LANCASTER — History is a marketable commodity in this lovely city and is ac- knowledged in many ways each year at the Lancaster Festival, an annual 10-day cele- bration of the arts.

A recent visit to the festival, which con- tinues through Saturday, began with high tea in a magnificent mansion and conclud- ed with a chamber music concert in a his- toric church.

The Fairfield Heritage Association, which owns and operates the Federal-style manse known as the Georgian, presents two after- noon teas during the festival.

The first, served Tuesday, was a delightful step back in time. Some of the women wore period gowns and all demonstrated old- fashioned "ladylike" manners. Hosts and hostesses lavished guests with three rounds of goodies in the English high tea tradition. No one was counting carbs or calories.

Shoes are the theme of this year's teas. Georgian curator Frances Utiey and others, notably Candie Leitnacker, displayed sam- ples from their collections.

History lessons continued throughout the day, including at an evening concert at the First United Methodist Church, just up the hill from the Georgian. The Genera- tion Gap Trio entertained, informed and ultimately dazzled a capacity crowd with an overview of the development of the piano trio from Rameau (mid-18th century) to Schoenfield (late 20th century).

The trio boasts artists multi-tasking in a variety of programs during the festival: Ju- dith Stillman, piano; Dmitri Pogorelev, vio- lin; and John SantAmbrogio, cello. Looks can be deceiving, but the ensemble ap- pears to be aptly named, embracing musi- cians at different stages in their careers.

Assembled just for this year's festival, the trio was playing so well by evening's end that one wouldn't be surprised if it took its act on the road.

In truth, the first and last selections — Rameau's Rondement from La Coulicam and Schoenfield's Allegro from Cafe Music — came across a tad underprepared, which is understandable on a program with so much challenging repertoire.

This threesome seems united by a desire for passionate expressivity, used best in the romantic music that made up the big heart of the concert. Given its gorgeous line and heartfelt emotions, romantic here can in- clude Mozart's Andante Cantabile from the Trio in C Major. Distinct moods marked powerful renditions of excerpts from signa- ture works by Beethoven, Brahms and Sho- stakovich.

While the artists are well-matched in temperament, a bit more listening to one another — especially on the part of the pianist — is warranted.

Sant'Ambrogio introduced the selections with terse comments about how each dem- onstrated progressive changes in the piano trio, a genre that once rivaled the string quartet but today seems less evident.

Should the Generation Gap Trio decide to present a second chapter in this history next summer, please give the guy a mike.

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