RACHMANINOV Piano Trios (Hermitage Piano Trio)
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Sergey Rachmaninov
Genre:
Chamber
Label: Reference Recordings
Magazine Review Date: AW2019
Media Format: Super Audio CD
Media Runtime: 72
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: RR1475
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Trio élégiaque |
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Hermitage Piano Trio Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer |
(14) Songs, Movement: No. 14, Vocalise (wordless: rev 1915) |
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Hermitage Piano Trio Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer |
Author: Jed Distler
The ensemble brings a darker, more brooding vantage point to the 19-year-old composer’s one-movement G minor Trio, tastefully stretching out phrases that the Wanderer Trio accelerate, while favouring relatively massive sonorities that contrast with the leaner, more driving Trifonov/Kremer/Dirvanauskaitė traversal.
If you prefer the long D minor Trio’s opening Moderato sung out in truly elegiac and sombre terms, the present recording will surely fit the bill. In particular, the impassioned thrust of the unison string triplets (5'09") stand out for their unanimity under pressure, whereas Kremer and Dirvanauskaitė occasionally lunge above the staff.
Those who feel that Trifonov stretches the Quasi variazione movement’s opening theme to reverential extremes may prefer Ilya Kazantsev’s straighter phrasing and telling dabs of minutely overlapping legato pedalling (not to mention his dazzlingly rapid unison runs elsewhere). That said, I prefer the faster flexibility of Denis Kozhukhin in the 2011 Argerich Lugano Festival compilation and the late David Golub (Arabesque). Yet again, the unified tempo relationships and high level of ensemble give and take add up to a satisfying entity. However, for sheer forward momentum and dramatic sweep, the Hermitage Trio set the Allegro risoluto finale ablaze, revelling in its rhythmic asymmetry and dramatic sweep, and consequently surpass the Trifonov/Kremer/Dirvanauskaitė triumvirate in regard to forward momentum and dynamism; compare, for example, the broken-octave tutti passage about 3'50" into the movement and you’ll hear what I mean. If I could morph the Heritage Trio musicians’ impeccable ensemble and intonation in the Vocalise on to the faster, more fluid tempos of several less technically polished ensembles who’ve recorded Julius Conus’s arrangement, I’d be a happy camper. Thoroughly detailed annotations and ravishingly balanced surround-sound engineering lend further distinction to this release.
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