The members of the Trio, Alexander Sitkovetsky (violin) www.alexandersitkovetsky.com , Leonard
Elschenbroich (cello) www.leonard-elschenbroich.com
, Wu Qian (piano) www.wuqianpiano.com
met and worked together at the Yehudi Menuhin School. They founded the trio in
2007 and have held the Junior Fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music
2007-2008, and from 2008-2010, the trio were recipients of the Golubovich
Fellowship and the Richard Cairnes Junior Fellowship for Chamber Music at the
Trinity College of Music resulting in many performances and educational
worships at the College and across London.
They made their highly successful Southbank debut, playing a
recital in the Purcell Room, and were invited to play in front of Her Majesty
the Queen in London. They made their debut appearance at the Wigmore Hall in
November 2008 and another recital there in May 2009 as part of the Kirckman
Society's award and have given recitals at various Festivals throughout the UK
and abroad, in venues such as King’s Lynn, Brighton, St. George’s Bristol, the
Alte Oper in Frankfurt, the Mecklenburg Vorpommern Festival, the Bath
Mozartfest, the Chamber hall of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Palais
des Beaux Arts in Brussels. The trio also performed the Beethoven Triple on
tour with the Orchestra of the Swan and the Munchen Symphoniker in November
2009 and again in 2010.
The trio have performed at the Wigmore Hall's Coffee Concert
series and was immediately re-invited for an evening recital as well as another
Coffee Concert. In 2011-2012, the trio held a three concert residency at the
King's Place in London, another three concert residency at the Kettle's Yard in
Cambridge as well as a re-invitation to Bath's Mozartfest. They were Trio in
Residence at the Mecklenburg Vorpommern Festival's Chamber Music week and
performed the Beethoven Triple there in the summer of 2012 with the Konzerthaus
Orchester Berlin.
The trio has been broadcast several times by BBC Radio 3
including on the In Tune Program and the Lunchtime Concerts series.
The Sitkovetsky Trio
now make their recording debut with BIS Records www.bis.se
in
performances of Dvořák’s Piano Trio No.3 in F minor, Op.65, Smetana’s Piano
Trio in G minor, Op.15 and Suk’s Elegy for Piano Trio, Op.23.
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| SACD BIS - 2059 |
The Sitkovetsky Trio bring a singing quality to the opening
of the Allegro ma non troppo – Poco più
mosso, quasi vivace and is full of lovely textures. The music quickly rises
in drama with playing that is full of fire, bringing a constant changeability
of mood. The second subject has an underlying feel of tension and, when the
music falls to a hushed sequence, there is some exquisitely fine playing. Yet,
it is the feeling of a constantly shifting turbulence that marks out this
performance. There is a terrific sense of assurance from these players in the
broader sweeping passages.
There is some fine phrasing together with subtle attention
to the dynamics of the music in the Allegretto
grazioso – Meno mosso with a lovely, singing trio section with some limpid
piano playing from Wu Qian. Alexander Sitkovetsky and Leonard Elschenbroich each
provide some lovely passages with fine, crisp, incisive playing towards the
end.
The Sitkovetsky Trio bring all of their emotional depth to
the Poco adagio, lavishing much care
and sensitivity. There are some especially beautiful sounds as the piano blends
perfectly with the strings creating lovely textures. Occasionally they relax
the music to great effect. There is an exquisite coda.
The fast moving Allegro
con brio – tranquillo highlights the Trio’s fine ensemble as these artists
pull out all the stops in a performance of great passion. The lovely second
subject with its rolling waltz melody is finely done and there is a
particularly fine coda where the waltz melody returns only to be overtaken by a
dynamic conclusion.
This is a very fine, heartfelt performance from these
players.
Bedřich Smetana’s
(1824-1884) Piano Trio in G minor, Op.15 dates from 1855 and was premiered
in December that year in Prague. However, Smetana revised the work in which
form it was performed in Gothenberg in Sweden in 1858. Smetana continued to
revise the work before its publication in 1880 in which form it is performed
here.
A passionate violin theme opens the Moderato assai before the cello and piano join, with this Trio
providing much grit, passion and feeling. Elschenbroich provides some
beautiful, rich cello tones and there is an exquisite quiet passage before the
music slowly speeds with tremendous playing from this Trio. These players put
so much drama and passion into this music, quite breath-taking at times, with a
formidable coda.
The Trio reveal their fine accuracy in the nimble Allegro, ma non agitato with their
lovely singing tone, in the trio section, shared between the string players. There
is such fine control and phrasing with, as the music develops in intensity, the
Sitkovetsky Trio revealing the darker side to this music.
There is superb playing in the wonderfully fast moving Finale. Presto – Grave, quasi Marcia
and, when the slow section, arrives these players respond with care and
sensitivity with Sitkovetsky and Elschenbroich sharing the melody. Soon these
players hurtle off as the Presto returns in playing of such impetuosity,
passion and bravura that contrasts remarkably with the slower, more melancholy
section. There are some pretty strong textures towards the end before a fine
coda.
This is a particularly strong performance from these fine
players.
It is many of the same qualities of that this Trio bring to Josef Suk’s (1874-1935) Elegy for Piano
Trio, Op.23 written, in 1902, in memory of Julius Zeyer (1841-1901) a Czech
writer for whom Suk wrote the music for his mythological drama Radúz and
Mahulena in 1897- 98. It opens with a
lovely melody for violin over a restrained piano part, soon joined by the cello.
These players respond so finely to each other, slowly building a finely
controlled passion and revealing this piece as a little gem. There are so many
fine nuances and details before the hushed coda.
This is an exceptionally fine debut disc from the Sitkovetsky
Trio in performances that will hold their own amongst the best.
The recording from Potton Hall, Suffolk, England couldn’t be
better and there are excellent booklet notes.
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