To start at the middle first, the husband-and-wife team of Tamara Volskaya, on domra, and Anatoliy Trofimov, on bayan, exhibited consummate artistry and amazing virtuosity in what they performed. Volskaya, especially, dazzled with her seemingly incredible coordination between right and left hands. An added treat here was the impromptu and lovely obbligato flute accompaniment that Julia Scolnik provided in the Sviridov Romance. All in all, it was unusual fare that brought the audience to its feet. 

The Rachmaninoff, which opened the program, was performed by the husband-and-wife team of Allison Eldredge on cello and Max Levinson at the piano. From their give and take that seemed as natural as breathing, it was obvious that these two artists have spent many hours making music together. Thus, it was a reading that was both polished and personally nuanced in which Eldredge drew, from her Testore cello, a sound that was both dark and ravishing yet never forced. 

Levinson, who is a powerhouse pianist, played with such force at times that one wondered if the Steinway might snap a string. Given the composer's legendary mastery of the instrument, the part is not an easy one and, at times, reminds one more of a concerto than a sonata. That it was written during the same period as the Second Piano Concerto could well be the reason. In the end though, it all balanced out and all were left with the feeling that this was music making as fine as one might hear anywhere. 

Tchaikovsky's very solemn trio was written in homage to his friend, Nikolai Rubinstein, in 1881 (20 years before Rachmaninoff's sonata) and bears the inscription, "to the memory of a great artist." It is a work, consequently, of exceeding melancholy (not atypical of the composer), the mood of which does not lighten until the central set of variations, based on folk themes that purport to reflect happy incidents in Rubinstein's life. However, the work ends as it opens, but with more melancholy. 

Eldredge and Levinson were joined here by the superb young violinist, Jennifer Frautschi (the name is Swiss-German), who completed her studies at Juilliard with the incomparable Robert Mann, who co-founded the Juilliard Quartet and was its first violin for 50 years. Her silvery-sounding 1722 "ex-Cadiz" Stradivarius complemented Eldredge's Testore to perfection in a reading of sensitivity and surpassing tonal beauty. If I harbor one reservation, it is that Levinson's playing was a bit loud at times (at least from my seat) and threatened to swamp the strings. Nevertheless, when it came to an end, the audience rose in bravos and well deserved applause.