KARACHI: Those who attended the Trio Aust concert organised by the German consulate at a local hotel on Friday evening must be thanking their lucky stars. They got to listen to some high quality music played by three extraordinary musicians. They were: Bettina Aust (clarinet), Robert Aust (piano) and Lydia Krueger (mezzo soprano). As can be guessed, the former two are siblings.

Before writing about what they performed, one feels compelled to quote a few lines from Shakespeare’s play Merchant of Venice: “The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not mov’d with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils.” This simply means that one who does not get moved by music lacks purity of soul. That’s exactly what the trio was able to elicit on Friday: it made the audience, save for one or two, feel touched by every note that they played –– despite the fact that it was classical music, which is not everybody’s cup of tea.

The brother-sister duo appeared on stage first. They played concert fantasia on motives by Luigi Bassi from the opera ‘Rigoletto’. It became more than evident for the music-savvy audience that they were listening to two individuals who are more than adept at what they do.

Then Bettina left the stage and in came Lydia to join Robert. She told the audience in her sweet voice that she’s going to sing two pieces, one Aria of Stephano by Charles Gounod from the opera ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and the other Aria of Rosina by Rossini from ‘Il Barbiere di Siviglia’. Describing the former she referenced Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to give the audience context. Once that was done, the invitees were in a far better position to appreciate the pieces. And Robert and Lydia did a worthy job, especially Lydia, who hit the high notes with great facility.

After that Bettina joined her other two colleagues to present a couple of German songs by Louis Spohr. Since it was for the first time that the three of them were together in front of the audience, it added a visual dimension to the auditory richness of the show.

But the highlight of the gig came next. It was Robert Aust’s solo performance of Franz Liszt’s fantasy piece ‘Reminiscences de Norma’ from Bellini’s opera. Not only did he do justice to all the intricate movements in the composition, the dexterity and the consuming passion with which he played the notes left the audience spellbound. No matter how brisk the movements were, Robert played each note with remarkable clarity, as if he knew them by heart –– which he did. It was a little more than 15-minutes-long act, but one wanted the artist to keep pressing those piano keys. As a result, some of his new admirers gave him a standing ovation.

The final two pieces — by Brahms and Schubert — brought the three talented artists together again, and they rounded off the evening on a melodious note.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2018