Piano Trio Leaves Vivid First Impression

The world of active piano trios is not a very populous one, but the ranks have been nicely amended with the introduction of the young-and-ready Perlman/Nikkanen/Bailey Trio, stopping at Pepperdine University on Sunday amid its first official tour.

The trio first played together last year at a music festival and decided the chemistry warranted a more serious commitment.

Apparently, it does.

The name that leaps out for attention, of course, is that of pianist Navah Perlman; she’s the gifted daughter of Itzhak--but the strength of the group lies not in individual glories but its esprit de corps.

There are distinct personalities colluding here--cellist Zuill Bailey’s emotional intensity; violinist Kurt Nikkanen’s cooler, exacting touch; and Perlman’s well-rounded, understated aplomb--but the whole is what matters.

They play with a measured passion, but also an earnest quest for finding a collective, conversational voice.

Sunday they offered a program of increasing intensity and interactive complexity, starting with Haydn’s Trio in G, “Gypsy Rondo,” whose Gypsy-inflected finale was played for all its witty, rhythmically twisted vigor.

Greater independence of voices was heard in Beethoven’s Trio in E-flat, Opus 70, No. 2, and the program built toward the Brahms Trio in C, Opus 87, a showpiece full of dynamic extremes and general Romantic excesses.

It would be good to hear the trio stretch out into more adventurous programming in the future, but its initial steps suggest that said future could be a bright one.