Joolaee Trio

In their second album for Resonus, the Gould Piano Trio returns with a recording of Franz Schubert’s Piano Trios. Apart from a very early single movement written when he was fifteen years of age, Schubert came to the piano trio late in his short career and left only two full-length works in the form, written in 1827–8. By the time Schubert came to write his piano trios, the form had taken on a new stature thanks to work from composers such as Beethoven. Here, Schubert’s Trios in B-flat major and the ‘Notturno’ in E-flat major are joined by the delightful Valses nobles D969, composed for solo piano and heard here in a world premiere recording in this arrangement for trio by Julius Zellner.

The Silver Trio brings together three composers of very different origins and epochs for its latest release. The young Ludwig van Beethoven, who came from the piano as a soloist, dared to take his first steps towards chamber music in 1794 by expanding the line-up to include two string instruments - and thus created epoch-making masterpieces that raised the equality of the three instruments to a new level. Sergei Rachmaninoff was also at home on the piano. Leonard Bernstein was also a student and 19 years old when his trio was formed - typical of his style with a lot of temperament. All of them are the three fascinatingly fresh early works that the still very young Austrian-Swiss trio knows how to implement with congenial youthful verve.

Ludwig van Beethoven left only a few works for the string trio, and, unlike his quartets, they are played far too seldomly. The Trio Boccherini now presents a complete recording of these trios on the GENUIN label to draw attention to this. The program includes Beethoven's first two works in this genre, the Trio op. 3 and the Serenade op. 8. Ranging between evening entertainment and the concert hall, between music from his youth and maturity, the works are in any case true Beethoven: full of spirit, profound and with great élan! The Trio Boccherini plays historically informed without being dogmatic, technically sophisticated without being hard-nosed - in other words, with passion and verve!

This two-hour double-disc set of Joseph Rheinberger's complete piano trios is a hefty contribution to the rehabilitation of the composer's oeuvre, though it may be more than the average listener can appreciate in one sitting. Rheinberger's music is earnest and perhaps too heavy for some tastes, and it may even seem too stodgy and dryly theoretical. In his mature Romantic style, his reliance on Classical form, and his pensive expression, Rheinberger often resembles Brahms, though it must be said that he lacks Brahms' rhythmic ingenuity, contrapuntal dexterity, and emotional depth.

These are stormy, full-blooded performances of Schumann. The young Norwegian trio gives the D minor all the dark urgency of a late Brahms work. In the sunnier, beautifully shaped F major, it is again unafraid to push its expressiveness to the limits. One slight disappointment was the magical moment in the first movement when the cello plays a pianissimo melody and is then joined by the violin, as at a distance, here spoiled by Sølve Sigerland’s querulously wide vibrato. Compared with a classic recording, such as the Thibaud-Cortot-Casals, the tempi are swift.

Considering that Mozart's Divertimento in E-flat is far and away the greatest string trio ever written, and one of the unquestionable monuments of chamber music generally, it doesn't get the attention that it surely deserves from either record labels or collectors. Perhaps the dearth of regularly constituted string trios (as opposed to quartets) has something to do with it, but the fact remains that there is no greater testament to Mozart's genius than this epic, nearly 50-minute-long masterpiece in six movements that contains not a second that fails to rise to the highest level of textural gorgeousness and supreme melodic inspiration. Happily, most performances understand how special the music is, and give it their best effort. This one is no exception. The Zimmerman Trio plays with remarkably accurate intonation and a ravishing tone that's also mindful of the Classical style. Schubert's single-movement trio makes the perfect coupling. It seems to grow right out of the Mozart until the end of the exposition, when Schubert suddenly sails in with some typically arresting harmony.

Tin Hat Trio - Book of Silk (2004) {Ropeadope–Rykodisc RCD16051}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 258 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 124 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 152 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2004 Ropeadope / Rykodisc | RCD16051
Jazz / Chamber Jazz / Jazz Folk / Jazz Blues / Creative Music / Classical

Following in the pattern of their previous releases, on Tin Hat Trio's fourth album, Book of Silk, the trio of violin, accordion, and guitar traipse through haunted saloon doors and across rainy Italian piazzas. Skirting the line between jazz, acoustic music, and contemporary composition, Tin Hat Trio's earthy sonic explorations seem like something from the turn of the century, but they leave it unclear as to which century they are referring.