The Ahn Trio bring chamber music with a modern twist

Want to know what a tennis ball sounds like on piano strings?

Doom.

Pianist Lucia Ahn's ball-on-the-piano-strings noise was the apocalyptic thunder in the Doors' 1971 song "Riders on the Storm." And with every soft bounce, the classically trained musicians of the Ahn Trio further demonstrated how they are reinventing chamber music.

Each sister brings a "must-play" selection to the program. "That was Lucia's," said little-sister Angella.

Born in Seoul and raised in America, the Ahn sisters perform plenty of original music, commissioning work from composers all over the world. But they also transcribe into piano-trio format everything from the Doors to "Orange Blossom Special."

In the Saturday-night performance at the Edmonds Center for the Arts, opened a month ago, the rebuilt theater once again proved its versatility, turning into a small concert venue. Billowy white fabric extended into the fly space and made a cloudlike canopy for these exquisite musicians in their silken dresses: pianist Lucia and cellist Maria — who are twins — and violinist Angella, the youngest sister by two years.

"We wrote [Nikolai Kapustin] and asked him for a four-movement trio," Angella said from the stage, giving us a hint to listen for the jazzy bass lines of the cello and bluesy piano sounds in Kapustin's "Divertissement for Piano Trio, Opus 126."

Review

Edmonds Center for the Arts, Saturday night

Catch a freeze-frame moment during this piece and here's what you'd see: cellist Maria, head to one side in deep focus; Angella poised at the edge of her chair, her bowing arm a sinewy right angle; and Lucia attacking the keyboard with hair dancing as she played a set of urgent piano runs crisply.

This lively and bright piece had sharp keyboard attacks reminiscent of Gershwin, yet there were some Stéphane Grappelli-like swoony, soaring harmonies on the violin, and some deep, percussive plucking of the cello. At times slow and lyrical, at others agitated and raffish, it showed the versatility of these sisters embracing the work of their "Ahn-plugged composers," as they title their program.

With their multicultural assortment of composers and huge talent, these women have a modernist, fusion sensibility that is perfect for our age. Their take on chamber music is intimate, yet grand, innovative, yet classic. To the listener, it's a revolution.

They played a lighthearted Chick Corea piece in waltz time that changes the way you'll hear the jazz legend; Kenji Bunch's "Dies Irie" was another standout.

A longtime bluegrass fan, Angella soared with her sisters in the evening's encore, the fusillade of notes that is "Orange Blossom Special," the best-known fiddle tune in the world.

During the standing ovation, one yell from the audience said it all:

"Ahn-believable!"

Diane Wright: 425-745-7815 or dwright@seattletimes.com