Trio Con Brio

Beethoven and Hummel's relationship was one of fractious beginnings, but ultimately true friendship. Between 1825 and 1835 Hummel arranged his contemporarys Symphonies Nos. 17 and Septet, Op. 20 for his favoured combination of pianoforte, flute, violin and violoncello. Beethoven would surely not have objected arrangements were, after all, a perfectly normal part of the 19th-century musical landscape. To audiences today his symphonies need little introduction but, thanks to the musical sensitivity and sheer brilliance of Hummels arrangements, it is possible to experience the thrill of hearing these extraordinary pieces afresh.

The Hyperion Trio was founded in 1999 and has gone on to earn an outstanding reputation in Germany and the international music world and to perform an extraordinarily broad repertoire. In its programs and the concert cycles designed for the cities of Hanover, Magdeburg, and Leipzig the Hyperion Trio has performed more than two hundred works, some of them as premieres or in programs in which great masterpieces are heard together with the music of more less known composers whose works have yet to be rediscovered.

Given the paucity of modern repertoire for piano trio, it is no surprise that Martinů’s four works for this combination have repeatedly received attention. There have, though, been relatively few complete surveys over the years, perhaps down to the equivocal attitude of performers, critics and audiences to a composer too often labelled unintelligently as a neo-classical note-spinner. As Martin≤ has begun to shake off this stigma and gain more gradual acceptance from the wider public, this newcomer is only the second cycle of two to be generally available (the Bekovas having excluded the Bergerettes of 1939), both of them set down in the past three years. Although its members are all based in the USA as individuals, the Arbor Trio originally came together in the Czech Republic; so, as repertoire, Martin≤ is home-away-from-home. Their accounts are well prepared and vivid, their choice of tempi consistently slower than all their rivals, except for the Bekovas in the slow movements. In their own terms, the Arbor Trio’s readings make sense – less wilful than the Chandos group and broadly of a piece with the Kinsky Trio. At times their view of allegro moderato, a tempo indication common to all three numbered trios, risks losing impulsion, and their rivals fairly generally have a stronger sense of pulse.

Nur fünfmal in der Geschichte des ARD-Wettbewerbs vergab die Jury bisher einen Ersten Preis für Klaviertrios.

The complete set of Bohuslav Martins piano trios affords a fascinating insight into the constant transformations of his musical idiom from the early 1930s to the 1950s, also giving testimony to the composer as a human and his particular mindset. The first, five- movement, trio, Cinq pièces brèves (1930) was written in a carefree manner (within a mere ten days) and intuitively. It is the very first Martin piece to reflect his penchant for Neo–Baroque music, so salient a trait of his later creations.

Recreating the tonal language of a composer and the essence of an entire age is the goal of the young Trio Alterna, which has recorded a CD of piano trios by Ludwig van Beethoven on GENUIN that includes the composer's magnificent "Ghost Trio". Takahiko Sakamaki (piano), Anna Dmitrieva (violin), and Amarilis Dueñas CastAn (cello) are all distinguished representatives of their generation in the field of historical performance practice. The trio, which began its career by winning a prize at the International Competition "Beethoven in his Time" in 2020, not only performs on period instruments but also consults period sources and manuscripts of the works being performed for its interpretations.

Sergey Taneyev was a distinguished pianist and influential educator, succeeding Tchaikovsky as professor at the Moscow Conservatory and counting Scriabin and Rachmaninov among his students. The Piano Trio Op. 22 is a demonstration of Taneyev’s technical skill, filled with subtle use of counterpoint, lyrical expressiveness and virtuoso fireworks. Alexander Borodin was a leading member of the ‘Mighty Handful’, and his incomplete but brilliant Piano Trio was seen by Glinka as setting a precedent in the genre for its deeply Russian character.