challenge the listener, viewer, or reader to hear, see, or understand in a new way. For me, Joy Luck Trio fulfilled that purpose. It made me hear music in a way I never had before.<\/p>\n

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