French ensemble Trio Wanderer lived up to its name when they made their long-awaited Australian debut by taking its audience on a journey from elegantly classical Esterházy to sweepingly romantic Moscow with a spectacular stop in Prague on the way.

Trio Wanderer’s Raphaël Pidoux, Vincent Coq and Jean-Marc Phillips-Varjabédian

Formed in 1988, and mentored by members of both the Beaux Arts Trio and Amadeus Quartet, the trio’s credentials are blue ribbon and they are a superbly integrated ensemble, borne out by the fact that their newest member, violinist Jean-Marc Phillips-Varjabédian, joined up 24 years ago. Like the other members, pianist Vincent Coq and cellist Raphaël Pidoux, he is a graduate of the Paris Conservatoire.

The intimate Utzon Room, looking out on Sydney Harbour on an early winter,  sunny Sunday afternoon, was the perfect setting for two hours of consummate music making from a trio who play with all the telepathy and homogeneity that only decades of rehearsing and performing together can bring.

The afternoon started jovially with the lively allegro of Haydn’s Trio in C from 1796, one of the final set of three he composed. This is very much a showcase for the piano,...