Felix Mendelssohn’s 1839 “Piano Trio in D Minor, Op. 49” was the final piece of the Florestan Trio’s concert, presented by the Friends of Chamber Music Jan. 26 at Portland’s The Old Church. The chilly midwinter night in the snug, acoustically resonant space made you feel as if you were at a chamber concert in a small northern European church, the composers not centuries away.

The D-Minor Trio is praised as one of Mendelssohn’s greatest pieces, and it is often performed for its highly expressive and tuneful lyricism. Robert Schumann, Mendelssohn’s contemporary, called it the “master trio of our time” and suggested that Mendelssohn had surfaced as “the Mozart of our time.” That was after Mendelssohn revised his 1839 piece to give the piano a bigger part, and in several performances Mendelssohn played that part himself, by heart.

The Florestan Trio, which has nicely resurfaced in the Portland area, though it has plenty of roots in Portland – including cellist/ founding member Hamiliton Cheifetz’s title of Florestan Professor of Cello in Portland State University’s School of Music & Theater – played the piece as if it were a second skin. After all, Cheifetz and elegant violinist Carol Sindell have been playing together for 50 years, quite a feat of longevity for chamber musicians. Pianist Janet Guggenheim joined the musicians in 2002, so the three were familiar with every shift and dynamic of one another in the four-movement trio. There was no hesitation. Togetherness counts. (See Alice Hardesty’s Jan. 21 Oregon Arts Watch story.)

The second movement, “Andante con moto tranquillo,” about 6 minutes of the 24-minute piece, was unspeakably beautiful, even tear-jerking if you were in that frame of mind. It climbed a ladder of notes and chords with the power to deliver you to ecstasy or grief, whichever way your spirit might be leaning. After the piano introduces the theme, the violin chimes in and the cello repeats the theme in counterpoint. You didn’t hear Cheifetz playing solo much in this concert – his cello holds everything together – but when you do, get ready. He and his instrument produce such a round deep golden sound. As part testament to his talent and joy of playing, you can see a slight smile emerging from under his moustache at certain moments.

The finale, “Allegro assai appassionato,” was a frantic, frenetic, many-noted conclusion that proved the astounding skill and experience of the Florestan musicians. Sindell, who maintains a pixie-ish look though her sound is many times larger, was 7 years old when she began studying with Josef Gingold and later Jascha Heifetz. She made her debut at 11 years old with the Cleveland Orchestra. Guggenheim studied with Rosina Lhevinne, won the Juilliard Piano Concerto competition in earlier years, and collaborated with violinist Itzhak Perlman and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, as well as with many other well-known classical musicians. Cheifetz has performed and taught internationally for decades, and continues to do so. He will be teaching his popular eight-weeks-long class on chamber music this spring.

There was more music before Mendelssohn. In the first part of the program the trio performed Joseph Haydn’s “Piano Trio in G Major, No. 2,” subtitled the “Gypsy Rondo” and decorated with a speed-demon third movement that drew on Hungarian folksong. Following that piece was Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Trio in E-flat Major, Op.1, No.1” composed in 1793-95, his early years–with profound Haydn influence, but a piece that marked Beethoven’s emergence on the Vienna music scene. Ultimately, Beethoven was a game changer, pushing classical music into the romantic era, as well as instigating countless changes and progressions, though this four-movement piece only revealed a hint of his bold original voice to come. Still, it was played mellifluously, especially by Guggenheim, and it was lively and fun.

The 90-minute concert was not about cutting-edge music, nor did we hear any “new music” (to some audience-goers’ relief), but we were treated to some of the most sparkling pieces of the Classical and early Romantic periods performed by stellar musicians.

This concert, postponed from Oct. 6, was one of three the Florestan Trio will be performing in The Old Church, including a March 9 concert with Kenji Bunch, artistic director of Fear No Music. Schumann’s “Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 44” is on that program. The May 18 concert features two pieces by Antonin Dvorak and W.A. Mozart’s “Clarinet Quintet in A Major, K.581.” That concert will add Bunch on viola, Theodore Arm on violin and Louis DeMartino on clarinet. You can find the details on the FOCM website. Each of the programs, as of this time, is subject to change.