By Nancy Plum

Some ensembles spend a great deal of time coming up with their name. Last Wednesday night’s presentation by Princeton University Concerts showcased three instrumentalists who collaborate as a trio, but without a formal group moniker. Swedish clarinetist and conductor Martin Fröst, French violist Antoine Tamestit, and pianist and Israeli native Shai Wosner came to Richardson Auditorium to offer a diverse program of music ranging from the 19th to the 21st centuries. Individually, these artists have been acclaimed for pushing musical boundaries, and their appearance last week expanded the repertory a bit further by uniting solo players not often heard together.

Fröst, Tamestit, and Wosner began the evening with three excerpts of a suite by Antonín Dvorák originally composed for piano duet and arranged for clarinet, viola, and piano by Wosner. Throughout the concert, Fröst alternated between clarinets in the keys of B-flat and A, finding a variety of musical styles from both. The opening “Allegretto” of Dvorák’s Legends featured a bit of klezmer effect between clarinet and viola, with long clarinet lines and sharp bowings from violist Tamestit. In all three movements, Fröst and Tamestit phrased the music in tandem, occasionally holding back cadences for effect. Pianist Wosner provided subtle accompaniment for the first two pieces, taking a more prominent role in the closing “Allegro.” In this swirling dance, a dialog between Tamestit’s fierce viola playing and Fröst’s lyrical clarinet lines were well complemented by Wosner’s skillful keyboard accompaniment.

The music of Johannes Brahms was often informed by his friendships with performers of the time, and he composed the Clarinet Trio in A Minor for an admired colleague. Originally scored for piano, clarinet and cello, pianist Wosner arranged this work to replace the cello with viola. The new orchestration created a higher sound for the string lines, with Wosner’s version retaining Brahms’ trademark elegance and drama. All three musicians proved to be very expressive, with Fröst often showing his conductor side with subtle gestures more to himself than the others. In the opening “Allegro,” Tamestit lyrically provided a romantic melody, while Fröst demonstrated a great deal of dynamic range. Every note of Fröst’s playing had direction as he elicited a songlike quality from the clarinet.

Wosner also arranged two songs from Brahms’ Op. 91 for the ensemble, scoring for an equal partnership among the three players to convey the original vocal parts in instrumental form. “Geistliches Wiegenlied,” rooted in a 16th-century Christmas lullaby, exhibited elegant sonorities between viola and piano as Tamestit and Wosner introduced the familiar tune. Fröst’s counter-melody was more dramatic, and Tamestit made the most of the viola’s full range, as he and Fröst found sweet intervals in the music.

Fröst, Tamestit, and Wosner closed Wednesday night’s program with an eclectic “Dance Mosaic” from four composers spanning more than 150 years. Béla Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances, Brahms’ Hungarian Dances, and Witold Lutoslawski’s Dance Preludes all capture folk traditions of different Eastern European regions, evoking the spirits of time, place and people. As performed by these imaginative musicians, the music flowed seamlessly from one dance into another and kept the audience engaged with continually changing tempi and quick swirling melodic lines and precise phrase endings. Lutoslawski’s Preludes in particular required virtuosic clarinet playing with frequently changing rhythms.

Bartók’s six Romanian Dances allowed Fröst to wail a bit on the clarinet with Wosner emulating bells on the piano. The set closed enthusiastically with Wosner’s own Bulgarian Gigue, which transformed Johann Sebastian Bach’s French Suite No. 5 into a joyful foot-stomping reel with plenty of opportunity for viola fiddling, high-speed clarinet lines and clean keyboard work. As with the rest of the performance, it was refreshing to hear the viola and clarinet outside of a full orchestra, and the unique arrangements for these instruments made it clear these three artists are on to something in creating new sonorities and repertoire.

Princeton University Concerts has announced its 2025-26 season, which will feature a wide range of performances from internationally-renowned artists and ensembles. Information can be found at concerts.princeton.edu.