Now Audite www.audite.de have just released a new recording from Trio Testore of Tchaikovsky’s
Piano Trio in A minor coupled with Rachmaninov’s Trio élégiaque No 1
SACD 92.691 |
The Trio Testore www.trio-testore.de was founded in 2000 by three internationally established concert artists, pianist Hyun-Jung Kim-Schweiker, Violinist Franziska Pietsch and Cellist Hans-Christian Schweiker. The name of the trio comes from the fact that Franziska Pietsch and Hans-Christian Schweiker both play instruments made by the well-known Milanese luthier family Testore (the violin by Carlo Antonio, 1751 and the cello by Carlo Giuseppe, 1711).
Rachmaninov’s Trio
élégiaque No. 1 in G minor is an early work written in 1892 coming just
after his first piano concerto and in
the same year as his opera Aleko and
famous Prelude in C sharp minor. It
took him only a few days to write and was performed soon after by the composer
with violinist David Kreyn and cellist Anatoly Brandukov. It is in a single
movement marked Lento lugubre – più vivo.
As the strings open Trio Testore create a lovely, almost
other worldly sound to which the piano adds the rather Brahmsian melody,
beautifully paced and soon increasing in passion. There is some lovely playing
as cello then the viola takes the melody against a fine piano accompaniment. There
are bursts of emotion with the music at times rising to an intense passion
finely revealed by this trio who provide fine string textures and some glorious
piano passages. They deliver terrific ensemble whilst maintaining a wholly
spontaneous feel.
Tchaikovsky’s Piano
Trio in A minor, Op.50, completed in 1882, is dedicated ‘à la mémoire d’un grand artiste’ (to the memory of
a great artist). The great artist in question was the pianist, conductor, composer
and director of the Moscow Conservatory Nikolai Rubinstein (1835-1881) who had
died the previous March and, despite his devastating criticism of Tchaikovsky’s
first piano concerto continued to
support Tchaikovsky, conducting many premiere performances of his works.
The Piano Trio is in two movements, the first, Pezzo elegiac is marked Moderato assai – Allegro giusto – Adagio con
duolo – Allegro giusto. Trio Testore bring the same emotional sensibility
together with a fine breadth and a lovely rubato. They display some terrific
interplay rising to moments of fine passion conjuring up a real stormy sequence
before the Adagio con duolo where
they reveal a wistful, gentle beautifully shaped section and some exquisitely
hushed moments full of restrained emotion before allowing the storm to subside for
the lovely coda.
In the second movement
Tema con Variazioni the piano sets out gently the simple, very Russian
theme, recalling a folk song that was lodged in Tchaikovsky’s memory from a
picnic taken with Rubinstein nine years earlier where the theme had been heard.
The whole Trio join for the first variation with a spontaneity that sounds as
though they have been caught improvising. There are some lovely little nuances
from the Trio, beautifully shaped to which they bring a nice rhythmic lift. There
are some beautifully fleet moments from pianist Hyun-Jung Kim-Schweiker and
beautifully delicate sprung pizzicato passages. Variation six, Tempo di Valse, has a lovely light
playfulness. Their great ensemble is shown particularly in the Fuga with this Trio really seeming to
enjoy themselves. In the Andante flebile
the fluent rippling of the pianist is joined by the violin of Franziska Pietsch
in a lovely variation full of introspection with cellist Hans-Christian
Schweiker taking the theme before it is shared. The Mazurka receives a lovely lift from Hyun-Jung Kim-Schweiker in some
terrific passages with the changes of tempi and rhythm superbly done. The strings
return before variation eleven brings a gently bubbling flow.
Trio Testore bring
a confident opening to Variazioni Finale
e Coda pushing forward with great panache in the Allegro risoluto, finely controlled each time the pressure is eased.
There is some real edge of the seat
playing here that is absolutely terrific before reaching a peak and moving into
the Andante con moto with terrific piano
chords over passionate strings and the theme from the opening re-appearing. There is playing of great weight and authority
from the Trio before we arrive at the resigned coda.
This is as fine a performance of the Tchaikovsky Trio that
you’ll ever find with these players putting their hearts and souls into the
music. The engineers provide a fine recording in the acoustic of the
Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin-Dahlem, Germany the venue for so many fine
recordings. There are informative notes.
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