10/19: Merling Trio

By Frank Lewis on Sun, Oct 18, 2009 at 8:00 am

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You can blame Slavic composers for some words that sound pretty damn funny in English, including “dumka” — which, in plural form, are called “dumky.” Depending on which composer, country and time period you’re talking about, the word refers to either a melancholy ballad or a piece that explores fleeting musical ideas, especially when the mood suddenly shifts from sad to something more spirited. We like to refer to a concert that includes a lot of dumky as a “dumky dump.” And that’s exactly what the Merling Trio will perform tonight when it opens the Rocky River Chamber Music Society’s free series with a program that includes the most famous dumka collection: Antonin Dvorak’s “Dumky” trio. Also on the program is a piano trio written especially for the Merling Trio by C. Curtis-Smith, a professor at Western Michigan University, where the group is based, and Haydn’s Piano Trio in D. Showtime is 8 p.m. at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church (20401 Hilliard Blvd., Rocky River, 440.333.2255). — Michael Gill