MOLIQUE Piano Trios Opp 27 & 52
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: (Wilhelm) Bernhard Molique
Genre:
Chamber
Label: Dabringhaus und Grimm
Magazine Review Date: 09/2019
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 64
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: MDG3032116
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Piano Trio |
(Wilhelm) Bernhard Molique, Composer
(Wilhelm) Bernhard Molique, Composer Parnassus Trio |
Author: Jeremy Nicholas
Marking the sesquicentenary of his death, the ever-enterprising Trio Parnassus give us the world-premiere recordings of his two piano trios. The Op 27 Trio of 1846, championed by Hans von Bülow (who rated the work above the trios of Schubert and Schumann), has an exhaustively worked first movement – I love the way the players open the door to this work – followed by second and third movements (Scherzo and Adagio) of a unique construction: after the Scherzo and Trio, both played with all their repeats, a short cello cadenza leads attacca to the Adagio, which is frequently interrupted by the main theme of the Scherzo. The finale is a rondo. Lasting just short of 34 minutes, the Trio is a meaty addition to the genre with appealing themes and plenty to keep the musicians (especially the pianist) on the qui vive.
The Op 52 Trio, completed in London in 1855 and again in four movements, is a more conventional affair with some attractive Mendelssohnian touches. What raises the music above its solid German craftsmanship and ideas which stay consistently just this side of memorable is the playing of the Parnassus Trio. Somehow, through its various reincarnations (the present line-up is, I think, the sixth), the ensemble has remained the same in terms of tone, balance, musical refinement and character. Cellist Michael Gross, the only member of the original ensemble, is now matched with younger colleagues Julia Galić and Johann Blanchard, both already fine, seasoned chamber musicians, but you would be hard-pushed to tell them apart from the trio that gave us, for example, the benchmark recording of Hummel’s complete piano trios over 30 years ago. MDG’s recording and the disc’s booklet, the delightful conceit of which is in the form of an interview with the composer, are further bonuses for the intrepid explorer of forgotten 19th-century repertoire.
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