By Giorgio Migliavacca

There is a rumor around town which would pretend that there is a ghost at the Atrium. Those who attended the Gryphon Trio concert at the HLS Community College last Friday will say "yes". And you can believe them. Certainly Friday night performance supplied ample evidence, to everybody's ears, that the ghost was there and that he made himself abundantly known.

As the Gryphon Trio was on the last notes of the second movement [Largo assai ed espressivo] Ludwig's ghost was walking outside and inadvertently knocked into the gong used to signal the intermission and made a huge "bang". At the end of the movement the cellist had no doubts " it was Beethoven's ghost listening to his Trio in D Major, Opus 70, Number 1 nicknamed "The Ghost" - the second offering of the concert.

Beethoven composed a pair of piano trios in 1808, some 12 years after Haydn's were published. "The Ghost" - the first of these trios - is so named because of the slow (largo) second movement with its mysterious trills and tremolos in the piano part. The thematic material is of a puzzling fragmentary nature, and some scholars believe that this music was once projected in the form of a melodrama for Shakespeare's Macbeth. Maybe to accompany the appearances of the witches?

It was quite extraordinary that the mysterious visitor made himself known during the slow movement but this was not the only thing to stun the audience. At Friday's concert we were also genuinely impressed by the straightforwardness of the musical execution - one of the most satisfying qualities in this type of repertory.

The Gryphon Trio opened the concert with Joseph Haydn's Piano Trio in C Major, Hob XV, Number 27. The piano dominates this composition and pianist Jamie Parker displayed impeccable technique and directness of statement. The piano is at some point joined by the violin as an equal partner and Annalee Patipanakoon did not miss this early chance to acquaint the audience with her warmth of delivery and sculpted phrasing. The cello is clearly relegated to a rather subservient role, and follows the bass line of the piano for most of the time.

However, cellist Roman Borys, a member of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, got even during Beethoven's Trio which offered him ample room to display the elegant expressivity of his instrument. He played the cello with a grandeur and gusto that filled the Atrium with a rich and blooming sonority.

For Dvorák's Trio Number 4 in E Minor, Opus 90, B. 166 ("Dumky"), the Gryphons surrendered their smooth tone for more folklike nuances, as is appropriate to the work's nature; the dumkas (Slavic folk songs) were elegiac, and the lively sections sparkled with dynamic contrasts.

Despite Ludwig's unexpected and sonorous visit, the public enjoyed the concert and generous applause forced the Gryphons to give the final movement of Haydn's Trio in E Major as an encore. This was greeted by thunderous applause and the public was a bit reluctant to leave the auditorium as if expecting a second encore.

The programme was carefully executed, lacking the occasional frisson, perhaps, but very neat and very impressive as workmanship and the audience love it.