Trio Trieste

Listening to this beautifully played collection of Schubert’s piano trios, the two completed ones and the lonely single movements, I realized that this is the one recording I have that was made on fortepiano. Other favorites, including the recordings by the Beaux Arts Trio, the lesser known Trio di Trieste, and the more romantic recording by Arthur Grumiaux, Pierre Fournier, and Nikita Magaloff, are on modern instruments. That wouldn’t matter, perhaps, if the performances on this new disc were less convincing. Jan Vermeulen has been recording the Schubert sonatas to great acclaim. He now has added a recording of the trios that is clearly articulated, impassioned, at times even jaunty.

At the beginning of this set Oscar Peterson so overwhelms the normally gentle "Tristeza" that it almost becomes a parody. Fortunately, the remainder of the bossa nova-flavored LP is more tasteful. Even if Peterson is overly hyper in spots, he is able to bring out the beauty of such songs as George Gershwin's "Porgy," Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Trieste," and "Watch What Happens," in addition to stomping through the straight-ahead "You Stepped out of a Dream."

The acronym that gives name to the PLS. trio is from the very gifted young Italian pianist/composer Pier Luigi Salami. Together with his American rhythm section, consisting of bassist Martin Fowler and drummer Shawn Crowder, the New York based trio have released an enormously winning debut with East River…

At the beginning of this set Oscar Peterson so overwhelms the normally gentle "Tristeza" that it almost becomes a parody. Fortunately, the remainder of the bossa nova-flavored LP is more tasteful. Even if Peterson is overly hyper in spots, he is able to bring out the beauty of such songs as George Gershwin's "Porgy," Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Trieste," and "Watch What Happens," in addition to stomping through the straight-ahead "You Stepped out of a Dream."

“Considero questa una delle migliori sedute di registrazione cui abbia mai partecipato; in quest’incisione, realizzata a Trieste dal Trans Europe Trio, si possono sentire tutta la spontaneità e la qualità della musica suonata”. Difficile trovare parole più appropriate di queste, semplici ma significative, scritte da Christian Escoudé, il più celebre dei tre componenti del Trans Europe Trio, a commento dell’incisione. Che un “interplay” spontaneo, magico e naturale, sia subito nato fra i tre musicisti è chiaro sin dalle prime battute dello splendido brano d’apertura, di Hermeto Pascoal. Nata nel 2007, la formazione si riunisce saltuariamente ma ogni volta l’entusiasmo è quello della prima. Siamo in presenza di un trio davvero paritetico, sotto ogni punto di vista. Lo conferma anche il repertorio scelto per la seduta di registrazione, che assegna tre brani a Marco Tamburini, due ad Escoudé…