To open its second season the fledgling Massachusetts Chamber Music Artists presented “Crossroads” at Follen Church. Saturday evening featured three young artists, each having studied with respected teachers, garnered notable awards, and enjoyed international careers. Armenian American violinist Haig Hovsepian, Cuban born cellist Ismael Guerrero Bombut, and Chilean American pianist Matias Nestor Cuevas offered an eclectic assortment of piano trios by Chebotaryan, Piazzolla, and Brahms.

The Piano Trio of the 27-year-old Gayane Chebotaryan (1918 -1998) has become her best known work surfacing more and more often these days. And with Hovesepian there is real reason for his appearing on this “Crossroads” program, where Armenian strains figure in this single movement youthful trio. And, similarly, it might be reasoned that the oft-played oft-rescored The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires from a mature Astor Piazzolla (1921- 1992) found natural cultural connections with Bombut and Cuevas. Besides, Hovesepian, an avid jazz saxophonist some may have enjoyed at night spots around town, could have a say in the Argentinian’s North American borrowings.

As for Piano Trio No. 1 by Johannes Brahms, a youthful work much revised in later adult years, this trio of “friends,” following the program’s theme, tied a true youthful vigor together with a clearly extensive classical training. From the Beethoven disciple from Hamburg to Armenia, the “crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe” to Buenos Aires and the tango, a common theme in today’s concertizing reemerges. Country jumping in music parallels our travel nowadays, real or virtual. It is a way of learning, perhaps even surviving in today’s populated musicmaking field.

“Crossroads” invited with such programming. It surprised, nevertheless, how the Hovesepian-Bombut-Cuevas trio distanced itself before what appeared to be a friendly gathering. The “chamber” sized space of Follen Church would have suggested otherwise. Their attractive attire, fashioned by designer-cellist Bombut, their synchronous bows, their playing all pointed to something more formal. Their serious demeanor served considerably in holding audience attention. The real interference came from the unwillingness, if you will, of the sanctuary to accommodate these three big larger-than-life sound-makers. This situation too often foils.

After intermission with Brahms Op. 8 in B Major and Hovesepian-Bombut-Cuevas, stretches of transparency caught hold of the ear. Movement by movement, “Crossroads,” in the sense of being drawn inwardly as opposed to having to hear through massive string and piano output, loomed. With the ever-shifting moods of the opening Allegro con brio, the lightness of the Scherzo, Allegro molto, the quietness of the Adagio, and the energized Finale: Allegro Hovesepian-Bombut-Cuevas opened windows. Pianist Cuevas showed us, in the Adagio, Follen Church’s piano, its bell-like treble noticeably voiced differently from the rounder, fuzzier bass. With the quieter Adagio, violinist Hovesepian and cellist Bombut melded. If only the performers and room had merged far more than they did, artistry would have gone unhampered. Listening through a “wall of sound,” as it was in forte and fortissimo passages, challenged, perhaps even saddened, given the three instrumentalists’ obvious dedication to artistry.

Not all of the trouble was due to them and the venue. After a charged Hovesepian-Bombut-Cuevas start to the Chebotaryan with an alluring string plucking dance ostinato underpinning the piano’s Armenia-bound folk lines, the composition ran into trouble finding its way. With the return of the opening material, the seven-minute piece got back on track. There, the players fully conveyed flavorings of the South Caucasus region.

Nor are Piazzolla’s four pieces pulled together to form a set without performance anomalies. The movements in tango mode overlap with fast-slow shifts and rubato tempos dulling the set’s four seasonal frames. Repetition in general is another matter. Yet, this “Crossroads” trio mirrored the intense sensuality of The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, the flood of sound at times overwhelming the dance’s sharp, dramatic angles.   

A few further tidbits. Haig Hovsepian received his early education in Belmont. Described as a “cross-cultural artist” he was winner of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Concerto Competition among other awards. Ismael Guerrero Bombut served as Resident Fellow for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and remarks, “The truth is, as a professional musician, content creator, and fashion entrepreneur, my days never look the same—and that’s exactly what I love about my life.” Matias Nestor Cuevas has toured internationally. He is Official Steinway Educational Partner offering lessons in Miami’s Little Havana.

David Patterson, retired Professor of Music and former Chair of the Performing Arts Department at UMass Boston, was recipient of a Fulbright Scholar Award and the Chancellor’s Distinction in Teaching Award. He studied with Nadia Boulanger and Olivier Messiaen in Paris and holds a PhD from Harvard University. He is the author of 20 Little Piano Pieces from Around the World (G. Schirmer).  www.notescape.net