Abtibub Dvorak could be as much of a nioclassicest as the next guy.Well, at least, if the next guy wasn't Brahms. Dvorak loved clearly articulated forms, botivic development and dramatic harmonic movement, all traits of the neoclassical stream that remained stong in the late 19th century.

But his music forged of a nationalistic Romanticism remains incredibly popular with audiences. The Kandinsky Trio brought his Piano Trio in E Minor, "Dumky," as the centerpiece of its concert for the Charleston Chamber Music Society on Saturday night. The large crowd that turned out to hear the Roanoke College-based group, in its first appearance here since 1994, seemed to be rooting for some musical fireworks.

The Trio delivered them.

The melodic ideas that form the "Dumky" are rooted in central European folk music. But Dvorak's forms constantly hint at the dramatic two-section shape of sonata style of the Haydn-Mozart tradition.

The second movement (of six) launches with a soulful cello solo that evolves into a twirling dance tune in the violin before the piano blows it all away with a storm of chords. Then the piano recapitulates the cello's melody in a new setting that addresses the sonata style's need for recapitulation while maintaining the aggressive exploration of tonal color and variation techniqe central to the nationalistic-romantic tradition.

In the Kandinsky's hands, the piece sounded very elastic, with wild sweeps of rubato and lurching explosions of energy. But its innate musicality served to underscore the tension between nioclassical clarity and romantic impulse that makes Dvorak's music so enjoyable.

Joaquin Turina's "Circulo," Op. 91 paints, in an impressionistic sense, the journey from morning through night to a new morning. Rodrigo's music evokes a Debussyian landscape tinged with harmony from the Spanish guitar.The trio made the shimmering harmonies and floating melodies sparkle. In the day music, the sharp edge of piano's double octave melody support by pizzicato strings had a tangy verve.

Beethoven's Trio in G Major, Op. 1, No. 2 lacks the complete personality of the composer. The strong, syncopating accents that provide drive in so many of his later fast movements are underused, as if the composer had not yet recognized their elemental power. The rapid bowing of the principal motif of the finale, rendered as a note lower trill in the less flexible piano, sounder wonderful, if quirkily alien to anyting else the composer ever wrote.

The Kandinsky's interpretation had power and transparency plus lots of thender in the bass to go with its rhythmic bounce.

The goup played an encore of a Russian Gypsy song called "Dark Eyes," which it played an encore eight years ago.